Arabic/Eng

Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are stocking up on gas masks in case of an Iraqi attack on Israel.

But Palestinian leaders say they are confident they will not be harmed if the tensions in the Gulf turn to war.

Nevertheless, U-S pressure has moved the Palestinian Authority to enforce a new ban on pro-Iraq rallies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

This time they will be prepared.

Israelis are joining huge lines in order to get their gas masks in case of a possible Iraqi attack on Israel.

The masks for these Israelis are free.

But, so far - no provisions have been made for the more than 250-thousand foreign workers in Israel and the some 60-thousand Palestinians in the West Bank who remain under Israeli occupation.

Hazem Salah - a Palestinian who lives in the West Bank city of Hebron - decided to dig out his dusty gas masks from a store room - just in case.

They are preparing their children for the worst - trying on the old gas masks and wrinkled anti-chemical suits.

For Salah, the thought of war or a possible Iraqi attack on Israel - fills him with a sense of uneasiness.

SOUNDBITE: (Arabic)

\"If Saddam decides to hit Israel, we will be locked in sealed rooms too. We will wear gas masks and chemical suits as well, that is why I am against America attacking Iraq or Iraq hitting Israel.\"

SUPERCAPTION: Hazem Salah, Palestinian

But Salah is not the only Palestinian preparing for a possible attack by Iraq.

In Nablus, students are being given courses on how to put on gas masks and how to behave in case of any bombing or attack.

Despite the rush to be prepared, the Head of the Palestinian Civil Defense Mahmoud Abu Marzouk says there is no urgent need for Palestinians to prepare for a possible war.

Abu Marzouk, is sure that if Iraq decides to attack Israel, they will not target the West Bank or the Gaza Strip where most Palestinians live.

SOUNDBITE: (Arabic)

\"We are not capable of distributing gas masks, we will not be harmed because Iraq will treat us like their own people, if Iraq hit they will know their target\"

SUPERCAPTION: Mahmoud Abu Marzouk, Head of the Palestinian Civil

Defence

Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement this week had organised several pro-Iraq rallies in the West Bank in which marchers burned U-S flags and chanted \"Dear Saddam, attack Tel Aviv.\"

During the 1991 Gulf War, Arafat openly sided with Saddam Hussein, a decision that prompted the expulsion of tens of thousands of Palestinians from Gulf countries.

On Wednesday however, the Palestinian Authority bent to U-S pressure and banned any future rallies.

Hanan Ashrawi minister of Higher Education in the Palestinian authority said that the U-S-Iraqi crisis will be resolved diplomatically.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

\"We are confident that the chances of Iraqi strikes against Israel are very slim indeed\"

SUPERCAPTION: Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian High Education Minister

There is concern that Saddam will attack Israel with Scud missiles in the event of a U-S military strike against Iraq.

U-N weapons inspectors have said that Saddam has enough biological weapons to wipe out Tel Aviv.

In the Gulf War, Saddam fired 39 Scud missiles at Israel.

Most landed in the coastal area of central Tel Aviv, but some also fell in the West Bank as the Scuds are not very accurate.

Hebron, Nablus, Jenin, Ramallah, West Bank, Gaza City, Gaza Strip and Tel Aviv, Israel, 9 - 11 February 1998

Tel Aviv, Israel February 11 1998

1. Long shot of Israelis waiting outside Gas distribution centre

2. Pan of Israeli on line

3. Israeli women sitting with gas mask box

Hebron, West Bank 9 February 1998

4. Salah's family trying suit on their son

5. Salah's daughter Hiba in gas mask

6. Salah's wife Lina putting gas mask for husband

7. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Hazem Salah

Nablus, West Bank February 10 1998

8. Long shot of students at exercise

9. Student trying gas mask

Gaza City, Gaza Strip February 9 1998

10. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Mahmoud Abu Marzouk, Head of Palestinian Defence

Jenin, West Bank February 9 1998

11. Palestinians with Iraqi flags and Saddam's posters

Ramallah, West Bank February 9 1998

12. Set-up shot Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian minister of Higher Education

13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Hanan Ashrawi

Hebron, West Bank February 11 1998

14. Iraqi flag

15. Palestinian man with family holding Saddam picture pull out to building

English/Nat

Palestinian leaders attacked on Thursday a plan by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for dividing control of the West Bank.

Yasser Arafat said the Israeli plan, unveiled Wednesday, flies in the face of the Oslo peace agreement.

At the Aram Checkpoint between Jerusalem and the West Bank - security is tight.

This checkpoint and the Alon Road is one section of the border between Israeli and Palestinian territory.

