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American Morning

New Enemy Confronting Israel

Aired July 22, 2002 - 07:49   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.
ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: Israelis, always on alert for terror attacks, are now confronting a new enemy. In a disturbing twist to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, police say they are investigating what could be a vast arms smuggling operation, where Israeli soldiers and settlers may have been supplying ammunition to Palestinian gunmen.

As CNN's Matthew Chance reports, there is shock and outrage across the country.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They have been arrested for the ultimate betrayal, Jewish settlers and Israeli soldiers among those accused of selling tens of thousands of bullets to Palestinian gunmen. At least 10 have been detained so far, more could follow, as Israel's unthinkable scandal unfolds.

Our presence is, at first, unwelcome in the Jewish settlement of Adora. Friends and relatives of the two accused men from here are angry their names have been tarnished by the scandal. They are innocent, they tell us, and would never have put bullets in Palestinian guns.

But behind the guarded fences of this manicured settlement east of Hebron, that grim and unexpected possibility is what neighbors and they are forced to grapple with.

AYELAH BENISHO, ADORA RESIDENT: Well, first of all, we were very surprised, and it came as a total shock to us. We wouldn't have anticipated that such a thing would happen, certainly not from our settlements, after we had suffered the loss of lives and of a young man on this settlement, and others -- many others were wounded. So for us, it was like how could this be? How is it possible?

CHANCE: As a contentious Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, Adora lives under constant threat of Palestinian attack. In April, gunmen dressed in Israeli uniforms penetrated security and killed four people, including a 5-year-old child, in a house-to-house shooting spree. The question now on the minds of survivors is whether the bullets were Israeli, too, supplied by men supposed to protect the Jewish families here.

(on camera): So there is shock and disbelief here their own neighbors may have carried out the crime. But this scandal doesn't stop at this settlement. Two other soldiers from another have already been arrested for driving trucks from Palestinian areas across Israeli checkpoints, dressed in military uniforms. And there is concern inside Israel the true extent of this arms smuggling scandal has yet to emerge.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Adora in the West Bank.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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