Israel Says They Will Permit a Meeting Between Powell and Arafat
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again. I'm Aaron Brown. This page tonight deals with two completely and unrelated things, the first of which isn't even all that interesting, and surely isn't a rant. But I wanted to take a moment to explain how we see the issue of balance on the program. We don't feel we have to balance every guest or every segment on every night, and we surely don't believe we have to make everything a debate. What we must do, what we try to do is be balanced over a reasonable period or time. So last week, for example, we had a Hamas spokesman and a representative of the Palestinian Authority on a couple of nights and on other nights, we had former Israeli Prime Minister Barak, and the current Israeli government spokesman Gideon Meir on the program. Over the week, we were balanced, and that is a fair standard to hold us to, while allowing us to present a program that makes some editorial sense and is not just a nightly food fight, which moves us on to the other point of this page. Among the things we'll do tonight is talk with the author of a book called "Revenge," a story of hope, perhaps a bit hard to imagine anything hopeful about revenge, but the author of the book, Laura Blumenfeld, looks at it differently than most. She wanted vengeance after her dad was shot and injured in Israel by a Palestinian militant, and she got it. She got it by getting to know the gunman and his family, and eventually getting them to recognize that her dad was a human being, not some faceless pawn on earth simply to make a political point. This is a story of hope and it is all the more compelling as we watch the endless violence in the Middle East, the attacks and the inevitable counter attacks. So perhaps we can hope that someday the Israelis and the Palestinians might be able to follow Lauren Blumenfeld's example, taking their revenge without taking a life. On that note, we begin the whip with the situation in Israel. Bill Hemmer is in Jerusalem. Bill, a bit more than a headline from you tonight.</s>BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Aaron hello, three points to make tonight. The Israeli army does confirm with CNN that indeed tanks are on the move out and away from two West Bank towns, Tulkarem and Qalqilya located right along the western edge of the West Bank. That partial withdrawal they say in those towns anyway is underway. Also, Israeli sources late tonight do confirm that if Colin Powell, later in the week, wants to meet with Yasser Arafat, they say they will not stand in his way, but as far as Israel is concerned again today they reiterated and they were adamant about it, they will not talk with the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. And if you want to truly gauge how the Israeli people are feeling these days, Aaron, take a look at the latest polling numbers that came out this weekend. Here in Israeli, they say, well over 70 percent of the people do support the military operation and do support their government. Right now they're in lockstep with Ariel Sharon -- Aaron.</s>BROWN: Bill, thank you. On to Andrea Koppel who's traveling with Secretary of State Powell. That trip has taken her tonight to Casablanca. Andrea joins us on the phone, so Andrea the audio headline please.</s>ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (by telephone): Good evening, Aaron. Well it may not be mission impossible that Secretary Powell's trip through this Middle East has more hurdles than an Olympic track event. There could be an Israeli withdrawal from a couple of West Bank towns, which appears to have just begun, but Israelis and Palestinians are still a long way off from a cease-fire -- Aaron.</s>BROWN: Andrea, back to you shortly, and we now go to Cleveland. The jury has had quite a show in the trial of Congressman James Traficant. His fate is in the jury's hands tonight. Kate Snow has been following the trial for us, so Kate the headline I have not yet stolen.</s>KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, closing arguments today in the eight-week trial that's been rather bizarre of Congressman Traficant. Traficant today delivering a 90-minute rather free form stream of consciousness closing argument, but many lawyers saying he made a lot of good points, but so did prosecutors. They pointed to six huge binders full of documentation. They pointed to 55 witnesses that they had called. They said all that evidence points to the fact that this Congressman is not only colorful, they say he's corrupt -- Aaron.