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CNN Live Today

Israel Sweeps through Gaza for Arrests

Aired August 08, 2002 - 12:22   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: For the second straight day, Israeli forces swept briefly into the northern Gaza Strip, arresting nine people and killing one in a clash with protesters. In the West Bank, meanwhile, Israelis are considering easing restrictions in areas not considered hot spots, but they are insisting Palestinians keep the peace.
As CNN's Michael Holmes reports from Ramallah, that job falls somewhere between "tall order" and "mission impossible."

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MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The curfew lifted briefly, cars cram the streets of Ramallah. In their midst, men direct traffic. They look civilian, but they are actually police. No uniforms, and they ask for their faces not to be shown. They say they have their reasons.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the policemen go to the streets in their uniforms, maybe they will catch them or arrest them and send them to the prison.

HOLMES: They are Israeli troops. Officers say to wear a uniform in the West Bank these days is to invite arrest or at least questioning if caught by soldiers. It's one small example of the problems involved in reconstructing the Palestinian security forces. Another is credibility. Israel claiming in the past complicity by Palestinian security in terror attacks.

Amid the still fortified but largely ruined Palestinian Authority headquarters, ministers gathered Wednesday for a cabinet meeting. Security and the growing number of contacts between Israeli and Palestinian officials dominated.

NABIL ABU RUDEINEH, SENIOR ARAFAT ADVISER: We are ready to maintain security, we are ready to cooperate, if they are willing -- if they allow us to continue our work. What we are looking for is the freedom of movement for our officers, and that is what all we need for the time being.

HOLMES (on camera): Effective Palestinian security control in the West Bank and Gaza has long been the demand of Israel and the United States. Now, Palestinian security officials tell us that in places Israel does pull out from, they are up to the task, even though it may take some time. However, in the places Israel does not pull out of, they say effective Palestinian security not only does not exist, it cannot exist. SAEB EREKAT, CHIEF PALESTINIAN NEGOTIATOR: We are willing to carry out our obligations. But today if we take Ramallah, where are the security vehicles? They are all destroyed. Where are the Palestinian police? Mostly arrested. Their small weapons confiscated.

HOLMES (voice-over): Perhaps no better place to see the problems facing Palestinian security efforts than the preventive security headquarters in Ramallah. Scene of a fierce battle in April, the CIA designed U.S. funded home to security operations is still little more than rubble. Police cars crushed, officers and vital records that were in them destroyed or taken by Israeli troops.

RUDEINEH: It's difficult job, it's a difficult task. This is one of the issues which we discussed with Israelis last time, and we hope this issue will be solved because we are in need of all the efforts, we are in need of all the capabilities of our officers.

HOLMES: That will take support, he says, from the Europeans, the United States, Arab nations, and Israel. Also plenty of cash. As for whether Palestinian security can realistically stop suicide bombers, something that wasn't always done with an intact security force, Nabil Abu Rudeineh says he can't give a 100 percent guarantee, however...

RUDEINEH: This is the test. If the Israelis are ready, we cooperate together, we succeeded in the past, we will succeed in the future.

HOLMES: Michael Holmes, CNN, Ramallah on the West Bank.

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