SHOTLIST:

Tel Aviv, Israel

1. Israeli flag tilt down to wide of entrance of Dan Hotel

2. Peres and Van Aartsen arriving

3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Shimon Peres, Israeli Foreign Minister "I think there are only excessive initiative. The minute the initiative (inaudible) stop there won't be any reaction of any sort, and that's what we are trying to do, but if somebody sits, even in Zone One, and shoots at Jerusalem day in day out, what should the government do?"

4. Press cutaway

5. Jozias Van Aartsen, Dutch Foreign Minister "We hope that there is still a possibility at this stage to find an end to the deadlock as we have seen it, and see it, at this stage."

6. They leave

Jerusalem

7. Exterior Holiday Inn Hotel

8. Van Aartsen walks into lobby

9. UN middle east envoy Terje Larsen walks down stairs to meet him

10. Various Van Aartsen and Larsen talking

11. Limos waiting outside

Beit Hanina (outskirts of Jerusalem)

12. Rubble of destroyed buildings

13. Wide of houses, pull in to twisted rubble

14. Rubble

15. Group of Palestinian residents

16. Rubble

17. Israeli armoured vehicles driving along road

Beit Jalla (near Bethlehem), West Bank

18. Wide of damaged house

19. Close up of damage on house

20. Mid shot damage

21. Interior child picks through debris of explosion

22. Window pane with bullet holes

23. Children on bed in damaged room

24. Close up debris

25. Wide shot of bedroom, children on bed and cameraman

STORYLINE :

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, known as a voice for moderation and peace, said Monday that Israel was willing to use all possible means to reach to a ceasefire but, that if the Palestinians were shooting, Israel will shoot back.

Peres spoke after meeting his Dutch counterpart Jozias van Aartsen,

who arrived in Israel to learn first-hand about the Palestinian-Israeli

conflict and the breakdown of talks between the two sides.

Later, Van Artsen headed to Jerusalem and a meeting with U.N.

envoy to the Middle East, Terje Roed Larsen.

Larsen condemned Israel's entry into the West Bank village of Beit Jalla, in Palestinian controlled "Area A".

Damage appeared extensive in Beit Jalla, near Bethlehem, a day after

Israeli's tanks pounded houses with artillery as they pursued gunmen who had opened fire on Israeli forces.

Meanwhile, Israel demolished another Palestinian house Monday in Jerusalem's neighbourhood of Beit Hanina.

SHOTLIST:

Night shots

Near Umm Al Fahm, Northern Israel 29 April 2001

1. Emergency vehicles at scene of shooting

2. Men moving car which was damaged in shooting

3. Blood on ground

4. Investigator and blood on ground

5. Investigator collecting evidence

6. Blood on car and bullet hole in car door

Die El Balah, Gaza Strip, 29 April 2001

7. Wide of area of bombed Palestinian command post

8. Various of aftermath in the area

9. Close up damage to buildings

10. Various of hits by shells in buildings

Bethlehem, West Bank 29 April 2001,

10. Wide of funeral procession

11. Close up of body being carried out from house

12. Various of people chanting and marching with body.

Jerusalem, 29 April 2001

13. Pan of demo

14. Various of demo

15. SOUNDBITE: (English) Vox Pop, demonstrator, "Last day on Shabbat, the day of Shabbat when the kids were gathering together for their extra curricular activities the bomb just fell among them the kids, those kids behind me save the life of one of their friends its owing to him his life. But we don't expect miracles to be the routine of our life. For the time being its routine - both miracles and war."

16. Demonstrators

17. Wide of demo

Near Nablus, West Bank, 29 April 2001

18. Road on which bomb exploded

19. Various of debris

STORYLINE :

Violence in the Middle East continued on Sunday despite efforts by Jordan and Egypt to secure a cease fire in the region.

Shimon Peres visited Cairo and was due to travel to Jordan to discuss the proposals

An Israeli man has been killed and an Israeli woman injured after being shot at in Northern Israel.

Israeli police say they suspect the shooting was the work of Palestinian terrorists.

According to newspaper reports in Israel, the car occupants were a family of five travelling back from a trip in northern Israel.

They were shot at near the town of Umm al-Fahm after a car carrying three Arabs stopped them to ask directions, apparently opening fire when the people in the car spoke Hebrew.

The man killed was the driver.

One woman passenger escaped with light injuries and three other passengers were unhurt.

Umm al-Fahm is in southern Galilee, a few minutes drive from the West Bank.

In the Gaza Strip on Sunday Israeli forces Sunday targeted a Palestinian command post in Die El Balah apparently in retaliation for mortar attacks on Jewish settlers in the West Bank.

Earlier on Sunday, two bombs targeting Jewish settlers exploded in the West Bank, but the only fatality was a Palestinian man suspected of setting one of the explosives, officials in Israel said.

Meantime, in Bethlehem, Palestinians buried 34-year-old Imad Karka, killed Saturday near Rachel's tomb.

Karka was shot by accident as Palestinians and Israelis exchanged gunfire. His son was wounded in the eye.

Outside the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem on Sunday a group of young settlers held a demonstration against Palestinian attacks on Jewish settlments.

Also on Sunday what appeared to be a car bomb exploded near a school bus transporting Jewish students on a road in the northern West Bank, near Nablus, the army said.

According to Israeli security sources, the body of a Palestinian man was found in the badly damaged car, and he was suspected of being the perpetrator.

SHOTLIST:

1. Illegal immigrants lying on rugs indoors

2. Tighter shot of some of the immigrants

3. Close up on one man

4. Group of immigrants talking

5. Children playing on mat

6. Women with child

7. Close up on old woman

8. SOUNDBITE (Indonesian) Wiliardi Wizard, Kupang Chief of Police

"We will give this case to Immigration and they will decide the next step for them, whether they're going to be deported or something else."

9. Immigrants outside, chatting

10. Woman at table doing interviews, paperwork

11. Wider shot of registration table

12. People gathering, doing paperwork

13. Men sitting outside, smoking

STORYLINE:

Police in southeast Indonesia have arrested 111 illegal immigrants from the Middle East who were suspected of being bound for Australia, officers said on Thursday.

The suspects, from Iraq, Iran, Algeria and Afghanistan, were detained last week on three islands in East Nusa Tenggara province, said police Lt. Col. Wiliardi Wizard in the provincial capital, Kupang.

Wizard said the group included four women, five children and one baby.

He said the group would be deported.

Wizard said authorities this year have arrested 408 illegal immigrants from the Middle East in the region, some 1,800 kilometres (1,125 miles) southeast of Jakarta.

Indonesia has become a point of entry for many immigrants hoping to reach neighboring Australia.

Many travel by boat from remote Indonesian islands to northern Australia, which has thousands of kilometres of uninhabited coastline.

SHOTLIST:

East Jerusalem, 5 January 2002

1. Abu Alla walks out to meet US peace envoy Anthony Zinni

2. Zinni gets out of car and is greeted by Abu Alla

3. They both walk inside

4. Zinni's car parked in drive

5. Cut away camera man

STORYLINE:

U.S. envoy General Anthony Zinni on Saturday continued his mission to calm tensions in the Middle East, meeting top Palestinian negotiator and Parliament Speaker Ahmed Qureia, also known as Abu Alla.

The meeting took place despite new Israeli accusations that the Palestinian Authority is engaged in terrorism, and tried to smuggle by sea 50 tons of missiles and other weapons into the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Later in the day, Zinni will hold meetings with Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and with Palestinian security officials.

