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American Morning

Israeli Operations in Nablus Leave Three Dead

Aired May 03, 2002 - 08:03   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Up front this morning, though, Israeli forces conduct operations in the West Bank town of Nablus as well as two other villages. The predawn incursions left two Palestinians and one Israeli officer dead. Israel says the invasions were part of an effort to root out what it calls a terrorist network operating in several different areas.

Joining us now with more on this development is Matthew Chance, who is reporting from Ramallah this morning -- good morning, Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, as well, Paula.

Well, all the activity is, indeed, under way elsewhere in the West Bank. You join me here, though, in Ramallah, where the Israeli forces have, of course, long gone. It's a relatively peaceful day here. It's Friday, of course, the Muslim day of prayer, and therefore effectively the start of the weekend here.

Yasser Arafat, who's still in that compound, having emerged from it on a number of occasions over the past few days, has, officials have told us that he won't be coming out throughout the course of the day. He's going to be resting inside that compound after enduring that month long period of confinement by the Israeli forces.

Let me just show you there what it's looking like here in the center of Ramallah. You can see up there a poster of Yasser Arafat waving his finger. In Arabic, the brown lettering saying, "I am the strongest of this time," or words roughly equivalent to that in Arabic. And then scrawled over it in green spray paint is a note in Hebrew put up there by the Israeli soldiers as they moved through the center of Ramallah a number of weeks ago, saying, in a perhaps a dark, joking kind of way, "Mommy, Mommy, protect me," or words to that effect in Hebrew.

Ordinary people here in Ramallah have been trying to pick up the pieces of their lives. Of course, remember, it's not just Yasser Arafat who's been affected by the military incursion. Ordinary people of Ramallah, as well, have been severely affected. They've been out gathering their supplies in preparation, perhaps, for the return of Israeli forces. Few people here believe that the Israelis will never be back.

Just to give you an indication of the kind of tensions that are existing still in Ramallah. Within the last hour we saw a demonstration move past there, a pro-Arafat demonstration. They were holding pictures of the Palestinian leader, waving Palestinian flags. That demonstration moved on to an Israeli checkpoint just on the outskirts of Ramallah, because the Israeli forces, of course, are still on those outskirts of Ramallah. A few stones were thrown. A number of tear gas canisters were thrown back by the Israeli troops, although the clashes didn't amount to much beyond that -- Paula.

ZAHN: Matthew, I wanted to read a small part of a press release that has come out from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office overnight where basically he access Yasser Arafat of "funding for Fatah operatives with the knowledge that it would be used to finance terrorist activities against Israeli citizens." It goes on to say that it was revealed that explosive charges used by the terrorists were supplied from the Palestinian Authority's own weapons depots."

How bad does this look?

CHANCE: Well, I mean if, of course, this is the kind of charge that the Israelis have been leveling at the Palestinian Authority and at Yasser Arafat specifically for some time. They've obviously been very keen to provide conclusive proof of this. For their part, the Palestinians have rejected this statement from the Israelis, rejected the apparent or alleged confession from Marwan Barghouti, which is the source of this, a prominent Palestinian figure currently in Israeli detention. They've rejected that as invalid.

It's perhaps not for us to decide. Of course, if it's true it's extremely damaging to the status of Yasser Arafat. But I'm not sure that this provides the kind of conclusive proof the Israelis have been looking for.

Let me just give you a report of, from the lawyer of Marwan Barghouti, for instance, the man who originates these claims. He's in Israeli detention. He's currently filed a petition -- he's an Israeli, by the way, an Israeli Arab -- he's currently filed a petition in the Israeli high court to grant him at least more access to his client. He says he's only been allowed to see Marwan Barghouti once since his detention in mid-April.

He's also asking the Israeli authorities to allow Mr. Barghouti to have more sleep. And so these are the concerns on the Palestinian side. Human rights groups have expressed their concerns.

So whether this confession, this statement represents the kind of proof the world has been looking for, and the Israelis have certainly been searching for, remains to be seen -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right, Matthew Chance reporting from Ramallah for us this morning. Thanks so much.

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