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CNN Live At Daybreak

Israeli Forces Enter Another Palestinian City

Aired April 01, 2002 - 05:02   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get more now on Israel's latest military moves in a very anxious Middle East.

Joining us live from Jerusalem, Rula Amin.

RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Carol, what we are having here is a large operation by the Israeli military. Israeli tanks and Israeli troops have moved into another West Bank town, the town of Qalqilya in the north of the West Bank. There, Israeli tanks and soldiers took over all over the town, digged in positions and gunfire has been heard throughout. One Israeli soldier was seriously wounded and seven others were moderately injured when they were conducting house to house arrests. At one house an explosion, an explosive device was set off and the soldiers were injured.

In Bethlehem, in the south of the West Bank, also Israeli tanks were closing in. Another West Bank village is, was also, there were Israeli tanks there.

So this large operation is taking place still while Yasser Arafat is still confined in Ramallah. Israel says it will go after the terrorists and their infrastructure and it will leave no stone unturned in order to bring security to Israelis. At the same time, Palestinians are arguing this is a campaign by Israel to bring Palestinians into submission, to kind of pressure Mr. Arafat to agree to the terms that Mr. Sharon is trying to dictate for a cease-fire.

At the same time in the town of Tulkarem, where Israeli tanks have already been building up around the town, Palestinian militants went into a building where Palestinian intelligence has been holding seven or about eight Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel. There, Palestinian militants shot -- those seven people were killed and more were injured. We're still getting more information on that incident -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Rula Amin reporting live for us from Jerusalem. Thank you for that update.

And as you heard Rula mention, Yasser Arafat continues to be pinned down inside his compound in Ramallah.

Our Michael Holmes has managed to get into the besieged compound to actually talk with Arafat and we want to check in with him now -- Michael, what's the situation right now? Michael Holmes is not quite ready yet.

But we do have a taped piece from Michael Holmes and we want to get to that right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They had come for a simple midday meal in a neighborhood restaurant. The bomb went off at 2:45 p.m., the restaurant crowded with lunchtime customers. The victims included Israeli Jews and Arabs. The blast shocked this mixed Jewish-Arab city, a city that has traditionally prided itself on communal harmony.

The restaurant manager, an Israeli Arab, was just down the street when he heard the explosion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it seemed that maybe something happened with the electricity or the gas or something. I didn't want to think that a bomb, I couldn't imagine that a bomb could actually come to this place. But terror doesn't know Arabs and Jews so.

WEDEMAN: Hamas claimed responsibility for the bombing. The bomber reportedly came from the Palestinian town of Jenin. Haifa residents echoed the rising calls for harsher action against Israel's enemies.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Israel has to take matters to his hands in the strictest force possible and do anything possible just to eliminate anybody who has to do anything with this kind of -- can you see? People come to eat and they blow them up.

WEDEMAN: Security has been severely tightened here since the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: National police and the local police issued already instructions that in a restaurant, clubs, cafes and in shopping centers we will have security personnel checking those who are coming in.

WEDEMAN: In this case, however, there was no security guard on duty outside the restaurant. Not for the first time, nor probably the last, young Israelis light candles for those killed without a moment's warning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And we apologize. That was Ben Wedeman's report on the suicide bombings in Israel. There have been five in the last five days.

Now we want to go to Michael Holmes and check in with him. He managed to get inside Yasser Arafat's compound to talk with him while he is under siege -- Michael, what did you find out?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we found out that he's still very defiant. He's still in very good spirits. He is calling on the international community -- excuse me there. We've just had a fairly loud explosion behind us there. I'm not sure what that was. There has been some firing, a couple of tank shells in the area today here in Ramallah.

Back to Yasser Arafat, he seemed calm. He seemed very happy to see those activities who came in to visit him. We have spoken to some of those activists. Some came out when we left, others stayed in. We're told some 32 foreigners are still in there with Yasser Arafat.

We spoke with one of them this morning. She told us that Yasser Arafat has enough food but there is a scarcity of water. Palestinian sources also tell us that Yasser Arafat is running short of the normal medicines that he requires.

We also, having more, it sounds like tank rounds going off in the background there.

COSTELLO: Michael...

HOLMES: Yes, so he's running short of medicines and they're calling on -- yes, Carol?

COSTELLO: I just wondered, are you safe there?

HOLMES: I believe we are, yes. It's very close, but not directly behind. It's coming from my right, your left of screen, a couple of very close tank rounds. They're the closest we've heard for some time but they're not right behind me. So, yes, I think we're OK.

COSTELLO: Just to make people understand to...

HOLMES: Getting back to that, yes, Yasser Arafat running short of medicine.

COSTELLO: OK, you're in Ramallah, where the Israeli, where the Israeli forces have intensified their attacks, right? Just so people understand why that's going on behind you.

HOLMES: Well, yes, actually, that's right, to give people and idea. I mean the last few days, we've been here for four or five days now, there's been a lot of shooting, a lot of tank activity, a lot of APCs. But not this morning. It's 12:10 here in the afternoon. It's been, actually, very quiet today. We've heard maybe two tank rounds go off and a little bit of shooting. Not a whole lot. This just happened to be a lot closer than we've had today.

I'll fill you in on what's been happening around the place. There's been a lot of troop movement, a lot of tank movement in Ramallah today. But as I say, not a lot of firing. We're told by Palestinian hospital sources, also Palestinian police sources that four Palestinians were killed yesterday. Another three were killed inside a building in Ramallah where Israeli forces say that there was an exchange of fire. We're told by Palestinian sources that three were killed, several were wounded and 25 Palestinian policemen were arrested. Also today, a body of a Palestinian man was found actually in a park, was picked up by ambulance officers. Something we have seen a lot of today is ambulances just cruising around the streets, which we haven't seen for a couple of days, too.

As you may have heard, elsewhere in the West Bank, not just Ramallah, elsewhere in the West Bank and Gaza Strip there have been Israeli military operations under way, incursions, detentions and questioning of various suspects, people that Israel wants to question about potential terrorist activities. So a lot of rounding up going on. And we have seen that in Ramallah, as well. House to house searches going on in various suburbs and also officers. We actually witnessed a police station and the Ramallah municipal offices being very thoroughly searched last night.

One more thing I want to tell you, Carol. As we're speaking right now, a committee of American, European Union, United Nations and Russian representatives are meeting to discuss the current situation. Yasser Arafat, we're told by one of his senior aides this morning, is calling on that group to call on the Israelis to back off from this siege and allow that group to actually go in and talk directly face to face with him. So there is some, there are some political as well as military moves under way -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Michael Holmes reporting live for us from Ramallah. Stay safe there.

We're worried about Michael because an American journalist has been wounded while covering the Middle East crisis. Despite wearing a bulletproof vest, Anthony Shadid of the "Boston Globe" was hit by a bullet in the shoulder while he was walking down a street in Ramallah. He's recovering and yesterday he spoke by phone with CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY SHADID, "BOSTON GLOBE" REPORTER: I was with a colleague and we were leaving Yasser Arafat's compound and heading back to our hotel. We were walking along a street which, you know, we thought we were pretty well identified. We both had "TV" written on our flak jackets. We were walking very slowly down the street and out of nowhere we heard a, you know, a shot. I fell to the ground and that was kind of it. Then we just, you know, we were a little bit stranded there in the middle of the street, because there was no way for ambulance to get there.

And we finally managed to make our way to Israeli soldiers who gave first aid and then took me to the hospital here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: He's doing OK this morning. Shadid's bosses back in Boston say it's unclear just who fired that shot, though, that wounded that reporter.

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