Qureia has also held talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres about the framework of a peace agreement.

Under the plan, Israel would recognize a Palestinian state before the two sides negotiate the two sticking points that led to the collapse of negotiations last year: the status of Jerusalem and the fate of four million Palestinian refugees and their descendants.

However, the Peres-Qureia talks were given little chance of success.

The two remain far apart on the dimensions of the Palestinian state to be recognized by Israel, and Peres does not have the full backing of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Zinni returned to the region on Thursday, for a four-day trip, after his

previous mission was aborted in December amid a surge of factional violence.

The envoy said he was more upbeat this time.

Zinni is trying to nudge both sides toward a formal truce, outlined last year by CIA chief George Tenet.

Under the plan, Israel would withdraw troops to positions they held before the outbreak of fighting in September 2000, and the Palestinian security forces would make an all-out effort to prevent attacks on Israelis by Palestinian militants.

With a truce in place, the two sides would then follow a plan for peaceful co-existence proposed last year by an international commission headed by former US Senator George Mitchell.

SHOTLIST:

East Jerusalem - 5 Jan 2002

1. Palestinian Parliament Speaker Ahmed Qureia (also known as Abu Alla) walks out to meet US peace envoy Gen Anthony Zinni

2. Zinni gets out of car and is greeted by Qureia

3. They both walk inside

4. Zinni's car parked in drive

5. Zinni exiting meeting and climbing aboard his car.

6. Qureia smiling

7. Cut away camera man

8. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Ahmed Qureia, Speaker, Palestinian Parliament:

"Mr. Zinni will leave the area on Monday for 12 days, and will come back on January 18. In the 12 days until then, both sides have to implement some very important steps from the Tenet understanding and Mitchell report."

9. Ahmed Qureia walking back into building with aides

Jericho, West Bank - 5 Jan 2002

10. Exterior Palestinian Authority building

11. Close up Palestinian Authority sign

12. Zinni and Erekat meeting, both shake hands

13. Zinni and Erekat walking out of meeting together

14. SOUNDBITE: (English) Anthony Zinni, US Peace Envoy:

"I'm hopeful, I'm encouraged, and I think it's going to take co-operation by both sides and a deep commitment to get the meaningful cease-fire we need so we can get this process in order."

15. SOUNDBITE: (English) Saeb Erekat, Palestinian Negotiator:

"I think the general is exacting every possible effort in order to bring us and the Israelis back on track - the peace process back on track. We are continuing our deliberations, our conversations with the general, the political and security track. Tomorrow there will be a security meeting headed by General Zinni and, as President Arafat said, we will not hesitate in exerting every possible effort to ensure the success of the mission, hoping that us and the Israelis are brought back to the negotiating table as soon as possible."

16. Zinni and Erekat exit Palestinian Authority building together and get into their own cars.

STORYLINE:

US peace envoy General Anthony Zinni pressed ahead with his mission to mend Middle East tensions on Saturday, amid Israeli charges that the Palestinian Authority is engaged in terrorism, and tried to smuggle 50 tons of missiles and other weapons into the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Zinni met Palestinian Parliament Speaker Ahmed Qureia, also known as Abu Alla, and relayed Washington's desire that both sides are to begin carrying out a truce deal in the coming days.

Zinni, a retired US Marine Corps General, promised he would return to the region Jan. 18 to assess progress, according to Qureia.

However, Israel has said it was not ready to observe a formal truce until there have been seven days of complete calm.

Israel announced on Friday that it has intercepted a vessel carrying 50 tons of Iranian-made weapons, including rockets and anti-tank missiles, which it claimed where bound for the Palestinian Authority.

The Palestinian Authority has vehemently denied any knowledge of the arms, which were seized on board the 4000-ton cargo ship "Karine A" in the Red Sea, hundreds of miles from Israel's shores.

Later on Saturday, in the West Bank town of Jericho, Zinni met with Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, telling reporters afterward that he was encouraged that a workable peace deal could still be agreed upon by all sides.

SHOTLIST:

1. General views of East Jerusalem with Israeli flag on Jewish home in foreground

2. Longshot mosque with barrier in the background on skyline

3. Zoom in on Israeli home in Silwan in East Jerusalem

4. Jewish home being built near barrier

5. Israeli security guard

6. Settlers moving into new house in East Jerusalem

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Daniel Luria, spokesman for Ateret Cohanim

"There is no question that the wall which is currently built more or less on the borders of Jerusalem, the municipality in Jerusalem definitively serves our purpose. From our point of view there is no such concept of East and West Jerusalem, there is united Jerusalem."

8. Security guard on roof of house and zoom out to barrier

9. Settlers outside house

10. Settlers inside their new house

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Daniel Luria, spokesman for Ateret Cohanim

"When there are Arabs who are ready to sell - we are not going door knocking - there are Arabs ready to sell

and like any multicultural democratic society we buy. We have bought, we claim that there are Arabs ready to sell, we simply buy."

12. Longshot of Silwan street

13. Palestinian woman walking in to her house, pan to mosque in Silwan

14. Security guard outside Jewish home in Silwan

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Jamal Zeitoun, resident of Silwan

"The people, it's not in the heart my God, my God is not in their hearts, in their hearts it is land and money and they go to the money, they go to the money."

16. Jamal walking away with his child

17. Longshot of East Jerusalem

STORYLINE:

While the world focuses on a Gaza pullout plan and ending four years of bloodshed, Jews are discreetly buying up Arab properties and strengthening their presence in a future battleground - the Palestinian areas of Jerusalem.

The Israelis - backed by three nonprofit organisations and the government - are working to rejuvenate long-dormant Jewish life in Arab-dominated areas of Jerusalem.

The more Jews move to the Arab part of Jerusalem, the more difficult it will be to divide the city - which both Israelis and Palestinians claim as their capital under a final peace deal.

Today, some 5,000 Jews live among about 200,000 Palestinians in Arab-dominated areas of Jerusalem.

Along with their biblical beliefs that they are bringing Jews home, the settlers hope their mere presence will make it

impossible to divide the city, annexed by Israel after it was captured from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war.

The contentious West Bank barrier - being built on what Israel would like to see become the internationally recognised border of Jerusalem - is further assisting the settlers.

Daniel Luria, is the spokesman for Ateret Cohanim, one of the nonprofit groups dedicated to bringing Jews to Jerusalem's Old City and Arab neighbourhoods.

Ateret Cohanim buys properties, sometimes through Arab middlemen, offering extravagant prices and promising total protection and anonymity to the Palestinian sellers.

They renovate the buildings, usually turning them into multiunit apartments, and bring large, mostly ultra-Orthodox, families to live in them.

Jews have now more than doubled their numbers to some 800 people in the Muslim and Christian Quarters of Jerusalem's Old City in the past five years.

One Muslim Quarter Jewish homeowner is Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

In the past four years, nearly 60 percent of Ateret Cohanim's funds came from international donors, most of them in the United States, Luria said.

The settlers say they want to coexist with their Arab neighbours, but instead infuriate the Palestinian residents just by being there.

Protected by large steel gates and the barrels of several M-16s, the Jews do not even walk down the street unescorted.

Palestinians sometimes clash with their unwanted neighbours, throwing firebombs, stones and sticks.