</s>BROWN: Kate, back with you in a little while. Among the things not on the program tonight, though we promoted it much of the day and talked about it in our afternoon e-mail is Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Prime Minister was scheduled to join us this evening, and about a half hour or so ago, he canceled because, he said or they said he was tired. So we won't be doing that. But here are some of the other things we will be doing. A story that dominated the talk at our afternoon meeting today was fascinating around the table. It's about a book that is causing quite a stir, arguing that women who think they can wait until they are 40 or older to have a child are fooling themselves. This is a very touchy topic for some, as we found out today. We'll talk with the author tonight. Also, a new more colorful Wall Street Journal is set to hit the newsstands tomorrow. Any color in the Journal would make it more colorful, wouldn't it? I think so. Our colleague, Jeff Greenfield, is here with his own editorial on the new Journal, all of that to come in the hour ahead. We begin the program and the week with what feels like the start of something different in the Middle East, which also comes with a reminder, different in the region doesn't necessarily mean better, and even on a day that saw many developments, it's impossible to say which, if any of them, will lead to real progress in stopping the bloodshed. So sometimes the best we can do is note that another page has been turned and tally up the developments. As we mentioned, Israeli forces have begun pulling back from two cities in the West Bank. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer called that a start. So did Secretary of State Powell, but made it clear, it is not enough.</s>BROWN (voice over): The Israeli withdrawal late today seems to be the smallest of steps. Soldiers in two West Bank cities will leave, but they will maintain a security cordon not far away. Elsewhere, on Day 11 of the Israeli offensive against Palestinian strongholds, there was no sign of pullback. Clouds of smoke triggered by Israeli helicopter attacks could be seen coming from the huge refugee camp at Jenin. In Nablus, signs of destruction are everywhere. The Israeli Defense Forces patrolling most of the streets in the city, reeling from dozens of firefights. Palestinian gunmen, whom the Israelis said were at the heart of the resistance, surrendered. The Israeli Defense Force said Ariel Sharon will not stop.</s>ARIEL SHARON, ISRAEL PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The IDF will continue with the operation as quickly as possible until the mission is completed, until Arafat's terrorist infrastructure is disassembled and until the killers that are hiding in various places, like in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, until they are captured.</s>BROWN: Sharon did not have an entirely friendly audience in the Israeli Knesset. Hecklers from the Palestinian delegates tried to drown him out. At the Church of the Nativity itself, the Israelis claim some of the Palestinians inside threw a smoke grenade into the courtyard setting it afire. Senior Palestinian officials later scoffed at what he had to say.</s>HANAN ASHRAWN, PALESTINIAN LEGISLATOR: The Sharon speech is absolutely dangerous and alarming, because very clearly he's not only being vindictive and venomous, but he's also closing off all doors for genuine peace by insisting on carrying out his brutal policies of targeting the Palestinians, of continuing the massacres and the bloodshed.</s>BROWN: At a speech in Knoxville, Tennessee, President Bush hinted that he was tired of waiting for the fighting to end.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I meant what I said to the Prime Minister of Israel. I expect there to be a withdrawal without delay. And I also meant what I said to the Arab world, that in order for there to be peace, nations must stand up, leaders must stand up and condemn terrorism.</s>BROWN: Late in the day, Sharon spoke at a Holocaust remembrance ceremony in Jerusalem, telling his audience that a strong, independent Jewish state will always exist. And in Ramallah, where Yasser Arafat is still holed up at his headquarters, more food and medicine were delivered to the compound, while soldiers were still rounding up those they suspected of being Palestinian terrorists.</s>BROWN (on camera): That's the overview of the day. Here's a tighter look at some of the developments. The Vatican today called for Israeli troops to leave the city of Bethlehem, warned it was following the events at the Church of the Nativity with "extreme apprehension," one church official going further, accusing Israel of provoking the violence there today. He was referring to this morning gun battle and fire in the church compound we mentioned briefly a moment ago. There continues to be some sort of controversy surrounding it. Palestinians call it a part of a deliberate Israeli attack on the church, but it all in that historic city, right now at least, it's not about gun battles. Like most places on the planet, most people are just trying to figure out a way to make living, to feed a family, to raise a child. On any day in Bethlehem, that can be tough work. These days it is especially so. So tonight, trying to survive is reported by Ben Wedeman.</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is one man's escape from a city at war. Yusef Butta (ph) plays his ude (ph) to forget, and there is plenty from the last week he'd like to forget. For 20 years, he made a living playing in Israeli bars. "Jews and Arabs used to eat and drink together" he says, "and I wish it could be like that again." If only it could. But he need only step out his door to see why, for now, it can't. Journalists crunched down narrow glass-strewn allies, running into Israeli soldiers who don't want the attention. They say they're here looking for terrorists. Much of the time, the streets of the old city are deserted, but inside these ancient homes are thousands of people, trying to live ordinary lives in these more unordinary of times.