Currently the Palestinians have control over 40 per cent of the West Bank - Israel occupied this land during the 1967 Six Day War.

As formally agreed between Yasser Arafat and then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1993 - the two sides would negotiate over the so called "final status" of the region by 1999.

Palestinians want total control of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to create a Palestinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital.

On Wednesday - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu moved to bypass the final status negotiations - presenting a plan to his cabinet on how the region should be divided.

The media has dubbed it the "The Alon Plus Plan" - comparing it with a proposal given to the Israeli government in 1968 by then Deputy Prime Minister Yigal Alon.

Under Netanyahu's blueprint - Israel would retain West Bank land surrounding Jerusalem, including the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim east of the city.

It would also annex the Jordan Valley and large settlement blocs, including Gush Etzion south of Jerusalem.

Israel would also seek to retain control over major West Bank roads and over water sources.

If implemented, the plan would leave the Palestinians with disconnected patches of land that would make it very difficult to establish a state.

But spokesman for Netanyahu, David Bar Illan, says the plan represents a major concession from Netanyahu's right wing Likud party.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"This Alon Plus plan represents a tremendous adjustment of expectations on the part of the Likud party - the dominant party in the ruling coalition today. Because for the first time in its history, it admits that there will be another entity between Jordan and the sea - something that it was not willing to admit before."

SUPER CAPTION: David Bar Illan, Netanyahu's spokesman

But for Palestinians - the plan is totally unacceptable.

They view Israel's control of parts of the West Bank and East Jerusalem as illegal - part of the 1967 occupation that is thwarting their dream of a Palestinian State.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"For me as a Palestinian it is very difficult to understand this because we are occupied territory - all of the West Bank and East Jerusalem and it must be Palestine there. And as a Palestinian we refute this thing - all of it."

SUPER CAPTION: Voxpop

Yasser Arafat, President of the Palestinian Authority, says the plan goes against the 1993 Oslo agreement.

Under that agreement - control of disputed territories must be negotiated - not stipulated by any one side.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"This is completely against the peace process and against the agreements."

SUPER CAPTION: Yasser Arafat, President of Palestinian Authority

Netanyahu's plan comes more than two months after talks between the two sides broke down when Israel began constructing Jewish settlements in disputed East Jerusalem.

Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza - June 5, 1997

Jerusalem and West Bank border:

1. Various of Aram Checkpoint near Jerusalem and West Bank

2. Various of Alon Road - border of West Bank and Jerusalem

3. Pan of Alon Road

Jerusalem

4. Mid Shot of David Bar Illan

5. David Bar Illan, Israeli PM Netanyahu's spokesman

6. Various of map of Israel and West Bank

7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Voxpop

Gaza:

8. Pan of Yasser Arafat at military parade

9. Mid shot Palestinian Flag - pan to Arafat

10. Various of Arafat walking up red carpet

11. SOUNDBITE: (English) Yasser Arafat, President of Palestinian Authority

12. Arafat walks away

Hebrew/Eng/Nat

The ruling Likud party in Israel has begun building more Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip

And it has now announced the plan to construct new roads in the areas, prompting condemnation from Palestinians and left wing Israelis.

In the first indication of the new Israeli government's settlement policies, hard-line Infrastructure Minister Ariel Sharon ordered two new highways to be built in the West bank.

The plan calls for one road leading from the West Bank into northern Jerusalem and a second linking central Israel with Jewish settlements inside the West Bank, where some 140-thousand Jews live among 1-point-2 million Palestinians.

The plan, expected to cost about 50 (m) million dollars (U-S), was originally proposed under the previous Labour government, but was never carried out.

SOUNDBITE: Hebrew

We are working according to plan. I know that yesterday everyone got nervous. I don't why they got nervous.

SUPER CAPTION: Ariel Sharon, Minister for Infrastructure

The move has angered Palestinians who want to establish a state in the West bank and Gaza. They say expanding settlements violates the Israel-PLO peace accords and could bring the precarious peace process to a grinding halt.

On Tuesday the Palestinian Legislative Council held a special session to discuss the issue of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and around Jerusalem.

Palestinians predict violence and bloodshed.

SOUNDBITE:

When they are going to confiscate my future, my water, my land. What does this mean? It's a declaration of war and war means a bloodbath.

SUPER CAPTION: Freih Abu Medein, Palestinian Justice Minister.

Israel's past government curbed settlement construction, except around Jerusalem, in order to open the doors for peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

The Israel-PLO peace agreement says neither side will "initiate or take any step that will change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip," pending the outcome of final status talks.

The Palestinians say that rules out new settlement construction or expansion.

Peace Now, a group that supports the Middle East peace process, warned against the dangers of Israel building more settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.