SHOTLIST:

Beit Hanina, East Jerusalem

1. Sari Nusseibeh coming out of police headquarters at Beit Hanina, being greeted at gate

2. Nusseibeh surrounded by journalists

3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Sari Nusseibeh, President of al-Quds University:

"The border police took me because they said there were people working on a new site that were from the West Bank. They made me spend all this time in the morning to tell them I had no idea about it."

(Q: "Do you think it's connected to your political activity?")

"I don't know what it's connected to. Maybe they don't have any other business to do."

(Q: "Why are they doing this to you now?")

"Maybe they woke up this morning and decided this was a good thing for them to do."

(Q: Would they do the same to the president of the Hebrew University who employs two gardeners in the garden of the Hebrew University?")

"I don't think the president of the Hebrew University is under occupation. I am."

4. Nusseibeh walking away

5. Nusseibeh getting into car

6. Car driving away

STORYLINE:

Israeli police briefly arrested prominent Palestinian moderate and peace campaigner Sari Nusseibeh on Wednesday morning, accusing him of hiring Palestinian labourers from the West Bank to work at the university he heads.

Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said border police on patrol stopped to check the documents of four Palestinian workers at al-Quds University whom they believed to be illegal.

According to Ben-Ruby, the workers fled to the university's administration building, and all five were arrested.

Ben-Ruby said Nusseibeh came out of the university and told the police he was responsible for the men; but Nusseibeh told reporters outside the Beit Hanina police headquarters that: "I had no idea about it".

Nusseibeh was released without charge after about five hours in custody.

Nusseibeh, who is president of the Jerusalem university, has been working to gather support for a peace plan he put together with Ami Ayalon, former chief of Israel's Shin Bet security service.

The plan envisions a Palestinian state alongside Israel, and the two have collected tens of thousands of signatures supporting it.

The grass-roots plan has gained international prominence, with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan endorsing it and US Secretary of State Colin Powell meeting with Nusseibeh and Ayalon last year to give them his support.

SHOTLIST:

1. Wideshot of University

2. Sign saying Al Quds University

3. Notice in window

4. Various of students sitting outside waiting

5. Sign outside university administration office

6. Sari Nusseibeh arriving

7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Sari Nusseibeh, President of Al-Quds University

"The order to shut down the offices, in our opinion, was without foundation, baseless. The accusation was that this administration was being used as a representation office for the Palestinian Authority. And we basically objected to this and there was no grounds to prove this, that we were, or that we are, or that we will be a representation office of the Palestinian Authority. This is the administration office of a university which is a non-governmental organisation. "

8. Nusseibeh standing outside building

9. Various of people sitting outside building

10. Sari Nusseibeh entering building

STORYLINE:

Israeli authorities agreed on Monday to allow the reopening of the office of the leading Palestinian official in east Jerusalem, Sari Nusseibeh, after police closed it two weeks ago.

Professor Nusseibah's office is in the Al-Quds University.

He is also president of the university.

The closure order also shut down the university.

Israel had alleged that Nusseibeh had violated peace accords by engaging in political activity in the disputed sector of the city; he is also the PLO's 'Commissioner for Jerusalem Affairs'.

The re-opening of the office has been seen as a small step towards reducing tensions between Israel and the Palestinians.

Nusseibeh reportedly signed a document on Monday agreeing not to be involved in any political activity.

Speaking to reporters outside the university, Professor Nusseibah said the premises had never been used to

represent the interests of the Palestinian Authority - nor would they be.

The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state but Israel considers the area its 'eternal and

undivided' capital.

SHOTLIST:

1. Israeli security officer hiding behind truck at scene of shooting

2. Israeli bomb disposal policeman looking for explosives

3. Various paramedics and security surround wounded on ground

4. Zoom in to truck involved in shooting

5. Mid shot of money change sign

6. Various of people surrounding dead man on floor, believed to be attacker

7. Police helicopter circling above

8. Israeli bomb disposal officer searching inside restaurant

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Carl Williams, American tourist and eyewitness:

"I was walking out here, we were going to do a little tourism and I saw a uniformed person sitting on the running board of the truck that is here and he had a pistol in his hand and he, I think the person was in the truck. I looked really quickly and he raised the gun to the person in the truck and then I just saw the gun and I just jumped on the ground, just where we are standing and right when I jumped on the ground I hear pop, pop, pop, probably two or three shots from a pistol I thought and then I heard returning fire from probably an automatic weapon in a different place which I think must have been, looking now, it is the shots through the window."

10. Various of dead man on ground

STORYLINE:

A Palestinian gunman thought to be in his early twenties drew a pistol and fired into the cab of a truck on a busy street corner in east Jerusalem on Sunday.

Border policemen on patrol in the area returned fire, killing the attacker and two bystanders.

Another six people were rushed to hospital with gunshot wounds.

Police said the young man aimed at the driver and passenger of the truck belonging to Israel's phone company as it was stuck in traffic on Sultan Suleiman street.

Local shopkeepers said the policemen opened fire before they had properly identified the assailant.

The attack was the second terror incident in Israel in less than five hours.

SHOTLIST:

1. Various of bulldozer demolishing roof of house

2. Various of police standing guard

3. Palestinian women shouting at police

4. More of police and crowd standing near houses

5. Various of remains of demolished house

6. Various of bulldozer and police leaving area

7. Man walking around the remains of bulldozed house

STORYLINE:

Israeli police have accompanied bulldozers into the Arab neighbourhood of Beit Hanina in East Jerusalem where they demolished two homes.

The Jerusalem municipality said the houses had been built without proper planning permission and their demolition had been ordered by the district court.

An angry crowd gathered outside the houses on Tuesday morning, but a large police presence prevented any trouble.

Jerusalem municipal authorities regularly order the demolition of what they claim are illegally built structures, but this invariably happens in Arab neighbourhoods.

Planning and building code violations in Jewish areas are generally punished with fines.

SHOTLIST:

Jerusalem

1. Wide shot of right-wing Jewish demonstration outside Orient House by right wing movement,

Betar.

2. Protestors pushing and shoving police

3. Various of scuffles between police and demonstrators

4. Police arresting demonstrator who is lying face down on ground

5. Demonstrators being arrested and led away

6. Various of demonstrators waving banners and placards and chanting anti-arab slogans.

7. Palestinian driver arguing with police after demonstrator threw lit cigarette at his car

8. Border police move in to separate the two parties

9. Police lead Palestinian man away

East Jerusalem

10. Wide shot of security at Damascus Gate

11. Various shots showing heavy police presence inside the Old City around the gate

12. Police at barricades

Ramallah, West Bank

13. Various shots of Qalandia checkpoint outside Ramallah

14. Israeli soldiers stopping cars and checking identification

15. Cars being turned back at road block

Bethlehem, West Bank

16. Israeli soldiers at checkpoint

17. People and cars being stopped

18. Wide border sign

STORYLINE:

A small right-wing demonstration organised by the Betar movement took place outside Orient House on Friday, the unofficial east Jerusalem headquarters of the Palestinian Authority.

Israel took over the headquarters and other Palestinian institutions following two suicide bombs last week.

The demonstrators waved banners and chanted slogans demanding Israeli Prime minister Ariel Sharon be tougher on the Palestinians.

Border police had to intervene after one of the protestors threw a lit cigarette through the window of a passing Palestinian car.

The driver got out and began remonstrating with the protestors and border police moved in to separate the two sides.

