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CNN Live At Daybreak
Israeli Military Says It Raided West Bank Town of Hebron to Strike at City's Terror Network
Aired April 29, 2002 - 06:01 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: The Israeli military says it raided the West Bank town of Hebron to strike at the city's terror network. Palestinian security sources say 7 people were killed, 25 hurt, when the Israeli troops moved in overnight. The incursion follows a Saturday attack by Palestinian gunmen on a nearby Jewish settlement.
A U.S.-brokered plan will apparently end Israel's blockage of Yasser Arafat's compound. Under the plan, the Palestinian leader will be able to move freely into West Bank and Gaza. And six suspects Israel wants tried will be jailed under the supervision of U.S. and British security experts.
And we want to get a live update now on the latest developments in the Middle East. We want to go again to Rula Amin, who is live in Jerusalem this morning -- good morning again to you, Rula.
RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. As you said, Israeli tanks, just before sunrise this morning, moved into the town of Hebron on the West Bank. This is the most populous Palestinian town on the West Bank; 130,000 people live there. Also 400 Jewish settlers live in Hebron.
Today the army moved in following a Palestinian attack on a Jewish settlement just a few miles away from Hebron on Saturday. In that attack, four Israelis -- four settlers were killed, including a five-year-old girl. The army says it has moved into Hebron looking for Palestinian militants responsible for this attack, and trying to intercept more attacks.
Palestinian security sources we spoke say that there is a curfew imposed on Hebron right now; house-to-house searches that over 60 Palestinians have been rounded up. The army does confirm that they have arrested about 17 suspected Palestinian militants, and that they have also been able to collect weapons and explosives.
The Palestinians are saying there were about 25 people who were injured and 7 people killed, including three Palestinians, who were among -- part of the Palestinian Authority Security, and one leading Palestinian militant belonging to the Al Aqsa Brigades, very close to Yasser Arafat, part of Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction.
Now, on another front in Ramallah, Israeli tanks are expected to leave Ramallah and leave the compound of Yasser Arafat where he has been confined for the last month. This comes only after yesterday after the U.S. president, George Bush, had proposed a compromise to the standoff there in Ramallah.
According to that standoff, U.S. and British guards are going to go Ramallah or elsewhere in the West Bank, maybe even Gaza, to supervise the imprisonment of six Palestinians, including four who were convicted in the killing of an Israeli cabinet minister. The Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, had wanted those people to be handed over to Israel. He said they should be put on trial in Israel. The Palestinians said they would not do that. They put them on a trial under the Palestinian's jurisdiction.
Yesterday, both Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat agreed to the U.S. compromise. Today, we are expecting a meeting between U.S. and British experts and Palestinian officials to work out the logistics. Where are those guys going to be moved? Most of the prisons and the security structures in the West Bank have been destroyed during Israel's incursion in the West Bank the last three weeks. There is a possibility that those people will be moved to Jericho or Gaza, where the army has not gone in yet. And if they do so, we are expecting the U.S. and British guards to supervise their imprisonment under the -- in the Palestinian custody.
Palestinian officials are telling us they are hoping that the Israeli tanks and soldiers will be moving out of Yasser Arafat's compound, maybe even by tonight or tomorrow morning. We did not hear from the Israelis. We still don't know when the tanks eventually move out from Ramallah. But this leaves the door open for to build up on this resolution to bring both sides closer together in order to reach some kind of a cease-fire. The British are calling this a significant development, a significant step to move away from the violence and the confrontation -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, good enough -- Rula Amin reporting live for us from Jerusalem this morning.
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