• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

DATE=10/12/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ISRAEL / PALESTINIAN VIOLENCE (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-267853

BYLINE=SONJA PACE

DATELINE=RAMALLAH

INTERNET=

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

/// EDS: ISRAELI MILITARY SAYS A THIRD SOLDIER MAY HAVE BEEN INVOLVED. HIS WHEREABOUTS ARE NOT KNOWN ///

INTRO: There was a surge of violence Thursday between Israelis and Palestinians. Israeli helicopter gunships shelled Palestinian positions in the West Bank town of Ramallah and in Gaza. Israel described it as a "limited action." Palestinian officials called it a "declaration of war." V-O-A's Sonja Pace was in Ramallah and reports on the incident that sparked it all -- the killing earlier in the day of at least two Israeli soldiers by a Palestinian mob.

TEXT: By midday Thursday, the police station near Manara Square in central Ramallah was quiet. A few armed men stood about, a few cars passed along the street in front. Clearly visible were the bloodstains just below a second story window.

A Palestinian official a few blocks away tells what happened.

/// PALESTINIAN MAN - IN ARABIC - FADE UNDER ///

The man will not give his name, but says that a few hours earlier, an angry mob had forced its way into the station and had killed two Israeli soldiers. The details he provides are sketchy.

/// OPT /// Piecing information together from Palestinian police and eyewitnesses in Ramallah and from the Israeli military, it seems the Israeli soldiers may have taken a wrong turn in the road and ended up in Ramallah. Then, they were either taken to or sought shelter in the police station.

/// OPT /// Palestinian police told V-O-A they were trying to protect the soldiers and were contacting the Israelis to come pick up the men. But, they say the station was overrun by an angry Palestinian mob that numbered more than one-thousand. The mob then killed the two Israelis, throwing one body out the window, the other out the door. At least one of the soldiers was dragged through the streets. The Israeli army eventually retrieved the bodies of the soldiers. Army officials said both had been badly mutilated. /// END OPT ///

Shops in Ramallah were closed, doors and windows along the main streets tightly shuttered. There were no women or children on the streets. But there was an increasing influx of young men carrying Kalashnikov weapons. Some of the men came in cars, others on foot. People were gathering in the main square. There was an atmosphere of tension and a sense of waiting for something to happen. For 25-year-old Ahmed, the situation was clear.

/// AHMED ACT ///

We are expecting an attack from Israeli soldiers....

Pace: Is there any way to stop this cycle of violence?

Ahmed: No, for us no.

/// END ACT ///

Ahmed expresses the views of many Palestinians here in Ramallah who feel that the past seven years of peace negotiations have brought few real gains.

Frustrations are running high. As the crowd gathers, there is an almost festive and yet warlike air of rallying the supporters.

/// SOUNDS - CAR HORNS AND CHANTS ///

Young men are singing in the square, and through it all they seem to be waiting.

Shortly afterwards comes a swift Israeli response -- helicopter gunships shell the town and the police station near Manara Square is destroyed. (Signed)

NEB/SP/GE/JWH