The Palestinian man was led away by police.

Also on Friday, the Israeli military stepped up security around Jerusalem after receiving what it said were intelligence reports of plans for major terrorist attacks in both Jerusalem and Northern Israel.

From Thursday afternoon, the West Bank town of Ramallah was closed off by Israeli troops- due to the alerts about a possible attack in Jerusalem.

Cars heading from Ramallah toward Jerusalem were turned back.

Palestinian sources said that the Israeli army had also blocked the northwest exit from Bethlehem toward Jerusalem.

SHOTLIST

1. Wide shot news briefing room

2. Medium shot media

3. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Ambassador Wang Shijie, Chinese special envoy to the Middle East:

"Through this visit I feel that there appears a new hope of a resumption of peaceful talks on the Palestinian and Israeli issue. However the topics which will be talked about are still very hard and highly sensitive. Furthermore, various elements are still pulling back the progress so even if the talks are resumed in the future, there is still a difficult way to go."

4. Wide shot media

5. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Ambassador Wang Shijie, Chinese special envoy to the Middle East:

"In the future, there are many issues which demand that both sides make compromises and these compromises will be hard to make. Among them are three major issues: One is the issue of land, or how much land Israel will agree to return to the Palestinians. Another one is the return of the refugees. The third one is the request from the Palestinian side to make east Jerusalem the capital of the future Palestinian state. All these are thorny and sensitive issues."

6. Wide shot media

7. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Ambassador Wang Shijie, Chinese special envoy to the Middle East:

"The Palestinian side does not have many compromises to make and since Israel is now in a much stronger position with huge advantages, I think the Israelis should take more actions in this respect."

8. Wide shot Ambassador Wang

9. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Ambassador Wang Shijie, Chinese special envoy to the Middle East:

"The Chinese position on the Palestinian-Israeli issue is a just and impartial one."

10. Close shot hands of a journalist taking notes

11. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Ambassador Wang Shijie, Chinese special envoy to the Middle East:

"Our position is still to realise a peaceful resolution of the Middle East issues on the basis of the related resolutions adopted by the United Nations."

12. Wide shot briefing room

13. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Ambassador Wang Shijie, Chinese special envoy to the Middle East:

"In the meantime we also think that the peaceful resolution of the issues should also be based on international agreements and the principle of land for peace. China supports all the international efforts that will help promote the peace process in the Middle East and an impartial solution of this problem. For example China will keep on supporting the 'Roadmap'."

14. Wide shot briefing room

STORYLINE

China's special envoy to the Middle East said on Tuesday that a new hope and opportunity for the resumption of talks between the Palestinians and Israel has come up following the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

China's special envoy to the Middle East, Ambassador Wang Shijie, has just finished a four-day visit to the Middle East.

During a news briefing in Beijing, he said both the new Palestinian leadership and the Israeli government expressed the willingness to resume the peace process in the Middle East.

According to Wang, the power transition within the Palestinians was by far a "stable and smooth" one.

Along with what he described as the "wise" actions of the Israelis since Arafat's death, Wang said he has enough reason to believe the possibility of resuming the peace process is there.

However, Wang said there is still a long and difficult journey ahead before any agreement between the two sides is reached.

During the briefing, Wang also reiterated China's "just and impartial" position on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

English/Nat

The U-S Middle East envoy Dennis Ross spoke on Wednesday about America's commitment to the peace process in the Middle East.

The comments were made during a lunch with business leaders to discuss peace in that region.

At a luncheon hosted by the Middle East Forum, American envoy Dennis Ross expressed the view that implementation of the Wye River accord is crucial in moving to the final stage of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

That accord envisaged a staged handover of West Bank land in exchange for measured steps by Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority against extremists.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"We for our part at this stage are focused on seeing Wye implemented first because it's a good agreement. Both sides agree to it and both sides see its balance and it ought to be implemented. Secondly, because if you can't implement Wye it's very difficult to see that you can achieve a permanent status agreement. So first things first, let's get Wye implemented."

SUPER CAPTION: Dennis Ross, US Envoy to the Middle East

Ross indicated that the Israeli election campaign shouldn't necessarily prevent Wye's implementation from moving ahead.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"Well both sides have made it very clear to us that they are prepared to implement. They obviously are defining how best to translate that not in the same way at this point. As I've just said our commitment is to do all we can to ensure that Wye does get implemented so we're going to work with both sides and we're going to try to ensure that the implementation of Wye takes place and there's no reason not to do that."

SUPER CAPTION: Dennis Ross, US Envoy to the Middle East

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused the Palestinians of not keeping to their commitments, and has said that Israel would not move forward on its commitments until the Palestinians meet a series of conditions.

Ross said that Palestinian's had carried out some important commitments, but acknowledged that some work remained to done.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"Well as I've said before, we believe that they have carried out many of their commitments, especially in the area of nullifying the charter and fighting terror. There are questions -- there are problems -- in some of the areas that they have to do that's one of the reasons that I would like to bring the two sides together. The Israelis have clear questions about some of the Palestinian commitment the Palestinians have questions about the Israeli side. The only way to resolve that is by talking to each other not by leveling accusations against each other."

SUPER CAPTION: (English) Dennis Ross, US Envoy to the Middle East

Israel's elections are scheduled for May the 17 - about two weeks after the 5-year interim phase of the landmark Oslo agreement was supposed to end.

Palestinians have threatened to unilaterally declare a state on that date, May 4, 1999.

New York, USA - 20 January 1999

1. Wide of Republic National Bank of New York building

2. Republic National Bank of New York sign

3. Dennis Ross walks up to podium

4. Audience at luncheon

5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dennis Ross, US Envoy to the Middle East

6. Man in audience listens

7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dennis Ross, US Envoy to the Middle East

8. Men in audience pullout to man asking question

9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dennis Ross, US Envoy to the Middle East

10. Guests applaud with pan of room

STORY: UN / MIDDLE EAST

TRT: 2.03

SOURCE: UNTV

RESTRICTIONS: NONE

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 17 SEPTEMBER 2010, NEW YORK CITY

SHOTLIST:

RECENT 2010, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters

17 SEPTEMBER 2010, NEW YORK CITY

2. Wide shot, Security Council meeting

3. Cutaway, delegate

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Richard Serry Special Coordinatoir for the Middle East, United Nations:

"I strongly remind Hamas that the path of non-violence, Palestinian unity, and acceptance of basic principles of the peace process is the only one through which legitimate Palestinian aspirations can be attained."

5. Cutaway, delegates

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Richard Serry Special Coordinatoir for the Middle East, United Nations:

"However, the World Bank warns that unless action is taken in the near future to address the remaining obstacles to private sector development and sustainable growth, the PA will remain donor dependent and its institutions, no matter how robust, will not be able to underpin a viable state. As the PA seeks to roll out the basis for its state, measures of occupation must be rolled back."

7. Cutaway, delegates

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Richard Serry Special Coordinatoir for the Middle East, United Nations:

"I believe it is possible and desirable for more to be done to ease these constraints, as well as to enable Gazans to move more freely, consistent with legitimate Israeli security concerns. I continue to support efforts to enhance the presence of the Palestinian Authority at crossings."

9. Cutaway, delegates

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Richard Serry Special Coordinatoir for the Middle East, United Nations:

"With renewed peace talks, the opportunity is great and the stakes are high. Making peace will not be easy and carries risks, but the dangers of not trying are much graver. Both leaders have shown that they recognize this. Having summoned the courage to begin, they must now sustain the courage to progress, and find the wisdom to statesmanship to lead their governments and peoples to a peace agreement."

