Military

DATE=10/18/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ISRAEL / PALESTINIAN REACT (L-O)

NUMBER=2-268122

BYLINE=SONJA PACE

DATELINE=GILO / BEIT JALA

INTERNET=YES

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

/// ATTENTION RUSSIAN SERVICE: ACT OF YELKIN IN RUSSIAN ///

INTRO: Israeli and Palestinian leaders are taking steps to implement the measures agreed upon at Sharm el-Sheikh. And yet sporadic clashes are continuing on the ground. Neither Israelis nor Palestinians are optimistic the violence will really stop and there is even less optimism about prospects for peace, as V-O-A's Sonja Pace found out in Gilo, a Jewish neighborhood on the outskirts of Jerusalem, and in Beit Jala, a nearby Palestinian town.

TEXT: Gilo and Beit Jala are only a few-kilometers apart. They face each other from two different hills, but they are separated by anger and distrust.

Within hours after Israeli and Palestinian leaders had agreed in Sharm el-Sheik to end three-weeks of violence, Gilo and Beit Jala were exchanging gunfire. Grigor Yelkin and his family came to Gilo five-years ago from Russia. He says he heard shots ring out late Tuesday.

/// YELKIN ACT ///

Three or four times we heard shooting from Beit Jala. Our children are very afraid because we heard shooting like it is near our building. We did not receive any bullets in our flat, but my relative received bullets in his kitchen.

/// END. ACT ///

Grigor thinks the violence might die down for a time, but he says the underlying problems will remain.

/// 2ND YELKIN ACT ///

It will not be a normal situation because the same problem will exist. It is impossible to divide into two countries because the population is mixed - Jews and Arabs and what I see, all Arab people really hate Jews.

/// END ACT ///

In the Palestinian town Beit Jala, the fear and distrust are much the same. Nasrin Hajaja says she fled to her grandfather's house when the shooting started. She is afraid, especially for her three children.

/// NASRIN ACT ///

I was in the house. My children were very much afraid and I closed the door and I did not let them go out. But I saw from the window the guys shooting.

/// END ACT ///

But Nasrin also adamantly believes Yassir Arafat should not have gone to Sharm el-Sheik. She says nothing will come of the agreements worked out there.

/// 2nd NASRIN ACT ///

(Nasrin): I do not think the situation will be quiet and normal again. We have many guys killed and their blood will not go (away) like that because Barak and Yasser Arafat say there is (should be) no violence...

(Pace): You say you, the people here, do not want what the leaders are saying and agreeing to. What do the people here want? What do you want?

(Nasrin): We do not want a deal. We want to stay fighting until we take Jerusalem and (the) al-Aqsa (mosque) back. That is it. It is not just me who says that. We have (made) peace with them. They do not want peace with us.

/// END ACT ///

Right now, neither side believes the other wants peace. While Palestinian and Israeli leaders may have agreed that it is in the interests of both sides to halt the violence, it remains to be seen whether the people will listen. (SIGNED)

NEB/SP/KL/RAE