Military

DATE=11/10/00

TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT

TITLE=BEIT JALA, IN THE CROSSFIRE

NUMBER=5-47362

BYLINE=LAURIE KASSMAN

DATELINE=BEIT JALA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The Palestinian town of Beit Jala on the edge of Bethlehem has been caught in the crossfire for the past six weeks. Israeli tanks and combat helicopters have aimed their fire power at the predominantly Christian enclave in response to gunfire aimed at the Jewish settlement of Gilo across the narrow valley. On Thursday, a combat helicopter shot at the car of a leading Palestinian militiaman as he drove through an adjacent village. He was killed and so were two women passing by in the street. Correspondent Laurie Kassman reports from Beit Jala on a town caught in the crossfire.

TEXT: Beit Jala nestles on the top of a hill with a commanding view of the valley and the Jewish settlement of Gilo on the opposite side. It was famous for its olive oil.

Now it makes headlines for the gun battles that rage almost every night between Israeli military and Palestinian snipers.

The residents of Beit Jala are caught in the middle. They sit helplessly and watch their homes being blasted by Israeli tanks from across the valley.

Yacoub Qumsiya says his house has been shelled four times. It is no longer livable. And he says he cannot understand why.

/// QUMSIYA ACT ///

I don't know. Oh, I don't know. Look, if you see in the Israeli computers and you check my name or my brother's name in the computer of Israel, it's clean. Clean. Can you ask there what is the problem of Yacoub or Ramses or Aisa? It's clean. We don't have any problem for all the intifada.

///END ACT ///

Mr. Qumsiya's eyes fill with tears as he explains how he and his brothers started building the four-story home 15 years ago, floor-by-floor.

/// QUMSIYA ACT TWO ///

It's a new house. The first (floor) when I had money. The second when my brother get married, the third, story-by-story. It's our life. It's our history.

/// END ACT ///

For the past six days, Mr. Qumsiya and his four brothers have been living with their wives and children in four tents on a small dirt clearing up the street from his home.

///QUMSIYA ACT TWO///

Two (tents) for the children and two for the women and the men outside or in the car.

/// END ACT ///

A Greek Orthodox priest of Beit Jala, Father Nicholas, has opened the doors of his church as well for many families who are afraid to sleep at home.

/// NICHOLAS IN ARABIC AND FADE ///

"It was not a plan as such, but in emergencies," he says. "We open the church to let the people sleep. These are our children," he says, "and we must help them."

Father Nicholas says Palestinian gunmen using the area to fire on Israelis see themselves as part of a liberation struggle. He refuses to condemn them.

Emad al Taher's house so far has been spared any heavy damage. But his uncle's house - located nearby - has been shelled so badly by Israeli tank fire that it will have to be torn down and rebuilt.

The house is empty. His uncle lives in Panama. But his uncle has seen the destruction of his house in T-V videos of the nightly shelling from Gilo.

/// TAHER ACT IN ARABIC AND FADE ///

"We are under siege," Mr. Al Taher says. "This is more than a war, because a war is usually outside the populated areas," he says. "But every bullet and every shell can hurt any one of us."

Mr. Al Taher has sent his wife and two children to Jordan for safety.

The Israelis say Palestinian gunmen are using the houses of Beit Jala and nearby villages as cover for their attacks. Israeli tanks respond with shelling of the houses along the ridge.

On Thursday, Israeli Major General Itzhak Eitan acknowledged military strikes against suspected Palestinian snipers may also hurt innocent civilians.

/// EITAN ACT ///

Every military activity inside a populated area can lead to civilian injuries. Unfortunately, the areas in which these people choose to act are intentionally highly populated areas. I'm prepared to act in the western desert, but unfortunately this is not the reality.

/// END ACT ///

A passerby in Beit Jala says Palestinians who fire at the Israeli tanks across the valley are just moving targets, driving along the road, stopping and shooting and moving on. But it is the residents of Beit Jala who pay the price when the Israelis respond. (Signed)

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