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CNN Live Today

'Mistake' Ends in Tragedy in One West Bank Town

Aired June 21, 2002 - 13:27   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.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: In the Middle East, Israel is stepping up its incursions in the West Bank following a series of terror attacks this week. But a mistake, Israel says, has ended in tragedy in one town.

CNN's Christiane Amanpour explains.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Israel cabinet has met and authorized the military to enter towns and cities in the West Bank and conduct counterterrorism operations for -- quote -- "as long as needed." The Israel army did go into Nablus, a major city in the West Bank, earlier today, and it's already been in Jenin for the last couple of days in response to suicide bombings here in Jerusalem.

But in Jenin, there was a firing incident today that left five Palestinian civilians dead. What happened is that Palestinians who have been under curfew for the last two days mistakenly thought that curfew had been lifted, and had come out of their homes to try to stock up on basic staples, like bread and other food requirements that they needed. At that point, the Israel army opened fire with tank shells, two tank shells, we are told, and also with machine guns.

When we asked the Israeli army for an explanation, they say that this was an error. There forces there had acted in error, and they continue to investigate the incident, but they said what their forcing were doing were going house to house, trying to search for suspected terrorists and suspected weapons-making factories.

In the meantime, the Palestinian chief negotiator has condemned killing of these Palestinian civilians in Jenin, calling them coldblooded and deliberate murder. Elsewhere in the West Bank, there was a funeral held today for five Israeli settlers who had been killed by Palestinian gunmen in a settlement called Itaman (ph) near Nablus.

After that funeral, after that funeral, people who had been there, went into another Palestinian village nearby, and in what appears to be revenge killings, went on the rampage and shot dead one Palestinian in another village near that settlement. That the latest from here. I'm Christiane Amanpour, reporting from Jerusalem.

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