</s>WEDEMAN (on camera): Bethlehem's old city is a heavily populated area, heavily populated with civilians. We have yet to see, in the six days we've spent here, one armed Palestinian.</s>WEDEMAN (voice over): They are out there, according to the Israeli army, as many as 200 in the Church of the Nativity, others scattered around town. Mid afternoon, people venture out to salvage what they can from a shop, to get some fresh air. Some strolled in from other parts of town, like American Cyril Meteki (ph) who works at Bethlehem University. He's astounded by the wreckage in the old city.</s>CYRIL METEKI: And it seems to me that Sharon feels that he's above the law, above any international legality or U.N. resolutions, and that he can do whatever he pleases. And it seems to me that he's getting away with it.</s>WEDEMAN: Then the shooting began. A sniper targets a rubble- strewn square. Residents must cross the square to buy food, the need to survive overcoming the fear of sudden death. For some, it was a spectator sport, almost. Also waiting to cross, a convoy of Red Cross cars, come to deliver food. The shooting subsides. They rush across to cover. They brought 200 bags of food to an area where the curfew has never been lifted, where food is running out, as is patience, until that patience turns to anger, then into violence. A week of anxiety and fear has brought the people here to this. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Bethlehem.</s>BROWN: Like in Bethlehem today, so far the Israeli operation is focused only on the West Bank, not on Gaza and Gaza's home to more than a million Palestinians. Their story has gone largely unreported in the last few weeks. It is reported now by CNN's John Vause.</s>JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Midnight in Gaza, the streets are deserted. After a day of negotiations, members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade agree to meet us. Our driver negotiates the sand barricades. They've been built by the Palestinians, on city roads and side streets, intended to slow the Israeli tanks. We've been warned that many have been booby-trapped with explosives. On the outskirts of the city, we see them, a group of young men they won't say how old. They've been in position for a week now, not far from the Israeli border, and it's here they expect to confront the tanks and troops. Overhead, the sound of an unmanned Israeli spy plane. It's been circling all night. At another checkpoint, more member of Al Aqsa, identified by their white headbands. This is the group connected with Yasser Arafat's Fatah organization, responsible for many suicide bombings. Armed with M-16s and Kalashnikovs, they're not match for a superior Israeli military, but they say they're willing to die fighting. "We are ready to resist this attack" he told me, "as our President Yasser Arafat said we used to be refugees. Now we are fighters." But they also talk of surprises. The surprises are in this room, five men and many more we're told, willing to strap explosives to their bodies and throw themselves under the tanks and armored personnel carriers, more effective they say than a single land mine, because a bomb with legs can choose its target. "We don't have the weapons so our bodies will be in front of the tanks" he told me. "My body has no value. What do I want more than heaven? Heaven is waiting for me." At night, the only people on the streets, gangs of young men, some gather in spontaneous demonstrations, adding insult to the Arab League leaders for not doing enough to help. In the past, the people of Gaza have put up fierce resistance, 1.2 million Palestinians in a small area, well-organized militant groups. The tanks and heavy armor find it difficult to negotiate the narrow streets and allies. Last month, the Israelis lost two tanks here, the first time the Palestinians struck such a blow.</s>VAUSE (on camera): There's so much tension here that even our arrival caused a small panic within the ranks of the Palestinian Security Forces, and it quickly spread to the streets. "If CNN is here" they said, "surely the Israeli army must not be far behind." Others believe there will be no fighting because they say the Israeli forces are already stretched, and they hope the visit by Secretary of State Colin Powell may stall the Israeli advance. Nobody knows, but still everyone waits. John Vause, CNN, Gaza City.</s>BROWN: A lot more ahead tonight, including the trial that ended with the defense attorney waving a roll of toilet paper. The attorney happens to be the defendant in the case, and a U.S. Congressman to boot. That's a little later. Up next, a bit more on the Mid East tonight, a look at how Secretary of State Powell's peace mission is going, and the children of Israel too. This is NEWSNIGHT on a Monday.