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CNN Live At Daybreak

Italian Journalist Killed By Fire From Israeli Tank in Ramallah

Aired March 13, 2002 - 05:01   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: On the eve of the latest U.S. peace initiative in the Middle East, the Israeli Army is involved in its biggest deployment in two decades.

CNN's Senior International Correspondent Sheila MacVicar is live in Jerusalem with the latest -- good morning, Sheila.

SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Yes, Israel's chief of the defense staff has confirmed that 20,000 Israeli soldiers, airmen and naval personnel are, in fact, involved in this operation. It is taking dozens of tanks.

Israeli troops this morning remain in the Palestinian city of Ramallah on the West Bank, the commercial and currently the political heart of Palestinian life. Witnesses have said that 150 tanks went into that city yesterday. Three Palestinians have been reported killed there in ongoing gunfights this morning and an Italian photojournalist working as a freelancer for the Italian newspaper "Coria del la Serra," based in Milan.

Raffaele Ciriello was an experienced war photographer. According to people who were traveling with him this morning in Ramallah, they came under direct fire without warning from an Israeli tank. He was shot six times in the stomach and died in a Palestinian hospital.

Now, the Italian foreign ministry and embassy here in Israel have requested an explanation from the Israeli Defense Forces, an Israeli Defense Force spokesman saying that while they regret the incident, they can't provide any more details at the moment and they're still checking.

All of this violence at a time, Carol, when we have Vice President Cheney touring the Middle East. He has arrived just a short while ago in Egypt and while Israelis and Palestinians are preparing for the arrival of President Bush's envoy, General Zinni, who is due here tomorrow afternoon -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Is it really worth it for Zinni to even go there? Has the violence escalated so much that there's really nothing he can do?

MACVICAR: Well, since President Bush made the announcement that the violence was so bad that he felt he had no choice but to send General Zinni back to the region to see if there was something that could be accomplished, in fact, the violence has gotten worse. We had 41 people on both sides killed yesterday, plus the three more Palestinians and the Italian journalist today.

There has been an explosion of violence. It might have the result of doing two things. One, some analysts are suggesting that perhaps these are things Prime Minister Sharon wanted to get done in advance of General Zinni's visit. And two, both sides may now be in a position where they are literally exhausted and wanted to take a break. And so perhaps there is a little bit more room for maneuvering.

But it is clear that both sides, the Palestinians in particular, after the kind of brutal punishment they have taken as a result of these Israeli military incursions over the last number of days, will be looking for some new ideas from General Zinni and will be hoping that there is something more concrete that can be put forward here -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Going back to the journalist who was killed, there was also a hotel where journalists were staying that the Israelis opened fire on. Can you tell us more about that?

MACVICAR: That happened the night of the incursion into Ramallah on Monday evening. There were about 40 journalists in a hotel in Ramallah overlooking a refugee camp that is right at the edge of Ramallah. It's sort of impossible to tell where the city ends and where the refugee camp begins. But this hotel provided a very good vantage point.

There were about 40 people. They had been there for some time. They had cameras set up on tripods. They were not, it wasn't as if there were people scrambling for positions. They had been there for some time when Israeli forces, thanks again, opened fire on the place where journalists were. We have probably -- you may have seen, Carol, the results of that, a camera belonging to ABC Television with seven bullet holes in it, including one that pierced right through the lens.

Now, the Israeli forces initially said that there have been, that they were merely returning fire that came from another position within the hotel. However, journalists who were in the hotel, experienced correspondents and producers say they were not aware of any fire coming from the hotel and if there had been gunfire coming from the hotel, they would have left that location.

Now, today in the situation, the death of Raffaele Ciriello, what we have is a situation where Raffaele and a colleague got to a square in the center of town. The colleague says that they had been following Palestinian gunmen. However, there was no exchange of fire at the time. A tank suddenly came around the corner and from a distance of about 150 meters opened fire and killed Raffaele. We are told there were six bullets fired from a heavy machine gun, which struck him in the abdomen. And he was declared clinically dead and now dead in a local hospital -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Sheila MacVicar reporting live for us from Jerusalem this morning. Thank you.

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