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CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK

Arafat Facing Perhaps Biggest Threat to Leadership

Aired December 10, 2002 - 05:30   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the Middle East, where a besieged Yasser Arafat is facing perhaps the biggest threat to his leadership.
Our Kelly Wallace is live in Jerusalem with details for you -- good morning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Calls for Yasser Arafat to step aside have come from Israel and the United States. But now pressure of a different sort coming from one of the Palestinians' own, a very prominent Palestinian, Marwan Barghouti, the driving force behind the current Palestinian intifada.

MARWAN BARGHOUTI: No peace, no security...

WALLACE: Jailed by Israel, on trial for murder, accused of ordering attacks which killed 26 Israelis, Barghouti is now calling for a shakeup of the Palestinian Authority. From his jail cell, in written responses to an Associated Press interview, Barghouti said, "It is time for many of the Palestinian leaders and officials to leave their positions for failing their roles."

There was no direct mention of Arafat, something Barghouti's lawyer stressed after visiting his client in prison.

JAWAD BOULUS, BARGHOUTI ATTORNEY: He's saying clearly that Mr. Arafat was elected legally, democratically. Nobody has a right to enforce his immediate change.

WALLACE: But by calling for change, Barghouti appears to be suggesting it is time for new leadership to be democratically elected from the top down. The grassroots activist and leader of Arafat's Fatah Movement in the West Bank was always popular. But since his arrest in April by Israeli forces in Ramallah, he has become something of a hero on the streets.

"He is one of the most loved people because he always tried to defend the rights of Palestinians," this man said.

"He's a fighter," this woman told us. "No one fights like him."

In a recent poll, Barghouti was the second most popular leader among the Palestinians, just behind Yasser Arafat.

(on camera): Yasser Arafat remains holed up inside what's left of his compound here in Ramallah after the Israeli incursions earlier this year. He's perceived by many Palestinians as being under siege by the Israelis and having little power to protect his own people.

(voice-over): But even as Barghouti is known to be playing a role from his jail cell trying to keep the intifada in tune with Palestinian goals, would he be a leader the Israelis and the Americans could support? Unlike other Palestinian leaders, who say the intifada was a mistake and should stop, Barghouti believes the armed uprising should continue until Israel no longer occupies the West Bank and Gaza.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALLACE: Another of Barghouti's lawyers says that Barghouti will run even from his jail cell in the upcoming Palestinian elections and that he has not decided whether he will run for the Palestinian Legislative Council or for the presidency. Now, those elections were slated to be held on January 20, but Yasser Arafat said yesterday those elections will have to be delayed unless Israeli forces withdraw from Palestinian ruled cities and towns -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I am curious, Kelly, as to what people close to Arafat are saying about Barghouti.

WALLACE: Well, one adviser we talked to said that Yasser Arafat and Marwan Barghouti are saying the same thing, that both are calling for new elections and that both believe the Palestinian people should determine who their leaders should be. But, Carol, one lawyer to Marwan Barghouti making it very clear that Marwan Barghouti is saying all the current leadership, including Yasser Arafat, should really step to the side and make way for newer, younger leaders to emerge -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Kelly Wallace live from Jerusalem.

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