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American Morning

Israeli Tanks Moving Deeper in Palestinian Territories

Aired April 01, 2002 - 07:02   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Up front this morning, Israeli tanks are on the move, making even deeper incursions into Palestinian territories, following two more suicide attacks on Sunday, including this one in the seaside town of Haifa, where 15 people were killed. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared Israel to be at war.

We have live reports coming up from the region. CNN's Michael Holmes is in Ramallah, where Yasser Arafat continues under virtual house arrest, and Bill Hemmer joins us from Jerusalem this morning with some breaking news there. Let's start with Bill -- good morning, Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Paula, good morning to you from Jerusalem. Ariel Sharon last night in a short, five-minute address did tell the Israeli people, right now, they are locked in a struggle for their own survival, in his words. And he said, once again, his country is at war, at war against terrorism. This message last night coming after five suicide bombings in five days' time, and again late last night, the Israeli military on the move.

The West Bank town of Qalqilya is right along the green line that separates the West Bank from Israel. Israeli tanks moved in overnight. Some eyewitnesses on the ground indicate as many as 100 may be positioned in that West Bank town.

We are told today water has been cut off, so too has electricity.

Also, the military activity continues elsewhere, including the town of Bethlehem. The Israeli government once again emphasizing that it says, right now, it wants to uproot terrorism, but no idea given on how long this current operation may last.

Meanwhile, another bloody day on Sunday, the coastal town of Haifa, a popular restaurant said to be a mixed restaurant. People go there who are Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews. There was a lot of pride because of that fact. Fifteen dead, including the suicide bomber after that restaurant was devastated on Sunday afternoon. Hamas has claimed responsibility there.

A few hours ago, late word today in the West Bank town of Tulkarem, we are told that seven Palestinian collaborators have been assassinated by Palestinian militants, and quite clearly throughout the entire region, that violence does continue. And for those who thought just a week ago that there may be a shot at more talks for the potential for a cease-fire in the region, it appears, Paula, that we are far removed from that at this point today, now Monday afternoon -- Paula.

ZAHN: So how long is this incursion expected to last? You hear or you see quotes in the paper this morning from an Israeli parliamentary speaker saying there is no end game here.

HEMMER: Yes, clearly last night, Ariel Sharon indicated to the people here in Israel that this would take as long as the Israeli government feels it takes to hit at the infrastructure, they call it, the infrastructure of terrorism. And in talking with a number of Israeli officials throughout the weekend here, when asked if this was days or weeks, none of them would give us an answer. They say as long as it takes, so clearly the Israeli military and the government is committed to this operation, and it also appears the Israeli people are behind it as well.

In talking with people throughout the region, they say the latest wave of suicide bombings, especially the one on Passover last Wednesday night in the town of Netanya, really set a lot of people off here, and there is strong support across Israel for this movement today -- Paula.

ZAHN: All right. Bill Hemmer, thanks for that live update.

We are now going to turn our attention to Ramallah, an area that the Israeli government has now called a "closed military zone." Michael Holmes joins us from there right now. Michael, before we get to what that means, what exactly is going on inside Yasser Arafat's compound, in particular his office?

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Paula, as you know, we were in there yesterday with a group of activists, a group that is set up, they say, to support Palestinian civilians. They marched in there rather brazenly; about 45 of them now. We know that 32 of them are still there.

We spoke to one of them this morning on a rare occasion to get a cell phone call into that compound, into the offices of Yasser Arafat. She told us that conditions in there were good. There had been virtually no gunfire overnight, a little bit, not much. And she said that there is food in there, but precious little water.

We also spoke to a senior aide to Yasser Arafat, who told us that the Palestinian leader is short on medicines that he requires. However, the activist we spoke to said that spirits were high in there overnight. They said they even got a good night's sleep.

Now, Paula, I've got to tell you that just in the last 15 minutes or so here in Ramallah, there have been some sustained bursts of gunfire, and not (ph) a few tank shells going off. Two of them were very close to our position here. This is largely related to a massive operation of house-to-house searches that is going on right now. We have been out filming a lot of that.

Many people have been detained, brought out of their houses. Israel says that they have rounded up several known terrorists and other suspected terrorists. So there is a big operation under way here, lots of tank and armored personnel carrier movement.

And one other point, where we were yesterday at Yasser Arafat's compound, it is virtually impossible to get there now. Israeli forces have blocked off virtually all of the roads leading in there. They started to do that yesterday. They have pretty much completed the job. Us and other media crews that have tried to get up there have been unsuccessful so far, and Israeli forces are very determined to let us know that we can't go up there. Our vehicle was shot at yesterday, and we had a tire blown out.

And today, media crews -- I spoke to one crew that just got back said that they had a turret pointed right at them. That's another tank shell going off in the background, Paula. Still a very tense place to be.

ZAHN: You stay safe. Michael Holmes, thank you very much for that report.

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