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CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK

International News Desk

Aired November 1, 2002 - 05:53   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to go global right now and check out our stories with our international desk. And, in fact, we really do mean international, because we're going to go live to the Middle East, where we find our senior international editor Eli Flournoy, who's doing bureau duty out there in Jerusalem -- good morning, Eli.
ELI FLOURNOY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Good morning, Carol.

LIN: Well, it sounds like you've got...

FLOURNOY: Yes, we've got a big...

LIN: Yes, a big report coming out by Human Rights Watch. We were just reporting a little bit about it, but tell us more.

FLOURNOY: Yes, we've got -- this is a copy of the report right here, Human Rights Watch doing a big report out today on suicide bombings against Israeli civilians. And it makes the case that the political leadership of Islamic militant groups are responsible by international law for these suicide bombings by their membership. So it has some significant calls for international legal action and significantly, though, Yasser Arafat is not directly connected in this report to suicide bombing attacks. However, they do blame Yasser Arafat and his Palestinian Authority leadership for not doing more to prevent these attacks and to arrest and try people associated with these attacks.

LIN: On the other side...

FLOURNOY: So it's very interesting.

LIN: Yes. On the other side of the coin, there's another report by Amnesty International coming out critical of the IDF, which is the Israeli military force.

FLOURNOY: Yes, exactly. We're looking ahead to that. That report releases on Monday from Amnesty International and we're going to be doing some coverage on that, looking at the IDF, calls for an investigation into IDF strikes that have hit civilians in the past.

LIN: So, Eli, you've been there now for, what, a little more than a week?

FLOURNOY: Yes, I've been here for about a week and a half. And one of the big concerns in Israel in general and throughout the region is with regards to possible war with Iraq, concern that the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, may try to attack Israel and with chemical and biological weapons. And our people here and many of the media, and, in fact, many of the Israeli people are getting some training on chemical and biological weapons.

We've got, our guys have just gone through training. We've got some equipment that everyone has been issued like this gas mask here, you can see. And we've got all kinds of fancy equipment, pants and...

LIN: Well, that's the suit itself, huh?

FLOURNOY: Yes, this is the suit itself. Here's a boot we use. And there's also some medical equipment that would, Tahoudi (ph) is showing us here, you know, a canteen, a wrap that you can put to absorb any kind of liquid, chemical or biological substance, off of your skin in the case of that.

So there is a lot of concern here. One of our producers here was telling me that her children have already in this school year had three bomb drills. All the schools here have bomb shelters in the basement and so people here are concerned and taking very seriously the possibility that Saddam Hussein may try to launch some sort of attack on Israel.

LIN: Well, Eli, we're all glad that you're ready for the worst case scenario, but we're also hoping that you won't have to put on any of that gear, that it can be resolved peacefully.

FLOURNOY: Absolutely.

LIN: All right, you take care out there. I know you've seen a lot of action, at least two suicide bombings since you arrived in Israel.

FLOURNOY: Yes, two suicide bombings...

LIN: We're thinking about you.

FLOURNOY: ... a settler attack, and it's been exciting.

LIN: The nature of the assignment.

All right, I'm sure your family is glad to see you alive and well on television.

Thanks, Eli.

You take care out there.

FLOURNOY: Yes.

LIN: Eli Flournoy.

FLOURNOY: Thanks, Carol.

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