11. Wide shot, Security Council delegates leaving the chamber behind

STORYLINE:

The recent resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian talks has brought new hope for achieving a lasting peace in the Middle East, the United Nations (UN) envoy to the region said today, while calling on the leaders of the two sides to stay the course until an agreement is reached.

After months of proximity talks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, came together earlier this month in Washington D.C. under the auspices of the United States (US) to launch direct negotiations. The Israeli and Palestinian leaders conducted a second round of talks on 14 September in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, and on 15 September in Jerusalem. The leaders have agreed to seek a solution based on two States for two peoples, and that the negotiations could be completed within one year, Serry reported.

Serry stressed the need for both leaders to "refrain from provocative actions and work as partners to create an environment conducive to successful negotiations."

As for the situation on the ground, the Special Coordinator voiced alarm at the recent upsurge in violence in Gaza, noting that it can only set back efforts to make progress in the territory. In recent weeks, Palestinian militants fired 10 rockets and 22 mortars from Gaza into Israel, injuring two Israelis and hitting close to residential areas in southern Israel. Israeli forces, meanwhile, conducted 10 air strikes and 18 incursions into Gaza, killing seven Palestinians and injuring four others.

Serry "strongly" reminded Hamas authorities that the path of non-violence, Palestinian unity, and acceptance of basic principles of the peace process was "the only one through which legitimate Palestinian aspirations can be attained."

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had reported economic growth in the West Bank and Gaza this year with growth for 2010 "conservatively projected at 8 percent". In the West Bank private sector confidence continued to be bolstered by sound PA management, and reforms supported by donor aid, improvements in the security conditions and fewer controls on internal movement of goods and people than in 2009.

However, Serry said that the World Bank warned that unless action was taken in the near future to address the remaining obstacles to private sector development and sustainable growth, the PA would remain donor dependent and its institutions would not be able to underpin a viable state. Serry emphasized that "as the PA seeks to roll out the basis for its state, measures of occupation must be rolled back."

"I believe it is possible and desirable for more to be done to ease these constraints, as well as to enable Gazans to move more freely, consistent with legitimate Israeli security concerns. I continue to support efforts to enhance the presence of the Palestinian Authority at crossings," he added.

Serry noted that the partial easing of the Israeli blockade had helped generate 16 percent growth in Gaza in the first half of this year. He said that there were now 1365 industries establishments operating in Gaza, up from 117 in 2008, but he said that still this was only one third of the 3900 operating before June 2007.

Serry said that he believed that it was possible "and desirable for more to be done to ease these constraints, as well as to enable Gazans to move more freely, consistent with legitimate Israeli security concerns." He added that he continued to support efforts to enhance the presence of the Palestinian Authority at crossings.

The Special Envoy ended his statement by reminding delegates that with renewed peace talks, "the opportunity is great and the stakes are high."

He said that making peace would not be easy and carried risks, but he added that the dangers of not trying "are much graver. Both leaders have shown that they recognize this. Having summoned the courage to begin, they must now sustain the courage to progress, and find the wisdom to statesmanship to lead their governments and peoples to a peace agreement."

To review progress in the talks and in the overall search for peace in the region, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will host a meeting of the Quartet - the Middle East diplomatic grouping comprising the UN, the US, the European Union and Russia, on Tuesday in New York.

English/Nat

The Clinton Administration was cautiously upbeat on Friday about the upcoming peace talks between Syria and Israel, hoping that the two nation's willingness to resume talks would lead to greater stability in the Middle East.

U-S President Bill Clinton will launch peace talks between Israel and Syria on Wednesday at the White House and keep close watch over the negotiations on a land-for-peace accord.

Speaking at a State Department press conference on Friday, U-S Mediator Dennis Ross said he was under no illusions that talks between Syria and Israel would be fraught with disagreement.

But Ross said he believed the talks have the potential to make a real and lasting progress in the region.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"We are here to help, we have a very deep desire to ensure that complete Peace can be achieved. As the President has said repeatedly and the Secretary has said repeatedly, we are going to whatever it is we can to help facilitate the achievement of the objectives and obviously we feel that we are at a moment that has great possibilities. But also I think attached are great difficulties. There are difficult decisions to be made and these are difficult negotiations. I think we have to understand there's a resumption of negotiations, that have promise, but you still have to conduct them to see if you can bring them to a conclusion."

SUPER CAPTION: Dennis Ross, United States Special Coordinator for Middle East Peace Talks

Clinton will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Sharaa, and keep them close at hand through the negotiations, which are due to end the following day.

Ross also said the talks will be centered on Syrian demands to reclaim the strategic Golan Heights enclave, with the Syrian President, Hafez Assad playing a crucial role.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"In terms of the negotiations I will simply say as I already said, that I think that President Assad will be involved in them and we'll see how the process unfolds. I said before I wouldn't exclude the possibility that the second phase of the negotiations would be in the United States."

SUPER CAPTION: Dennis Ross, United States Special Coordinator for Middle East Peace Talks

To help oversee the talks, another US official said, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is cancelling a trip to Panama for ceremonies marking the US handover of the Panama Canal and may also cancel a trip to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization winter meeting in Brussels in order to attend the discussions in Washington.

Syria and Israel broke off negotiations over 3 years ago amid a spate of terrorist attacks on Israel.

Ross acknowledged Europe's role in bringing Israel and Syria to the table again.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"Well certainly there were a number of different formal and informal Europeans who were talking in Damascus and I think they were doing all they could to urge a resumption of the negotiations. I can't calibrate precisely what impact that had in terms of this decision, but I certainly think that it was factored into calcus." (brought into account)

SUPER CAPTION Dennis Ross, United States Special Coordinator for Middle East Peace Talks

After the White House session the talks will be shifted to Blair House, the presidential guest house across Pennsylvania Avenue, or to another nearby location, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Any further talks likely would be held in the Middle East, although U-S and Israeli officials have been dropping hints they expect a quick settlement.

Washington D.C, USA - 10 December 1999 XFA

1. Dennis Ross walks up to podium at State Department Press Room

2. Cutaway press

3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dennis Ross,United States Special Coordinator for Middle East Peace Talks

4. Cutaway to journalists

5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dennis Ross, United States Special Coordinator for Middle East Peace Talks

6. Cutaway to Journalists

7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dennis Ross, United States Special Coordinator for Middle East Peace Talks

8. Cutaway press

English/Nat

Last week's election of Ehud Barak to Israeli Prime Minister has sparked new interest in the Middle East peace negotiations.

Movement toward peace between Israel and the Palestinians stalled because of Israel's elections.

The United States government is poised to give the peace talks another try once the more hard-lined Benjamin Netanyahu is out of power.

But reports in Monday morning's newspaper U-S-A Today that Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat may have reached an agreement on Jerusalem were treated with skepticism.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"When you see headlines in a newspaper that suggest deals are being struck, you ought to approach them with great skepticism. You have someone who has been elected prime minister, he now deserves time to form a government. And I think the best thing to do in thinking about where we are at this point, as I said, is not to go ahead and try to dissect all the key issues. It's best to take a step back, and when it comes to peace approach it with some perspective."