SOUNDBITE:

"There can be no doubt that the settlements have been always and

will be in the future an obstacle for any peace solution. The only solution that can exist between Israel and the Palestinians is to partition this land into two different sovereignties. The Palestinians will need a certain area where they will have their own sovereignty.

SUPER CAPTION: Mordechai Baron, Peace Now member

Sharon, a leader of the hardline right-wing faction in the governing Likud Party, oversaw a massive construction drive in the settlements when he was housing minister from 1990-1992.

Last year, as part of the Oslo peace accords and under the previous government, rural areas of the West Bank were passed to Palestinian control, while Israel maintained overall responsibility for security throughout most of the West Bank.

West Bank, Tel Aviv, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, 30th July 1996

Beit Jalah, West Bank

1. CU village/zoom out to GV construction of highway overpass

2. construction workers on road

3. bulldozers working on construction

4. by-pass road

Tel Aviv:

5. Infrastructure Minister Ariel Sharon at presser table

6. Minister Sharon showing new roads on map

7. Minister Sharon SOT (Hebrew)

Efrat, West Bank

8. various construction site

Bethlehem:

9. GV Manger Square, central Bethlehem

10. outside mosque

11. inside Palestinian Council meeting

12. various of members in meeting

13. laptop computer showing Jerusalem and area

14. Khalil Tufakji, Palestinian settlement expert, showing Israeli construction plans in the West Bank

15. GV Palestinian Council

16. SOUNDBITE: Freih Abu Modein, Minister of Justice

Jerusalem:

17. set up Mordechai Baron, Peace Now member

18. SOUNDBITE: Mordechai Baron

Efrat, West bank:

19. Israeli flag over settlement

20. construction

Arabic/Eng/Nat

Palestinian officials have denied Israeli claims that they recently released two Palestinians who had been jailed for the murder of two Israeli hikers.

It's part of a bigger row over what Israel calls the "revolving door" prison policy of the Palestinian Authority.

Israel says this policy means militants get locked up for a while so the Palestinians can say they're getting tough on security, and then released.

Also, Israel wants some imprisoned Palestinians extradited as part of any troop pullout.

Here in the West Bank town of Jericho, a jailer unlocks the heavy security doors leading into one of the prisons controlled by the Palestinian Authority.

In this cell -- Shaher and Yousef Rai, two Palestinians on Israel's "most wanted" list, sit on a steel-framed bed, chain-smoking.

In the corner of the four-man cell, Shaher has hung pictures of his two daughters and of his heroes - a Hamas bomb maker and Cuban revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara.

They're at the centre of a row with Israel -- in more ways than one.

The two cousins were jailed -- by the Palestinians -- for the murder of two Israeli hikers in a desert ravine near Jericho in July 1995.

Israel has accused the two of being the killers.

Israel has a list of more than 30 jailed Palestinians they suspect have killed or attacked Israelis and who they want handed over.

It's been made a condition of any Israeli troop pullback from the West Bank.

But the Palestinians have said they would prosecute suspects, but never extradite them to Israel.

Shaher claims he's innocent and is just being held to keep the Israelis happy.

SOUNDBITE: (Arabic)

"I am innocent, Israel just wants to make political achievements from the Palestinian authority, I am here because Netanyahu said he wants us to be here in jail and that is why the Palestinians are keeping us here."

SUPER CAPTION: Shaher Rai, prisoner

And Israel has accused the Palestinian Authority of letting these, and other prisoners, out of jail.

The so-called "revolving door" policy means the Palestinians round-up militants to prove they're cracking down on violence - and then release them, says Israel.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"They were first released and gone free, now that we have mentioned it by name the Palestinian authority has returned them to jail, this is one example of the revolving door policy about terrorists, murderers who should be tried and incarcerated for life."

SUPER CAPTION: David Bar-Illan, Netanyahu advisor

Palestinian officials say anyway, Israel has no right to even demand such extraditions.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"It's clear that this request, in particular the handover of Palestinian prisoners is not only illegal, it violates the agreement. So long as they are within the jurisdiction of the Palestinian judiciary and so long as they are being tried within the Palestinian legal system Israel has no right to demand their handover."

SUPER CAPTION: Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian minister of Higher Education

Prison officials said that Rai hasn't left the Palestinian jail since his arrest more than two years ago.

True or not, the whole issue is being used by Israel to show that the Palestinians can't be trusted on security matters and therefore shouldn't be entitled to more West Bank land.

