DATE=10/02/00
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=ISRAEL / RAMALLAH HOTEL (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-267356
BYLINE=ROSS DUNN
DATELINE=RAMALLAH
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Israeli troops have transformed a hotel in the West Bank into a military base, as clashes continue with Palestinians. Ross Dunn in Ramallah reports the hotel has become a center of fighting between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen.
TEXT: The City Inn is one of the new hotels that sprang up in Ramallah in the West Bank, following the beginning of peace talks between Israel and Palestinians. But the atmosphere at the building is anything but peaceful these days.
As the highest building on a major traffic route, with a commanding view of the surrounding area, the hotel has become a strategic base for Israeli troops.
Soldiers have commandeered the hotel, from where they have been firing from the rooftop and the dining room at Palestinian gunmen. More Israeli troops are stationed in the street just outside, from where they are battling stone throwing Palestinian rioters.
Black smoke rises from burning tires as rocks are hurled from behind metal garbage cans and the soldiers respond with rubber coated metal bullets and tear-gas.
With Israeli military helicopters hovering over him, the hotel's manager, Burhan Bani-Odeh, says this is hardly business as usual.
/// BANI-ODEH ACT ///
Well, they destroyed my business. They destroy it, my business. Most of the customers, they are afraid to come to this hotel.
/// END ACT ///
Most of the usual guests at the Ramallah City Inn are members of non-government organizations. Fearing for their lives, all such representatives checked out early and booked into other hotels.
The only remaining guest is a 33-year old Arab-American, Khalil Mahmoud. He was born in Jordan, but has long since settled with his family in the United States.
Mr. Mahmoud says he has never witnessed such scenes as those in Ramallah.
/// MAHMOUD ACT 1 ///
What happened in the past few days was unbelievable. I had seen things on T-V but to see the real thing is just amazing, it's amazing. I was in my room and I just heard things, I heard all the shooting. I heard doors being knocked down, the windows breaking, shooting from everywhere. I just ducked down and I stayed in my room. I couldn't leave for a couple of hours. I was trapped in there.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Mahmoud says that the most terrifying moments came during extended gun-battles.
/// MAHMOUD ACT 2 ///
There is a lot of shooting. I didn't know exactly where it was coming from. But definitely people were shooting into the hotel and people shooting from the hotel. And it was just a mess.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Mahmoud's strange encounter came after he arrived in town to start a legal claim for his father's property which was left behind when the family moved to Jordan. Although he says he is terrified, Mr. Mahmoud has decided to stay on until the transaction is complete.
/// MAHMOUD ACT 3 ///
I have no other place to go and I mean I have been here for a couple of weeks. I am used to it here. I just figure I have to stay. It is not safe anywhere. I figure it is probably safer to be here for the moment.
/// END ACT ///
His fellow hotel residents, the Israeli soldiers, have raised no objections to his continued stay.
But Mr. Mahmoud says he may never get used to the idea that there are Israeli soldiers in adjoining rooms and on every floor. He says he is getting little sleep, and for many hours was not able to get any food.
This has been Khalil Mahmoud's first visit to the region where his father was born, and he thinks it unlikely he will ever return. Mr. Mahmoud is a resident of New York City, and he says that city has never seemed so safe. (Signed)
NEB/RD/GE/JWH
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