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CNN Live Saturday

Israel Goes After Palestinian Intelligence Officer

Aired May 12, 2001 - 13:08   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.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Israel today took deadly and decisive action against Palestinians it says are involved on violent attacks on Israelis. Two Palestinians are dead in Israeli rocket attacks, and we get the latest from CNN's Jerrold Kessel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A desperate attempt, in the end in vain, to extricate occupants caught in the missile attack on the leading Palestinian security official's car. Israeli helicopters hovered overhead, but Israel maintains silence on the incident.

Palestinians say they believe the Israeli missiles were aimed at a top intelligence official, whose car it was, parked outside their local security headquarters. He reported he escaped with minor injuries when the first missile missed and hit the road, but two other men were killed by further missiles, an operative of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement and a Palestinian policeman who was standing nearby.

Among 16 others treated in hospital, most for shock, were reportedly a number of children returning from school. Thousands of people marched at the funeral for the two men later in the day, chanting: "Revenge! Revenge!" Israeli media report that the Fatah men who was killed and the intelligence officer who was injured were responsible for several previous attacks on Israelis.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, a large crowd of supporters of the radical Islamic group Hamas demonstrated to underscore their pledge to intensify attacks against Israel.

"We stand next to the Palestinian authority," said one speaker, "Side by side with the entire Palestinian national movement. By the will of god, we will end this occupation, and this day is coming soon," he declared. Models of Jewish settlement were burned, and some in the crowd carried mock-up mortars. The Israeli army reported more real mortar bombardments in Gaza, both against Jewish settlements and villages inside Israel, on the perimeter of the Gaza strip. One person was reported likely hurt.

Even before the latest incident, the unrelieved violence drew an acute response from U.S. president George Bush.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The death in the Middle East is abhorrent, and our nation weeps when people lose their lives. And what we must do is work hard to break the cycle of violence. It's going to be very difficult for us to be able to bring people to the -- to the peace table, so long as there's violence.

KESSEL (on camera): Contrary to the hands-off policy, which has been the hallmark of the Bush administration, it appears that the administration could be gearing up for a more activist approach. The U.S. ambassador in Tel-Aviv and the consul general in Jerusalem have together held a series of meetings separately with Prime Minister Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, in an attempt to find a way to break that cycle of violence.

Jerrold Kassel, CNN, Jerusalem

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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