Jericho, West Bank, Jerusalem, Ramallah, West Bank, Wadi Kelt, West Bank, February 03 and 04, 1998 and FILE

Jericho, West Bank:

1. Palestinian policeman opening door of prison, leads cameraman in

2. Tilt down from enclosed roof of prison to prisoners walking in the prison court

3. Shaher and Yousef Rai, cousins in their cell with poster of Che Guevara on the wall

Wadi Kelt, West Bank, July 18th 1995:

4. Zoom in to Israeli soldiers carrying body of Israeli on stretcher

5. Long shot of Israeli soldiers carrying bodies on stretchers

Jericho, West Bank:

6. Shaher and Yousef Rai getting out of their cell

7. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Shaher Rai, prisoner

8. Close up of Yousef Rai smoking, zoom out to the cousins sitting on a bed

9. Palestinian policeman standing by gate of prison

Jerusalem:

10. Establishing shot of Netanyahu's advisor David Bar-Illan

11. SOUNDBITE: (English) David Bar- Illan, Netanyahu advisor

Ramallah, West Bank:

12. Establishing shot of Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian minister of Higher Education

13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian minister of Higher Education

Jericho, West Bank:

14. Various of the Rai cousins in jail cell

15. Close up of one of the prisoners in the courtyard, pulls out to show bars and prison door

English/Nat

Thousands of Israelis including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have attended the funeral of two Israelis killed in a car attack on Wednesday near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Fifteen people have now been arrested in connection with the attack carried out by the Palestinian militant faction, The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

And in the West bank City of Bethlehem, a rally was held at Bethlehem University to mark the 28th anniversary of the groups foundation.

Thousands of Israelis turned out for Thursday's funeral.

Among the participants at the funeral was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his government.

He watched as their bodies, wrapped with burial shawls, were brought to the grave site and lowered into the ground.

Eeta Tzur, 42, and her 12-year-old son Efraim were killed in a drive-by terrorist shooting in the West Bank on Wednesday.

Mrs. Tzur's husband, Yoel, and four of their other children were also hurt in the attack.

Settlers are demanding that Israeli troops enter the Palestinian city to find the killers.

Netanyahu is demanding the Palestinian authority bring the culprits to justice.

He said Israel will not stand for such attacks nor will terrorists manage to uproot the Jewish people from their homes.

SOUNDBITE: (Hebrew)

\"They attacked women and children on purpose, they attacked on purpose not only in order to kill an Israeli family, but with an aim to uproot us from this place. And so our first response to these murderers, to these monsters, our first response of the Israeli government and the Israeli people is that we are staying here. We are building here. We live here. you will not uproot us from here, you will not achieve your aim.\"

SUPER CAPTION: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister

Meanwhile in response to the attack, security measures have been stepped up in the West Bank.

In the village of Surda just near where the killings took place a curfew has been imposed.

israeli soldiers check Palestinians ID cards and no car can pass through an army checkpoint without Israeli permission.

In Ramallah the head of the Palestinian-Israeli Liaison office Colonel Yousef Kafarneh has reacted to the killings.

He said that the Palestinian side had taken some steps to finding the culprits and detained few suspects.

15 activists of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine were arrested in Ramallah Thursday.

SOUNDBITE: (Arabic)

\"We did a security check in the all suspects according to our lists, and we arrested some for questioning, some from the PFLP and some from other factions\"

SUPER CAPTION: Col. Yousef Kafarneh, Head of the Palestinian-Israeli liaison office in Ramallah

The Palestinian Legislative Council has also reacted to the attack.

Although the council condemns the violence, Palestinians feel it is a backlash from the continued troubles in the area.

But the Palestinian Authority agrees that the shooting will hurt Palestinian interests.

SOUNDBITE:

Firstly we condemn such acts of violence that is against women and children, against civilians in general. But on the other hand it is the result of everything that has been taking place over the last couple of months.

SUPER CAPTION: Marawan Kanafani, Arafat spokesman

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has now claimed responsibility for the attack.

They are a militant P-L-O group that opposes the Israeli-Palestinian peace agreements.

Wednesday marked the 28th anniversary of the founding of the group, which has carried out several similar shootings in the past two years.

And to mark the occasion they staged a march through Bethlehem.

Masked members of the PFLP marched in the University, holding red flags and banners calling for armed struggles against Israel.

The shooting comes at a time of deep distrust between Netanyahu's hard-line government and the Palestinian Authority.

Talks on an overdue Israeli troop pullback in the West Bank town of Hebron are deadlocked - Netanyahu says he is concerned about the safety of Jewish residents in the settlements.

This incident may serve only to hinder troop redeployment in the settlements.

