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CNN Live Saturday

Israeli Forces Detain Hundreds of Palestinians

Aired April 06, 2002 - 18:08   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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Israeli forces say they are looking for terrorists and those who support them. Hundreds of Palestinians have been rounded up in the past weeks; some have been released. And tonight, CNN's Rula Amin has the story of a father and a son.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 47-year-old Ali Abdul Aziz (ph) shows the souvenir he kept after being released from an Israeli detention center -- the plastic restraints Israeli soldiers used to handcuff him after they broke into his home in Bethlehem during a house-to-house search.

"Every time you move your hand, the handcuffs get tighter," he says. "I told them I did nothing. I challenged them to produce any evidence," he says.

Ali's (ph) son, 22-year-old Ramzi (ph), a cleaning boy, was also arrested that night. He told us that throughout the three days of their detention, all the prisoners were blindfolded and handcuffed.

"Even when we slept," he told us, "the blindfolds were off only when we ate, but we still had to eat with our hands tied."

Ramzi (ph) and his father linger at the Jala hospital, their only refuge since they can't get to their home in Bethlehem. The city closed and under curfew by Israeli troops.

They are among the lucky ones. Many more Palestinians are still in detention. Israel says its army has arrested more than 1,200 Palestinians during its house-to-house searches in the West Bank. Among those arrested, 100 are on Israel's wanted list, Israel's army says.

Palestinians say most of those arrested were innocent civilians, and the numbers are only increasing as Israel continues its offensive. Human rights groups charge those arrested are being held without the due process, and neither their lawyers nor their families know their whereabouts. Israel says its forces are following the law.

GEN. DAN HALUTZ, ISRAELI AIR FORCE COMMANDER: We have been judging terrorists for the last 54 years. It's not new to us. And they are going to be judged according to facts and evidence that the -- that the authorities are going to provide, and the judges will decide what will be their future.

AMIN: Ramzi (ph) wouldn't tell (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that he was released, not until he actually gets home, he says.

"I thought that's it. I'm going to die. I made a vow to sacrifice 10 sheep if I survive," says Ali (ph). He did, and he's planning on sacrificing one sheep a year. He can't afford 10 at a time.

Rula Amin, CNN, Beit Jala.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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