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CNN Sunday Morning

Palestinians Protest Siege of Arafat's Compound

Aired September 22, 2002 - 11:01   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.


KRIS OSBORN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin in the Middle East, where Palestinians are turning their anger into action. You may have been seeing the scene there as the siege of Yasser Arafat's compound goes on. Thousands of Palestinians are showing their solidarity for their leader by taking to the streets in protest. In some cases, surrounding tanks. For the latest, we turn now to CNN's Ben Wedeman in Ramallah.
So, Ben, a number of buildings in that compound have been just bulldozed to the ground.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's correct. Since and later -- earlier this week, most if not all, with the exception of the building in which Yasser Arafat is in, all of those buildings have been essentially destroyed in one way or the other, blown to smithereens or bulldozed into just chunks of rocks, really.

Today they systematically have been going about tearing down some of those buildings. Now, in that building where Mr. Arafat is, we are told there are as many as 300 Palestinians. The Israelis say 50 of them are on their list of individuals wanted for involvement in terrorism, but interestingly enough, the Israelis have not provided the Palestinians with the names on that list.

It is known, however, that four of those 50 are senior Palestinian security officials. One of them, Taufiq al-Tirawi (ph), who is the head of intelligence for the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank told one of our producers that he has no intention of surrendering. As far as he is concerned, the current Israeli operation is, in his words, "an attempt to destroy Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat."

Now, as you mentioned, thousands of Palestinians since last night have taken to the streets of the cities of the West Bank as well as Gaza and the West Bank. They are defying a very stringent curfew that's been in place in this area for quite some time. In Ramallah, they took to the streets and clashed with Israeli forces, rock- throwing as well as gun fire. Two of those demonstrators were killed by Israeli gunfire. Two other demonstrators in other parts of the West Bank were also wounded.

Today, in (UNINTELLIGIBLE), Hebron and Nablus, there were other demonstrations in which Palestinians confronted Israeli armor as well as troops. They are protesting the siege of the Palestinian leader's compound here in Ramallah, and we know that one of those demonstrators in Nablus was also killed. One other development this afternoon is that for the first time in a long time, several shots apparently were fired from Beit Jala. That's a Palestinian town to the south of Jerusalem. Those shots were fired onto Gilo (ph), which is an Israeli outskirt of Jerusalem, and apparently, according to Palestinian security sources in the area, they found the man who shot and he is now in their custody. Back to you.

OSBORN: Ben Wedeman, thank you very much, with the debrief on the increasingly tense situation there in Ramallah and the compound being surrounded.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired September 22, 2002 - 11:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KRIS OSBORN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin in the Middle East, where Palestinians are turning their anger into action. You may have been seeing the scene there as the siege of Yasser Arafat's compound goes on. Thousands of Palestinians are showing their solidarity for their leader by taking to the streets in protest. In some cases, surrounding tanks. For the latest, we turn now to CNN's Ben Wedeman in Ramallah.
So, Ben, a number of buildings in that compound have been just bulldozed to the ground.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's correct. Since and later -- earlier this week, most if not all, with the exception of the building in which Yasser Arafat is in, all of those buildings have been essentially destroyed in one way or the other, blown to smithereens or bulldozed into just chunks of rocks, really.

Today they systematically have been going about tearing down some of those buildings. Now, in that building where Mr. Arafat is, we are told there are as many as 300 Palestinians. The Israelis say 50 of them are on their list of individuals wanted for involvement in terrorism, but interestingly enough, the Israelis have not provided the Palestinians with the names on that list.

It is known, however, that four of those 50 are senior Palestinian security officials. One of them, Taufiq al-Tirawi (ph), who is the head of intelligence for the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank told one of our producers that he has no intention of surrendering. As far as he is concerned, the current Israeli operation is, in his words, "an attempt to destroy Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat."

Now, as you mentioned, thousands of Palestinians since last night have taken to the streets of the cities of the West Bank as well as Gaza and the West Bank. They are defying a very stringent curfew that's been in place in this area for quite some time. In Ramallah, they took to the streets and clashed with Israeli forces, rock- throwing as well as gun fire. Two of those demonstrators were killed by Israeli gunfire. Two other demonstrators in other parts of the West Bank were also wounded.

Today, in (UNINTELLIGIBLE), Hebron and Nablus, there were other demonstrations in which Palestinians confronted Israeli armor as well as troops. They are protesting the siege of the Palestinian leader's compound here in Ramallah, and we know that one of those demonstrators in Nablus was also killed. One other development this afternoon is that for the first time in a long time, several shots apparently were fired from Beit Jala. That's a Palestinian town to the south of Jerusalem. Those shots were fired onto Gilo (ph), which is an Israeli outskirt of Jerusalem, and apparently, according to Palestinian security sources in the area, they found the man who shot and he is now in their custody. Back to you.

OSBORN: Ben Wedeman, thank you very much, with the debrief on the increasingly tense situation there in Ramallah and the compound being surrounded.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com