SUPER CAPTION: Dennis Ross, Special Middle East Coordinator, U.S. State Department

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"Any other basis is not relevant, and is not appropriate, and we will say so."

SUPER CAPTION: Dennis Ross, Special Middle East Coordinator, U.S. State Department

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"The parties will get there if we see a relationship between them. If we see a reemergence of partnership between them. If they approach peacemaking from the standpoint of developing cooperation and not developing competition. If we see them working together and not with the mindset that is zero sum in character. Also we can get them if the mindset is one that is not characterized by a grudging approach."

SUPER CAPTION: Dennis Ross, Special Middle East Coordinator, U.S. State Department

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"That report, in our view, won the premature of the year report. In our view, the government of Mr. Barak is going to take some time to form his government. And in that period, I would treat all such reports with a high degree of skepticism."

SUPER CAPTION: James Rubin, U.S. State Department spokesman

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"We keep talking about a peace for our children and for generation to come and I think we've got that wrong. What I'd like to say Prime Minister elect Barak is what we should be saying is to have peace now for us and for our children and generations to come."

SUPER CAPTION: King Abdullah bin Al-Hussein of Jordan

Washington, D-C and New York, U-S-A - 24 May 1999

Washington, D-C

1. Dennis Ross, Special Middle East Envoy, U.S. State Department, at podium

2. Wide shot Ross at podium

3 SOUNDBITE: (English) Dennis Ross, Special Middle East Envoy, U.S. State Department

4. Cutaway audience

5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dennis Ross, Special Middle East Envoy, U.S. State Department

6. Side shot Ross

7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dennis Ross, Special Middle East Envoy, U.S. State Department

8. Wide shot U-S State Department press room

9. SOUNDBITE: (English) James Rubin, U-S State Department spokesman

New York

10. Wide shot, King Abdullah going to the podium, pan

11. SOUNDBITE: (English) King Abdullah bin Al-Hussein of Jordan

12. Wide shot audience

SHOTLIST:

1. Close-up Powell walking into room

2. Wide and close-up view of audience

3. Side view Powell at podium

4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Colin Powell, US Secretary of State:

"Today, as Secretary of State, the Middle East requires and deserves a great deal of my attention. The Middle East Policy has emphasized winning the war on terrorism, disarming Iraq and bringing the Arab-Israeli conflict to an end. The war on terrorism is not confined to the Middle East, our friends there have a very important stake in that conflict and in winning that conflict because many have suffered the scourge of terrorism first hand."

5. Wide view audience

6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Colin Powell, US Secretary of State:

"I am pleased to announce the initial results of our work, an innovative set of programmes and a framework for future cooperation that we call the US Middle East Partnership Initiative. The US Middle East Partnership Initiative is a bridge between the United States and the Middle East, between our governments and our peoples. An initiative that spans the hope gap with energy, ideas and funding. Our partnership initiative is a continuation and a deepening of our long-standing commitment to working with all the peoples of the Middle East to improve their daily lives and to help them face the future with hope."

7. Push in view of Powell speaking

8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Colin Powell, US Secretary of State:

"We have been working on this since before 9/11 and I think it is something that can be seen as totally separate from 9/11. We should do this because it is the right thing to do. The pillars I talked about, the programmes I talked about are relevant before and after 9/11, perhaps after 9/11 somewhat more relevant because to the extent that you have populations where people are angry, people are frustrated, people do not feel that their lives are improving then you have the possibility of additional radicalization of the population."

9. Close-up people listening

10. Side view Powell speaking

STORYLINE:

Secretary of State Colin Powell on Thursday outlined a new Bush administration programme aimed at helping Arab society.

Powell announced an initial contribution of $29 million (US dollar) and pledged to seek more from Congress and rich Arab countries.

With the programme the administration hopes to deflect radicalism and combat illiteracy and poverty through scholarships and economic development.

In outlining the new programme, Powell acknowledged that the Middle East was consuming a lot of his time.

He added that the administration hoped that the new initiative would provide a bridge between the U-S and the Middle East.

Few details were released by Powell in a speech and news conference at the Heritage Foundation, a private research group.

Next week, Powell will host a conference with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and leaders of the European Union on the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Russian/Eng/Nat

Representatives of Israel, the Palestinians, and several Arab states met on Tuesday in Moscow, in an attempt to improve Middle East regional cooperation,

The one-day talks were jointly chaired by Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and U-S Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

They also hope to inject new initiative into the stalled Middle East peace process.

Russian acting President Vladimir Putin welcomed the participants and pledged that his country would make stronger efforts to help achieve a settlement.

In Moscow - to aid the faltering Mid East peace process - Madeleine Albright, U-S Secretary of State was joined by a host of other foreign ministers.

Representatives from Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Tunis and Canada, as well as the European Union were on site to hammer out their differences.

Regional co operation in the Middle East was also discussed.

It's the first time there has been such a high level meeting in Moscow since 1992.

But, despite the number of delegates, Syria and Lebanon have refused to send their representatives to the conference.

They've justified this by their failure to reach bilateral agreements with Israel.

Their open debate after more than three hours of talks underscored the dip in relations between the U-S and Russia.

This has also been marked by disagreement over a potential U-S program for space-based weapons that Russia insists would fuel a race in offensive nuclear arms.

Russian acting president Vladimir Putin later addressed the participants, saying that a Middle East settlement would rank high among Russia's foreign policy priorities.

And he maintained Russia was no longer fighting for spheres of influence in the Middle East.

SOUNDBITE: (Russian)

"A real possibility has appeared the put an end the 50 years of armed confrontation in the area. There is a serious chance to open the way forward to establish a system of relations founded on mutual trust, respect and equality."

SUPER CAPTION: Vladimir Putin, Russian Acting President

The United States long has taken the lead in bringing Israeli and Palestinian leaders closer together.

By hosting the conference, Moscow is now trying to assume a more active role in the peace talks after years on the sidelines.

Israel's Foreign Minister said his country was determined to stay on track with the peace process.

SOUNDBITE: (Hebrew)

"We are fighting an enemy where this enemy states clearly it intends to damage and hurt Israel and derail the peace process. Israel has the power to retaliate against such threats and will do so if it sees fit."

SUPER CAPTION: David Levy, Israeli Foreign Minister

Later at a news conference with Russia's Foreign Minister, Albright commented on the troubles in Lebanon.

Albright called on Syria to use its influence with Islamic militant Hezbollah to end fighting in southern Lebanon.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"The unfortunate events in southern Lebanon are not at all helpful to the process. And we call on Syria, Lebanon and Israel to use restraint."

SUPER CAPTION: Madeleine Albright, U-S Secretary of State

But as well as discussions over the Middle East, Albright has drawn attention to Russia's more local problem - Chechnya.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

(taking about Chechnya) "We have been contributing humanitarian assistance and obviously would continue to do so. But, the main point here is let's have this end. We believe, as I said yesterday, that there needs to be a negotiated settlement to this, both sides have to sit down an negotiate and talk over."

SUPER CAPTION: Madeleine Albright, U-S Secretary of State

Albright also had a chance to visit the beautiful Christ Saviour cathedral in Moscow.

She spoke about the days events outside the building.

SOUNDBITE:(English)

"Q: Do you think there was a breakthrough at the Middle East talks today?

A: The multilateral tracks are going again and I consider that a very important development."

SUPER CAPTION: Madeleine Albright, U-S Secretary of State

Tuesday's conference will also direct five working groups to find ways to improve transport, water resources, tourism and trade in the Middle East.