Surda, Ramallah, Bethlehem and Bet El, West Bank 12th December 1996

Bet El, West Bank

1. LS of Funeral procession

2. Netanyahu arriving

3. Various of crowd at grave

4. People carrying bodies to grave site

5. SOUNDBITE: (Hebrew) Netanyahu

6. Bodies being buried

7. Various of funeral - people crying

Surda Village West Bank

8. LS of Surda

9. Various of Israeli soldiers patrolling village and checking ID cards

Ramallah, West Bank

10. Exterior of Israeli-Palestinian Liaison office

11. Estb. of Col. Yousef Kafarneh

12. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Kafarneh

13. LS of Palestinian Legislative Council

14. Wide of council members entering

15. Estab of Marawan Kanafani, Arafat spokesman

16. SOUNDBITE: (English) Marawan Kanafani

Bethlehem, West Bank

17. Exterior of Bethlehem University

18. Masked PFLP members marching

19. Various of PFLP march

20. Various of PFLP in university hall

Hebrew/English/Nat

In a decisive step towards implementing the Israeli-P-L-O peace accords, the Israeli cabinet decided Wednesday that three Israeli army bases in the West Bank would soon be evacuated, Israel Radio reported.

More than a year has passed since the historic handshake between Israeli Prime-Minister, Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader, Yasser Arafat. Although high hopes were held for a final peace between the two enemies, in practice, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is already far behind schedule.

According to the Oslo Agreement, the two sides should now have entered the second phase, tackling issues such as extending Palestinian authority into other towns on the West Bank, the holding of Palestinian elections and the redeployment of Israeli Army troops.

By July last year the Israeli army was supposed to have been 're-deployed', meaning withdrawn from its positions in or close to Palestinian towns to bases more directly protective of the settlements; and the Palestinians should have held an election.

Despite suicide bombings and violence, both the Israelis and the Palestinians say the process should go ahead and focus is concentrated on the West Bank where Israeli troops are much in evidence.

The hope now is for an election this July but the continued presence of Israeli soldiers in West Bank towns is hampering efforts.

SOUNDBITE:

(English)

"Because it will not be a democratic election. Nobody can agree to have elections under the weapon of the occupation force. That is to say that the agreement is clear and obvious: redeployment and then elections."

SUPER CAPTION: Ahmed Tibi, Arafat advisor

The West Bank is home to more than 2 (m) million Palestinians and 141,000 Jewish settlers.

SOUNDBITE:

(English)

"Tens of settlements should be evacuated during the interim phase because it's a source of friction. Israelis and Palestinians are being killed and shot because of this friction."

SUPER CAPTION: Dr. Ahmed Tibi, Arafat advisor

Since the signing of the Oslo Agreement in September 1993, 20 settlers and four Israeli soldiers have been killed in the West Bank in attacks by Islamic fundamentalists. In January this year, a young settler, Ofra Felix, was killed by gunfire as she and a young child were returning to their home, the settlement of Halamish.

While the settlers' presence effectively means Israeli troops must be there to guard them, it is the same settlers who provide the opportunity for armed Palestinian militants to carry out attacks.

The resulting bloodshed then helps confirm Israeli hardliners' opposition to the whole principle of the peace deal.

In order to prevent further bloodshed, Israeli politicians have begun to consider evacuating some of the settlements.

Any move of this kind will be strongly resisted by extreme right-wing settlers based in towns such as Hebron.

In this West Bank town, a handful of extremist right-wing, religious Jews live behind barricaded doors asserting their religious birthright to dwell in what they claim to be part of the biblical land of Israel.

Settlers are in daily contact with local Palestinian residents but walk through the city heavily armed and usually with army escorts.

SOUNDBITE:

(Hebrew)

"The reality unfortunately is that what we'll see is terror attacks and clashes between Jews and Arabs doubled to what it is today."

SUPER CAPTION: Aharon Dombe, spokesperson for the settler movement, Yesha.

Settlement expansion has caused widespread reactions especially from the Palestinian Authority. Palestinians claim that the settlements are being built on land which they expect to get back as part of a final peace deal with Israel.

They also charge that Israel is creating facts on the ground to avoid relinquishing land once negotiations for a final settlement begin in 1996.

SOUNDBITE:

(English)

"We have been promised until June. Okay. June is not too far. We have given many chances and we will give a last chance."

SUPER CAPTION: Yasser Arafat, P-L-O Chairman

The 1993 agreement with the P-L-O permits settlers to remain in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank through a five-year interim period of autonomy. The government says that it won't hold back what it considers the natural growth of existing settlements, but that it won't build new settlements.

However, it says violence against Israelis in the territories must be curbed.

