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Morning News

Crisis in the Middle East: Clinton to Meet with Arafat Later Today as Violence Continues in the Region

Aired January 2, 2001 - 11:13 a.m. ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Less than three weeks to go for President Clinton in office. He is pressing hard to find a solution to the crisis in the Middle East. He will be meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat later today at the White House. This as Israeli and Palestinian violence continues in the region.

We're following this crisis on two fronts. We have our national security correspondent David Ensor at the White House, and we also have our Jerusalem bureau chief Mike Hanna in Jerusalem.

Mike, we will get to you in a moment.

First to David Ensor at the White House -- David.

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, right now, as I speak, the hammers and the saws are working to build the inauguration parade ground area in front of the White House for the next president's inauguration. So, as you said, time is running short here for the Clinton administration to conclude a Middle East peace deal and all sides, the Palestinians, the Israelis, and the Americans are saying they don't think is likely.

However, there is still some hope and as he arrived from president -- from Camp David this morning, when the president was asked whether he was optimistic, he held up crossed fingers. He still hopes there is that possibility that he might be able to work out a deal.

Now what the discussions will be about today is a set -- an outline in effect, a set of parameters that the U.S. has proposed to the two sides. Most of the outlines have been described many times before, but the main new part is that the United States is suggesting that the Palestinians should publicly renounce the right of return of the million of refugees in Syrian and Lebanese and other camps, who were forced out of Israel in 1948; and, in exchange for that, would be permitted to set up a new Palestinian state, with its capital in East Jerusalem, and they would hold most of the territory held -- the territory on which Palestinian Arabs live.

So that is the offer. Will Arafat be able to accept it? Officials here say, certainly not today. Whether he can do it in the last 2 1/2 weeks is anybody's guess. It doesn't look likely, but it is not being ruled out -- Daryn. KAGAN: David, thank you very much. As we mentioned, this story happening on two fronts, both at the White House, where we expect Yasser Arafat and President Clinton to meet later today, and now to the troubled region itself, where the violence goes on. We are going to go to Jerusalem, where we find our bureau chief Mike Hanna following the story for us -- Mike.

MIKE HANNA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, no signs of any optimism whatsoever here, as Mr. Arafat prepares to meet President Clinton. The Palestinians have released a position paper on the U.S. proposals, which indicates substantive differences from the proposals outlined by Mr. Clinton. They are seeking clarification that is put on more than 20 questions, concerning issues in the Clinton proposals.

Well, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak says he doesn't believe that any deal is likely before President Clinton leaves office on January the 20th. He says there is no deal likely either before he goes to the polls in prime minister's elections in Israel on February the 6th.

He says that he is prepared to send a delegation to Washington for talks with President Clinton should something substantive come out of the meeting with Mr. Arafat and should the violence within the region diminish.

No signs that the violence is diminishing in the region. Two Israeli soldiers were injured this morning in a series of roadside explosions in the Gaza Strip. Israel had imposed new measures in the Gaza Strip, in terms of restricting the movement of Palestinians between towns in Palestinian-controlled areas. This, in turn, in the wake of a car bomb explosion in the Israeli coastal town of Netanya, which led to more than 40 Israelis being injured.

So the violence still continuing, a 52-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli forces, according to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip itself. The Israelis say that this happened in the wake of the two roadside bomb explosions this morning, which injured the two Israeli soldiers. The Israeli Defense Force said it is standard operating procedure to open fire in the direction of explosions when they have threatened the lives of Israeli soldiers.

So no signs of any optimism about the negotiations. No signs of any end to this ongoing cycle of violence. So, once again, the mood here in the region remains tense, and above all, it remains gloomy and pessimistic.

I'm Mike Hanna, CNN, reporting live from Jerusalem.

KAGAN: Mike, thank you very much from Jerusalem.

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