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Arafat Says Assault on Compound Will Only Stiffen Resolve Of Palestinians

Aired June 6, 2002 - 06:02   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Yasser Arafat says the assault on his compound in Ramallah is only going to stiffen the resolve of the Palestinians.

Our Jerrold Kessel is watching developments and joins us now from Jerusalem with more from there.

Hi there, Jerrold.

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Fredricka.

The Israeli invasion of Yasser Arafat's headquarters seemed to be a second battle for that Mukata headquarters of Mr. Arafat in Ramallah. That's the way it seemed to be unfolding, but how different this six-hour siege of Mr. Arafat's headquarters from the five weeks in which he had been held in isolation during Israel's major military offensive into the West Bank town in April.

The Israelis did go in, cause extensive damage, blowing up major buildings there, killing one Palestinian policeman in a firefight, not targeting Yasser Arafat. But this is a very different operation from that lengthy siege. Then the purpose had been, say Israeli officials, to isolate Yasser Arafat. It missed its mark, they say, because although he was isolated, he became the focus of Palestinian resilience, the focus of the whole battle.

This time, they had the same objective, say Israeli officials, to marginalize Yasser Arafat, but they want to do it by showing his powerlessness, the powerlessness in his very source of power in his own compound, his own source of Palestinian Authority power. And they have now withdrawn from there, leaving him with that message.

Just as this came after that devastating bus attack on the Israeli bus in Galilee, which killed 17 Israelis, and as the Israelis are counting the cost of that in human terms, the Palestinians perhaps, counting the cost of that attack by the radical Islamic group, Islamic Jihad, in political and diplomatic terms, because Palestinian officials saying it could undercut all the efforts of President Bush or President Mubarak of Egypt to try to get this conflict into a negotiating mold.

But be that as it may, Yasser Arafat emerging after the Israelis had withdrawn, was very defiant as he inspected the damage in his own personal headquarters, and he is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YASSER ARAFAT, PRES., PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY: They are saying or they try to say that they can defeat us. No one can defeat the Palestinian people who are defending their holy sacred Christian and Muslim holy places. And we are here to defend it, and we are ready to die to defend it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KESSEL: But the battle now seems to have shifted. If at the last time the Israelis were besieging in that lengthy siege of Yasser Arafat were trying to pressure him, to pressure the Palestinian Authority to stop the bombers, it seems now the battle is not over, whether Yasser Arafat will act or not, but over whether Yasser Arafat has a future in any kind of political negotiations, which the United States is trying to get going. That seems to be the battle, which Israel is trying to take to the Palestinian leader, and which he is trying to say, no, no. I am here. I am still here, despite the Israeli actions -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Well, Jerrold, if not Arafat, then who was Israel targeting in its latest incursion?

KESSEL: Well, they were targeting his authority. I don't think they were going after him personally. They quite clearly are trying to say, we can be there whenever we want to be there, and we will be there right in the heart of his powerbase in that headquarters. But they are suggesting perhaps that the battle is over what the United States believes Yasser Arafat's role should be.

Let's not forget that Ariel Sharon is about to head to Washington for that meeting with President Bush next Monday. We know that the United States, that the president is considering coming out and enunciating the details of the United States' vision of a future Middle East negotiating pattern (ph), a future indeed for Middle East peace. The big battle that's on now between the Israelis and the United States, it was until yesterday indeed, of whether Yasser Arafat has a key role in that process.

WHITFIELD: All right.

KESSEL: The Israelis say he ought not to; the United States had been saying he should. Now, the question is: Has the United States changed its mind? Can Ariel Sharon change President Bush's mind?

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks very much Jerrold Kessel from Jerusalem.

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