Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Saturday Morning News

Bloodshed Continues in Middle East

Aired May 19, 2001 - 09:05   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: In the ancient lands of the Middle East, the most important history can sometimes be only hours old. Consider the case of the Israeli air strikes, launched just hours after a Hammas suicide bomb exploded at the entrance of a shopping mall. And today, the violence and the bloodshed continues.

CNN's Sheila MacVicar has a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Israeli helicopter gunships have been in action again this morning over the West Bank towns of Tulkarem and Jenine, striking at Palestinian security headquarters in both those towns. In Tulkarem, the Palestinian Red Cross says that up to 30 people have been wounded, many of them apparently civilians, most of them apparently not seriously.

Now, today's attacks follow in the wake of last night's air strikes, when Israel for the first time since the 1967 war used F-16 fighter planes over the West Bank and Gaza. In Nablus, they struck at a Palestinian police post, killing 11 policemen. In Gaza, they struck at against a coast guard station and against another Palestinian security headquarters.

In Nablus today, there have been the funerals for those 11 Palestinian policemen. Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets, chanting "Revenge! Revenge! A million of us will march to Jerusalem."

The streets of the West Bank are hot. One man has been killed after clashes with Israeli troops following those funerals in Nablus.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: That's CNN's Sheila MacVicar reporting from Jerusalem.

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