XFA Moscow, Russia, 1 February 2000

1. Wide pan across conference

2. Close up Javier Solana

3. Mid shot Secretary of State Madeleine Albright enters

4. Wide of conference

5. Close up Foreign Minister David Levy, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov

6. Close up Albright

7. Wide shot conference, Putin enters

8. Cutaway Portuguese Foreign Minister, Jaime Gama and EU commissioner Chris Patten

9. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Vladimir Putin, Acting Russian President

10. Cutaway officials

11. Mid shot zoom in Albright, Putin handshake

12. Set-up Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy

13. Cutaway flags

14. SOUNDBITE: (English) David Levy, Israeli Foreign Minister

15. Flags

16. Albright and Ivanov enter presser

17. Wide of media

18. SOUNDBITE: (English) Madeleine Albright, U-S Secretary of State

19. Wide of media

20. SOUNDBITE: (English) Madeleine Albright, U-S Secretary of State

21. Wide of ceiling of cathedral, pan down to Albright

22. Mid shot of U-S ambassador James Collins, Albright and cleric

23. Cathedral ceiling

24. Wide of Albright she exits, waves

25. SOUNDBITE: (English) Madeleine Albright, U-S Secretary of State

26. Albright walks to car

English/Nat

A breakthrough Middle East agreement, mediated by U-S President Bill Clinton over nine torturous days, opens the way for Israel and the Palestinians to enter negotiations for a permanent peace.

But many have expressed concern about the agreement - including Israel's ambassador to America.

Around the world, there have also been critical responses.

After the euphoria of the peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, people are now critically examining the accord.

Even U-S President Bill Clinton has cautioned that even under the best circumstances, a permanent peace accord will be hard to get.

Many hardline Palestinians reject the deal, and Israelis are concerned that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under pressure from America, has sold them out to a peace deal that favours the Palestinians.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"We are giving land and getting back words, promises for the future. And we have to be sure that those promises we are getting now, unlike the promises that we got five years ago that weren't implemented in the area, that they will be implemented now. Because we are risking, we are risking our future."

SUPER CAPTION: Shmuel Sisso, Israeli Consul General

But of course Palestinians believe they too are risking a great deal with this agreement, as are perhaps all who sat at this table.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"This is a very small step. Very agonizing small step. It's taken almost two years, nine days of presidential time. The, really, the president's foreign policy team full time, other things couldn't be addressed during these nine days, for a very small step. But it is a good step and it's good that it's been achieved."

SUPER CAPTION: Judith Kipper, Middle East analyst, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies

But despite all of the hard work, the achievement may never happened because of this man, Jonathan Pollard.

Israel was seeking the release of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard from the United States, as goodwill gestures to mark a landmark peace deal.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"Having made the effort to get Pollard and having it out in the public already, will serve the prime minister's purposes because he is going back with an agreement in which Israel agrees to give back territory which is extremely unpopular with his own constituency. I think that this was really a political manoeuvre by the Israelis to make this agreement more palatable to Israeli public opinion."

SUPER CAPTION: Judith Kipper, Middle East analyst, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies

Kipper believes the effort to shore up his political standing back home may come at a high price for Netanyahu and Israel.

An already strained relationship with the Clinton administration, strained even further by the Wye Plantation talks, may have further tattered the critical strategic alliance between the U-S and Israel.

And the close cultural ties of American and Israeli Jewish communities makes it all the more riskier for Netanyahu, who must curry favour with both.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"I think it has further strained U-S-Israeli relations, and further strained the relationship between the Prime Minister and the President of the United States. And will certainly be an extremely unpopular subject for the American defence and intelligence establishment who are simply up in arms over this."

SUPER CAPTION: Judith Kipper, Middle East analyst, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies

Regardless of the price paid by the key players here, Clinton says he will join with them again in the Middle East this December in a bid to move the process forward once again.

23 October 1998, Washington, D.C. & New York City, U-S - and file

US Pool

1. Medium view of Yasser Arafat, King Hussein, Bill Clinton and Benjamin Netanyahu entering East Room.

2. Close views of Arafat, Hussein, Clinton, Netanyahu.

APTN

3. Medium view of Israeli Consul General Shmuel Sisso (standing right) in offices of Israeli Counsul General.

4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Shmuel Sisso, Israeli Consul General.

US Pool

5. Medium view of Arafat, Hussein, Clinton and Netanyahu signing agreement.

6. Wide view of audience watching.

7. Close view of Clinton and Arafat signing agreement.

8. Medium view of Arafat, Hussein, Clinton and Netanyahu shaking hands.

APTN

9. Medium view of Judith Kipper.

10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Judith Kipper, Middle East analyst, the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

(1986 File video)

11. Close view of Jonathan Pollard being taken to jail in car.

(1998 AP photo)

12. AP still photo of Pollard.

APTN

13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Judith Kipper, Middle East analyst, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

US Pool

14. Medium view of Netanyahu speaking.

15. Close view of Netanyahu.

16. Close view of Clinton.

APTN

17. SOUNDBITE: (English) Judith Kipper, Middle East analyst, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

US Pool

18. Medium view of Arafat, Hussein, Clinton and Netanyahu at the White House.

MIDDLE EAST

Middle East: West Bank Barrier

In July, the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands ruled that a 685-kilometre long security barrier built by Israel along the length of West Bank was illegal. The court's decision was based on its finding that Israeli settlements in the Palestinian areas occupied by Israel in the 1967 war were a violation of the Geneva Convention, as was occupation of East Jerusalem. But Israel said the ruling would not change its policy on the barrier or the Palestinians. Israel claims the barrier is to protect Israeli citizens from attacks by Palestinian militants such as suicide bombers. The Palestinians, whose lives in some places have been severely disrupted by the complex of high concrete walls, razor-wire fences, trenches and watch towers, said it was like living in "a big prison." In its completed form the barrier is to stretch 730 kilometres, although there have been calls in Israel for the route to be changed to the 1967 border. The Palestinians say that the completed barrier will separate thousands of Palestinians and some 45-thousand Jewish settlers from the main Palestinian areas, by dipping deep into the West Bank. The fence cuts many people off from schools, medical clinics, jobs and agricultural land.

APTN

Abu Dis, West Bank - January

Wide shot of wall between Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem and the village of Abu Dis in the West Bank

Palestinians jumping over wall

APTN

Abu Dis, West Bank - 16 January 2004

Wide shot of wall

APTN

Abu Dis, West Bank - 16 January 2004

Nuns walking by security fence

People clambering through fence

Pull out to wide of fence, graffiti reads "Peace comes by agreement not separation."

APTN

Qalandiya, West Bank - 10 July 2004

Close up minaret through break in concrete barrier pull out to wide shot

Middle East: Gaza Raids

Israeli security forces made raids into the Rafah camp on the border with Egypt in the Gaza Strip to destroy houses and the ruins of a mosque, saying the buildings give cover to gunmen and weapons smugglers. Nine Palestinians were killed in January in fierce fighting with Israeli troops in Gaza City, after the army launched an operation near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim, in the heart of the teeming Gaza Strip. Palestinian militants fired anti-tank missiles and set off an explosive at the troops who fired back, the army said. In February, Israeli troops moved into a neighbourhood at the eastern edge of Gaza City, killing four Palestinians and wounding 13 others, residents said. Two of the dead were reported to be militants, including a Hamas leader.