SOUNDBITE:

(English)

"I think there is a consensus in the government. That it's in our interests to speed up the negotiations and bring about elections in the territories. We want this but if this involves ceding territories to the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian Authority

must prove by its actions that it takes more drastic steps to curb these murderous attacks against the lives of the Israeli people."

SUPER CAPTION: Amnon Rubenstein, Minister of Education

Although consensus seems to have been reached by both parties, it remains to be seen what will happen next.

(FILE: Hebron, West Bank)

1. Israeli soldiers walking in the streets

2. Various of Israeli soldiers in the streets

(Jerusalem, recent)

3. Dr. Ahmed Tibi at desk

4. SOUNDBITE: Dr. Ahmed Tibi, Arafat advisor

5. Cutaway of Palestinian flag flying (Flag is actually in Jenin, West Bank)

6. SOUNDBITE: Dr. Ahmed Tibi

(File: Attack near Halamish settlement - Jan 06 1995)

7. Car with broken windshield

8. Pull out from blood inside car

9. General shots of the funeral of Ofra Felix, mourners and funeral and march

10. Pull out from close shot of Arab village to wide shot of nearby settlement

11. Arab resident of village in field

12. General shots of settlements

(FILE; Hebron)

13. Israeli flag flying in settler compound in Hebron

14. Settlers walking past soldiers

15. Close shot of young settler children

16. Soldier guarding children

17. Palestinian woman walking past soldiers

18. General shots of Hebron market

19. Settler buying products at Hebron market

20. Soldiers in the market

21. Settlers walking in Hebron

(Jerusalem - April 24 1995)

22. SOUNDBITE: Aharon Dombe, spokesperson for settler movement Yesha

(FILE: Gaza City, Gaza Strip)

23. SOUNDBITE: Yasser Arafat, chairman of PLO

(FILE: Jerusalem)

24. SOUNDBITE: Amnon Rubenstein, Minister of Education

25. File aerial shot of new settlements around the greater Jerusalem area

Natural Sound

Palestinian stone throwers and Israeli troops clashed in the West Bank on Monday as U-S envoy Dennis Ross wrapped up his four-day Mideast tour.

The protests were held to mark Land Day, an annual commemoration of a 1976 protest against land confiscation in which six Israeli Arabs were killed by Israeli troops.

Tensions rose still higher as Ross failed to secure agreement from Israelis and Palestinians on American proposals for an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.

Monday's tensions hinged on Palestinian commemoration of Land Day -- an annual day of marches to remember a land confiscation protest twenty years ago, in which six people died.

The victims of the protest in 1976 were Israeli Arabs -- they were killed by Israeli soldiers.

Over two decades later, the violence continues.

on Monday, Israeli troops and Palestinians were locked in combat on West Bank streets, with Bethlehem becoming the site of running battles.

Palestinians hurled stones.

Israeli soldiers responded with rubber bullets.

Other clashes erupted in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Here too dozens of youths threw stones at soldiers.

They responded with rubber bullets and tear gas.

Palestinian police also stepped into the fray.

They pushed back the youths in a bid to break up the clashes.

Marching in Hebron, meanwhile, members of Islamic Jihad turned their anger towards the United States.

Marchers of the fundamentalist group gathered at the town's Islamic university where they burned the Israeli and American flags.

In the Israeli Arab town of Sakhnin thousands of Israeli Arabs gathered to commemorate Land Day.

Chanting national songs they filed through the streets.

The unrest came at a particularly bleak time for Middle East peace.

Wrapping up a four-day shuttle on Monday, American envoy Dennis Ross failed to win agreement from Israelis and Palestinians on U-S peace proposals.

Ross has been trying to win support for an American proposal for an Israeli withdrawal from a percentage of the West Bank.

He is unlikely to have any good news to convey to the U-S president when he returns to Washington.

Bethlehem, Ramallah, Hebron, Sakhnin, West Bank, 30 March 1998

Bethlehem, West Bank

1. Israeli soldiers shooting at Palestinians

2. Palestinians taking cover

3. Close shot Palestinian man throwing stones

4. Close shot Israeli soldier firing

5. Wide shot group of Israeli soldiers

Ramallah, West Bank

6 Wide shot Palestinians and Israeli soldiers clash

7. Palestinian police preventing kids from throwing stones

8. Mid shot Palestinian police detaining man

9. Palestinian police detaining stone throwers

10. Israeli soldiers firing

11. Palestinian boy throwing stones

Hebron, West Bank

12. Mid shot Islamic Jihad marchers holding up portraits of Islamic Jihad leaders

13. Wide shot Islamic Jihad marchers

14. Islamic activists burning flags

15. Activist's masked face

16. Wide shot Islamic Jihad activists

Sakhnin, Israel

17. Wide shot marchers

18. Mid shot marchers

19. Mid shot march

20. Mid shot marchers chanting and clapping

21. Mid shot boy with Palestinian flag

22. Wide, high shot of march

Natural Sound

Israeli soldiers opened fire on a car and wounded two Palestinians at a checkpoint between Jerusalem and the West Bank early Sunday.

