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CNN Live Today

In Jerusalem, Sandbags Lesser of Two Evils

Aired May 21, 2002 - 14:31   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yesterday we heard the warning through the FBI director about suicide bombers, a very real possibility in this country. If anyone wants to know what it's like to live under a constant threat of terror, it's in the Middle East. CNN's Anand Naidoo reports now from Jerusalem, where sandbags and locked doors are considered the lesser, by far, of two evils.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANAND NAIDOO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This restaurant, in the heart of Tel Aviv's theater district, is what some Israelis equate to Sardi's in New York. But that's where the similarities end. Behind the curtains, the reminder of the reality facing Israelis: sandbags to protect patrons. Just one of the precautions businesses are taking after the spate of suicide bombings and shootings.

Americans have been warned that this is something thy could expect, but how are Israelis coping?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't want to let anybody to change our course of life, our course of normal life, as much as we can.

NAIDOO: Pasta Mia is not in Little Italy. It's around the corner from a shop which was shot at by a Palestinian gunman. The sandbags went up the next day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know really how much they can help, but we did it. And then we put some ducks on, because we felt we were a bit like sitting ducks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To tell you the truth, I'm not getting into coffees without somebody from security. I'm asking if there is security.

NAIDOO (on camera): Here at the Fucacha bar (ph) in central Jerusalem, here's how the security system works. Patrons come up to the front gate, which is locked. The security guard searches their bags and then frisks them, and then opens the front gate with a key.

The patrons are effectively locked in. When they want to come out, he opens the gate with that key again.

(voice-over): So what are the lessons that the law enforcement agencies have learned here? GIL KLEIMAN, POLICE SPOKESMAN: We depend on our civilians. You can't have a policeman in every city, street corner, every office, every business. But your people are there.

NAIDOO: And this week it was the people who noticed someone suspicious getting on their bus and sounded the alarm. His explosives killed only himself. Anand Naidoo, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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