APTN

Netzarim, Gaza Strip - 28 January 2004

Wide shot of Israeli tank driving down street towards camera, rocket is fired, passing just in front of tank, UPSOUND gunfire

Man walking past ambulance carrying rocket propelled grenade (RPG) launcher

Armed men moving down street, looking for cover from Israeli gunfire

APTN

Gaza City - 11 February 2004

Palestinians beside to burning tyres, UPSOUND gunfire, group scatters, pan to Palestinians behind wall

Palestinian carrying RPG launcher

Middle East: Suicide Attacks

In spite of the security efforts, Palestinian suicide bomb continued to get through to attack Israelis. In mid-January a woman blew herself at the main crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip at Erez, killing at least four Israelis and wounding seven other people. She was identified as Reem Raiyshi, aged 21, a Gaza woman described as a Hamas militant and the first female suicide-bomber from the Islamic militant group. Two weeks later a Palestinian man blew himself up on a bus in the downtown Rehevia district of Jerusalem, killing at least 10 bystanders and wounding about 30 in an attack outside Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's official residence. At the end of February, a Palestinian blew himself up on a crowded city bus during rush hour in downtown Jerusalem, killing seven people and wounding more than 60 people, 11 of them seriously. In March, Palestinians blew themselves up in Ashdod, a closely guarded Israeli port, killing 10 Israelis in the first deadly attack on a strategic Israeli installation in more than three years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting.

In August, Palestinian suicide bombers blew up two buses almost simultaneously in the main street of Beersheba in southern Israel, killing 16 people and wounding more than 80 others. The militant group Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was revenge for the Israeli assassination of two of Hamas leaders in March. In response, Israeli forces closed off the West Bank city of Hebron and blew up the home of Ahmed Kawasmeh, one of the two Beersheba suicide bombers, and ransacked the house of the other bomber.

APTN

Jerusalem - 22 February 2004

Various shots of emergency crews around damaged bus

APTN

Beersheba - 31 August 2004

Various shots of burned out bus

APTN

Hebron - 1 Sep 2004

Various night shots of Israeli soldiers outside house of Ahmed Kawasmeh

Soldiers escorting people from the house

Old man looking at damage to house

Various shots of destroyed interior of house of second Beersheba bomber

Middle East: Israel and Hamas

Israel used the Palestinian suicide-attacks on Ashdod to justify the assassination of the founder and spiritual leader of the Hamas group, Sheik Ahmed Yassin in Gaza City in late March. A rocket fired from an Israeli helicopter struck the wheelchair-bound Yassin as he left a mosque near his house at daybreak. Yassin was the most influential Palestinian militant leader to be killed by Israel and Hamas threatened bloody revenge. In a spontaneous outpouring of rage and grief, tens of thousands of Palestinians, led by hundreds of militant gunmen, poured into the streets of Gaza City after hearing of Yassin's death. Yassin had dodged previous Israeli attempts to kill him. His assassination provoked demonstrations across the Muslim world, including Baghdad, Turkey and Palestinian communities in Lebanon.

Yassin's deputy Abdel Aziz Rantisi succeeded the Hamas leadership and vowed there would be no let up in the Hamas campaign against Israel. But Rantisi was killed in late April when two Israeli rockets fired from a helicopter hit his car in the Sheik Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City. Rantissi was rushed to the hospital and into emergency surgery, but he died five minutes after arriving. Two of his guards were also killed and five bystanders pedestrians were wounded. Hamas had claimed responsibility for most of the 112 suicide bombings that have killed 465 people on the Israeli side during three and a half years of violence. Hours before Rantisi was killed, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at the Erez industrial zone, killing an Israeli border policeman and injuring three other security workers. Thousands of supporters escorted the body of Rantisi down the streets of Gaza at his funeral.

APTN

Gaza City, Gaza Strip - 16 January 2004

Various shots of Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin

APTN

Gaza City - 22 March 2004

Close up pieces of Yassin's wheelchair on ground after the Israeli rocket strike that killed him

APTN

Sidon, southern Lebanon - 23 March 2004

Religious figures marching in procession behind the wheelchair

APTN

Tripoli, northern Lebanon - 23 March 2004

Men dressed in Hamas colours carrying models of rockets and rocket launchers

APTN

Gaza City - Unknown date

Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi at protest march, surrounded by gunmen

APTN

Gaza City - 17 April 2004

Car being lifted and turned over by crowd, men trying to reach inside

Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi being wheeled through hospital corridor crowded with media

APTN

Gaza City - 18 April 2004

Various shots of Hamas supporters carrying the body of Abdel Aziz Rantisi on a stretcher

Middle East: Gaza Raids

In May, Israeli forces reportedly fired tank shells, helicopter missiles and machine-guns at a crowd of thousands of Palestinians demonstrating against an Israeli raid on the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza. Witnesses and medical workers said at least eight people were killed, two of them children, and 50 people were wounded. The Israelis had launched "Operation Rainbow" in the Rafah camp two days earlier, to hunt down militants and destroying arms-smuggling tunnels that run from Rafah beneath the nearby border. In September, Israeli forces pushed into the largest Palestinian refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, at Jebaliya near Gaza, after a rocket attack killed two young children in the Israeli border town of Sderot. Twenty-three Palestinians were killed in the attack and at least 108 wounded, the highest single-day Palestinian casualty count in 30 months.

APTN

Rafah, Gaza Strip - 19 May 2004

Various wide aerial shots of Palestinian crowd marching

Israeli helicopter firing overhead

Explosion among crowd, people running away

Injured being carried away from scene

APTN

Ramallah, West Bank - 30 September 2004

SOUNDBITE (English) Saeb Erekat, Palestinian cabinet minister:

"Violence will breed violence, bullets will breed bullets, hate will generate more of it."

APTN

Jebaliya, Gaza Strip - 30 September 2004

Various shots of Israeli tank positioned on high ground overlooking refugee camp

Various shots of street scenes in Jebaliya, UPSOUND gunfire, people run for cover

Masked Palestinian gunman running along alley, one of them carries cable for explosives

Israel: Vanunu

A defiant Mordecai Vanunu walked out of prison in late April, after serving 18 years for spilling Israel's nuclear secrets, saying he was proud of his actions and complaining he had been treated cruelly by his jailers. Vanunu flashed victory signs and waved to hundreds of cheering supporters as he walked into the courtyard of Shikma Prison in the coastal town of Ashkelon. Dozens of counter-demonstrators booed and shouted epithets. In 1986 Vanunu, a nuclear technician, leaked details and pictures of Israel's alleged nuclear weapons programme to a British newspaper. Based on his account, experts said at the time that Israel had the world's sixth-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons. Israeli agents abducted Vanunu from Italy before the article was printed and he was convicted of treason in a closed trial. He said he had been kept in solitary confinement for 12 years in an attempt to drive him mad. Vanunu was released subject to is subject to a broad array of speech and travel restrictions. In November after he was arrested again for breaching the restrictions.

APTN

Ashkelon, Israel - 21 April 2004

Mordecai Vanunu walking out of prison with brother Meir (in blue shirt) and waving and making victory sign

SOUNDBITE (English) Mordecai Vanunu, nuclear whistleblower:

"I am proud and happy to do what I did. All the secrets that were published are in the hands of the world, all the world, every state, 180 states received this secret."

Medium close shot of Vanunu