Neither Palestinian appeared to have suffered life-threatening wounds, Israeli police said.

One was taken to a Jerusalem hospital, the other to a hospital in Bethlehem.

The incident, on Sunday morning, began when a Palestinian man approached this checkpoint from the West Bank town of Bethlehem.

Israeli police sources said that when asked to show identification, the man first presented an Israeli identity card, which would have enabled him to enter Israel.

But guards searched the young man and found a second Palestinian identity card, police said.

The man ran to a waiting car and the guards opened fire, injuring two Palestinians inside the vehicle.

Another man who was in the car fled toward Bethlehem.

Israel has been on high alert and imposed a total closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip after a suicide bomber from the West Bank set off a blast in a Tel Aviv cafe Friday, killing himself and three Israeli women.

The suicide bomber's family has been given notice of demolition of their property.

A punishment that the Israeli authorities - inheriting the procedure from the British colonial days - have been applying to the families of Palestinian terrorists and suspected terrorists since they occupied the West Bank in 1967.

Outside Bethlehem, West Bank, March 23, 1997 and Zurif, West Bank, March 22, 1997

Outside Bethlehem, West Bank, March 23, 1997:

1. Various Israeli soldiers at checkpoint

2. Palestinians rounded up by Israeli soldiers

3. Ambulance standing by

4. White vehicle being checked over by police

5. Policeman dusting car door for fingerprints

6. Various of police around car

7. Various of soldiers questioning Palestinians

8. Soldiers guarding a group of Palestinians

9. Police car drives past

10. Two orthodox Jews standing by the roadside

Zurif, West Bank, March 22, 1997:

11. Israelis soldier talking to mother of bomber inside the house

12. Soldier showing a document (demolition order)

13. Woman signing document

14. Soldier welding windows of the house.

Hebrew/Arabic/Eng/Nat

Israeli soldiers have killed one Palestinian and wounded three others after opening fire in a West Bank village, prompting clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops brought into the area.

The shooting occurred during a confrontation between soldiers and villagers in the village of Hizme, just north of Jerusalem, in an area under joint Israeli and Palestinian control.

It heightened fears of a new wave of violence in the West Bank, which is already tense because of Israel's plan to begin construction of a new Jewish neighbourhood in east Jerusalem.

The killing of one Palestinian and the wounding of three others when Israeli soldiers opened fire in the West Bank village of Hizme Tuesday, prompted clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops.

After the shootings, Palestinian residents began throwing stones at the large numbers of Israeli soldiers and police deployed in the area.

The Israelis responded with tear gas and tried several times to storm the village, drawing a hail of large rocks each time.

After about an hour the area was declared a closed military zone and the clashes died down. No further injuries were reported.

The shootings have heightened fears of a new wave of violence in the West Bank, which is already tense because of Israel's plan to begin construction of a new Jewish neighbourhood in east Jerusalem.

Palestinians warn the construction in Har Homa (Jabal abu Ghneim - it's Palestinian name) could derail the peace process.

Gabi Ofir, Israel's top commander in the area, indicated in a briefing that he had only a partial idea of what had happened.

SOUNDBITE: (Hebrew)

"We are in touch with the Palestinian Authority, and we are also aware of the special atmosphere that exists today because of Har Homa, and in fact we are ready in every place."

SUPER CAPTION: Gabi Ofir, West Bank Israeli Defence Force Chief

Witnesses said the gunmen were dressed in civilian clothes, suggesting they were undercover.

Jibril Rajoub, the top Palestinian security official in the West Bank, arrived on the scene shortly after the shooting.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"I think it was terrible a Palestinian was killed just because he is a Palestinian. What happened today is a shame for the Israelis."

SUPER CAPTION: Jibril Rajoub, Palestinian Chief of Preventive Security

One of the injured Palestinians brought to the Al Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem thought the three young men who entered his village armed with handguns and speaking Hebrew were Jewish settlers.

He said they walked up to his house, grabbed his nephew and hit him with the butts of their guns.

When confronted by members of the household, he said, the men opened fire.

Soldiers posted at a nearby checkpoint refused to help, and an army jeep entered the village and left with the gunmen, he said.

Another witness told a similar story.

