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CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK
Yasser Arafat Meeting With U.S. and British Diplomats at His Compound
Aired May 1, 2002 - 06:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to the other major story coming out of the Middle East, a deal to allow Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, to leave his compound. CNN's Rula Amin joins us live from Ramallah with that. Rula, what can you tell us?
RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, right now, Yasser Arafat is meeting with U.S. and British diplomats at his compound. They are trying to hammer out the last final details for this agreement, which will end the standoff around that compound and free Yasser Arafat after a month being surrounded by Israeli tanks and soldiers.
What we are hearing from Palestinian sources is that what actually is an obstacle for this deal so far have been -- are two of the six prisoners in that compound. Four of them have been convicted in the killing of an Israeli cabinet minister, and they have been sentenced, and Yasser Arafat says these people can go to Jericho and be in a prison there guarded by U.S. and British guards.
The other two persons Yasser Arafat insists are still under detention. He says they have not been convicted of anything. They have not been sentenced. And it's only the Palestinian Authority who will decide the fate of these people. That if Yasser Arafat and his authority decide that they were innocent, that they are not convicted of anything, they should be released without having to get the approval of Israel and the United States.
Another point that needs to be finalized is that the four people who are convicted and sentenced, Yasser Arafat wants to make sure that their sentencing is not going to be changed. Israel seems not to be satisfied with the numbers of years that they have been sentenced for. Some of them have been sentenced for one year; others for 18 years.
So far, we are waiting for the end of this meeting to see if there is such an agreement, if there are going to be guarantees from the U.S. and Britain on what Yasser Arafat has been demanding, on what the Israelis have been demanding. If there is an agreement, we expect those six people to be transferred to Jericho, where they will be held there in a Palestinian prison under the supervision of the U.S. and Britain, and that will end the standoff at that compound.
Israeli tanks and soldiers are expected to move out of that compound and out of Ramallah within the next 48 hours, as we have been hearing from U.S. and Palestinian officials, but as I said before, we are still waiting to hear the final word when this meeting ends -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. We'll get back to you then. Rula Amin reporting live for us from Ramallah this morning -- thank you.
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