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CNN Live Saturday
Seven Palestinians Killed in Clashes Since Friday Night
Aired March 23, 2002 - 12:06 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.
KATE SNOW, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to the conflict in the Middle East, at least seven Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli forces since last night. Meanwhile, Israelis say they now live in fear of the next suicide bombing. Many are wondering how someone can blow themselves to pieces to kill others.
CNN's Michael Holmes went to the West Bank to ask that question.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thursday in Jerusalem, another suicide bombing, more Israeli deaths. There have been nearly 60 suicide bombers in the past 18 months and they have killed 125 Israelis.
(on camera): While so many Israelis live in fear and anger because of suicide bombings and other forms of attacks, here in Ramallah in the heart of the West Bank you find fear and anger, also, and despair.
HUSSAM SHAHEEN, RAMALLAH RESIDENT: And what's the hope? Where is the hope if you are dying every day? What's the hope if your house is demolished and destroyed? What's the hope when you face avachi (ph) that's, you know, shelling your house or shelling your people in front of your house?
HOLMES (voice-over): Talk with people like Hussam Shaheen and others throughout the occupied territories and you'll find plenty of Palestinians opposed to suicide bombings. But you'll also find striking numbers who understand why such tactics are used.
SHAHEEN: I understand it very well. I understand why people is doing this, you know? I understand. I saw the people, how they are, you know, the terrible time and, you know, the miserable situation that they are living under.
ASAD AL ASAD, RAMALLAH RESIDENT: We live under occupation, the worst in the world, and tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed, children, women, the elderly. Thousands of homes, hundreds of villages destroyed.
HOLMES: Asad al Asad, author, journalist, poet, lives in Ramallah with his wife and two of his four daughters. He, too, opposes targeting civilians, but says so many Palestinian civilians have died, the youth here have no hope and few weapons with which to fight their battle.
AL ASAD: We are truly sorry if any person is killed, Israeli or Palestinian. But during all wars, civilians suffer. Kids are killed here daily. This morning a 4-year-old girl. And this is part of a story repeated every day.
HOLMES: Stone throwers risk death, too. Some Palestinians say their actions are a form of suicide, as well. This clash happened the day of our interviews in Ramallah, mutual feelings exchanged across a daily battlefield. A protest march, too. "We are not terrorists!" they chant, but many here know that perhaps among their number there is another suicide bomber.
AL ASAD: When you isolate people, they're already dead. These people have been pushed to a point where there is no difference between life and death. So if he can achieve something through his death, he'll do that. It's preferable for him to die.
HOLMES (on camera): Do you have hope?
SHAHEEN: I used to. I don't think so. I don't have hope nowadays, you know? Especially with...
HOLMES (voice-over): Hussam Shaheen says he won't marry because he doesn't want his children to grow up here. I ask Asad Al-Asad's daughter, Shaden (ph), if she plans to have children one day. She says no.
SHADEN AL ASAD: Because I'm not satisfied. I won't let my children also live the same tragedy. That's why.
HOLMES (on camera): So while this goes on, you don't plan to get married and have children, have a future?
SHADEN AL ASAD: No. No. For myself, no. I'd rather...
HOLMES (voice-over): Michael Holmes, CNN, Ramallah, in the West Bank.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: President Bush is calling on Yasser Arafat to crack down on militants and end the attacks against Israelis. Mr. Bush says if Arafat takes action, Vice President Dick Cheney will meet with the Palestinian leader. You can hear directly from the vice president yourself. Dick Cheney will be Wolf Blitzer's special guest tomorrow on CNN's "Late Edition." Tune in for that at noon Eastern, 9:00 Pacific, only here on CNN.
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