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CNN Live Today

Israeli Forces Fire on Jenin Crowd in Error

Aired June 21, 2002 - 11:10   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: As promised, we want to go overseas right now, because there was more bloodshed in the Middle East today. Israeli forces say they mistakenly fired into a crowd in Jenin, killing three Palestinians. And that incident follows four days of Palestinian suicide bombings and attacks. The most recent last night killed five Israelis.

CNN Chief International Correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, is live in Jerusalem with the latest -- good morning.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

Let's see if we can clarify what happened today, because there have been quite a number of incidents. The worst of which involves a number of Palestinian dead in Jenin. There are four Palestinians who have been killed, three of those are children, age 12. Two of the children are six years old.

What appears to have happened, according to Palestinians and Israelis, is that a group of Palestinians were out, thinking that a curfew had had been lifted. They were out this morning trying to buy bread and other staples that they needed, having been restricted to their homes for the last couple of days since the Israeli army was there.

The Israeli army then opened fire with tanks and with a machine gun. They launched two tank shells; apparently one into a market area and into an area where there were children. There are something like 24 wounded. Apparently, according to the Palestinian hospital sources, six of those people are seriously wounded.

The Israeli army, when we asked why this had happened, said that the action had been an error. That they are investigating it, and that what they had had been doing, they say, was trying go house to house searching for a weapons lab, they said. And when they saw a group of Palestinians out, they opened fire.

The IDF again saying that the action was an error, and they continued to investigate it. But the Palestinian chief negotiator has condemned what he called the cold blooded murder of these Palestinian civilians, saying that the army deliberately fired on them and that he lays the blame squarely at the foot of the Israeli government. Now this also comes on a day where there has been other bloodshed, and this time in Gaza. According to the Israelis, there have been two incidents in which Palestinians opened fire on Israeli posts. One Palestinian was shot dead and two bystanders are in one incident, and in another incident, an Israeli was left in critical condition.

At the same time, the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, has convened and has just finished a meeting of his security cabinet, and they have decided to up their military response in the West Bank. They will, they say, send in more troops and armor into areas, into towns and cities in the West Bank under Palestinian control, in order to, as they say, root out terrorism.

So that is the latest from here. Back to you.

COSTELLO: Christiane, I did want to ask you about this. Earlier today, Yasser Arafat came out and embraced an old Clinton plan for peace. Why now? Why is he doing that now?

AMANPOUR: Well, as you know, there is a lot of talk about whether the current American President, George Bush, is going to deliver a speech that outlines a road map for a political future. So both sides, both the Israelis and the Palestinians have been putting their proposals forth.

In an interview with an Israeli newspaper today, the latest word from the Palestinian side, from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, was that he now, for the first time, says that he accepts what is known as the Clinton principle. This was a plan put forth to both the Israelis and the Palestinians by President Clinton just before he left office. It was a plan that was taken off the table after he left office, but many people believe that an eventual peace deal will look very much like what Clinton offered back just before he left office.

In any event, whether or not this makes any difference in the current atmosphere remains to be seen. Back to you.

COSTELLO: All right. Christiane Amanpour, reporting living from Jerusalem, thank you.

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