SOUNDBITE: (Arabic)

"After a car came from Jabah street, not from El Masoom, the people stopped the car and they took the car by force. When the soldiers came, instead of protecting the public they protected the settlers. They threatened to shoot us and they pushed us away."

SUPER CAPTION: Palestinian at scene of shooting

An Israeli army statement said the Israeli troops had been "attacked" by Palestinian residents and opened fire.

The two other Palestinians injured in the shooting were taken to a hospital in Ramallah.

Hizme is in the West Bank's so-called Zone B, which is part of the Palestinian autonomy but has joint Israeli-Palestinian security control.

In a reflection of the sensitive timing of the incident, Defence Minister Yitzhak Mordechai ordered his officers to make sure the Palestinians were kept fully informed about the investigation of the incident.

Hizme and Ramallah, West Bank; East Jerusalem, 25 February 1997

Hizme:

1. MS Palestinians stoning Israeli army truck, pull out to truck reversing under attack

2. MS men throwing stones

3. Israeli soldiers running out from truck, grabbing Palestinian man and dragging him into truck

4. CU back of truck with soldiers

5. CU Palestinian with bloody face in truck

6. Various Palestinians stoning Israeli soldiers

7. WS group of Palestinians

8. SOUNDBITE: Gabi Ofir, West Bank Israeli Defence Force Chief (Hebrew)

9. MS Israeli soldiers

10. Pan Israeli army trucks

11. SOUNDBITE: Jibril Rajoub, Palestinian Chief of Preventive Security (English and Arabic)

East Jerusalem:

12. MS people in Al Makassed Hospital ward

13. MS wounded man on bed with bandaged leg, zoom in to leg and blood

14. MS injured man's face

15. CU injured man's leg with blood

16. MS pan men waiting in hospital corridor

17. SOUNDBITE: Palestinian eyewitness to shooting (Arabic)

18. Al Makassed Hospital sign

19. WS exterior hospital

Ramallah:

20. MS man with bandaged head in hospital, pull out to doctor bandaging his arm

21. CU bloody towel on bed, pull out to injured woman on bed

Hizme:

22. WS Palestinians at scene of shooting at night

23. MS group of men talking

24. MS soldiers on guard at scene

25. MS soldiers walking towards ambulance

English/Nat

The Israeli army has imposed strict security measures in the Palestinian West Bank town of Ramallah, in response to Tuesday evening's attack outside the town.

No-one has claimed responsibility for the shooting which killed two Israeli settlers and left five others injured.

No-one goes in or out of Ramallah without permission from the authorities.

Israeli soldiers search cars as they try to leave or enter the West Bank town.

The army has also blocked side roads from Ramallah with barbed wire and metal bars.

The town is now completely sealed off.

Palestinian police have also set up roadblocks and patrol the area, including the scene of the shooting, in an effort to locate the attackers.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat condemned the shooting.

But Israeli government spokesman Moshe Fogel blamed the Palestinian Authority for not doing enough to crack down on militant extremists.

SOUNDBITE: (english)

"This tragic terrorist attack is a test case for the Palestinian authority, if they will live up to their part of the agreement and that is preventing terror. As far as we're concerned the Palestinian authority is obligated to exert at one hundred per cent effort to find these terrorists and bring them to trial."

SUPER CAPTION: Moshe Fogel, Israeli Government spokesman

In the West Bank settlement of Psagot, members of the settler council met to discuss last night's events and to decide their position on the attack.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"We warned when Oslo was first signed that it would result in a Bosnia/Lebanonisation of Israel, that's what we're seeing now. Oslo is dead, the question is whether or not the government of Israel is ready to recognise that Oslo is dead."

SUPER CAPTION: Yeichel Leiter, West Bank Settlers spokesman, West Bank

The shooting comes at a time of deep distrust between Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line government and the Palestinian Authority.

Talks on an overdue Israeli troop pullback in the West Bank town of Hebron are deadlocked, and Palestinians are angry about Israel's plans to build 132 homes for Jews in the heart of an Arab neighbourhood in east Jerusalem.

Ramallah, West Bank, Gaza, Tel Aviv, Psagot Settlement, December 12 1996.

Ramallah:

1. GV Israeli army roadblock

2. Soldiers checking cars and IDs

3. Cars backed up at roadblock

4. Army closing side roads/laying down barbed wire

5. Palestinian police roadblock

6. Palestinian police patrolling

Gaza:

7. Arafat sitting down

Tel Aviv:

8. SOUNDBITE: Moshe Fogel, Israeli Government spokesman

Psagot Settlement

9. SOUNDBITE: Yeichel Leiter West Bank Settlers spokesman, West Bank

10. Settler meeting

11. Settler meeting.

English/Nat

The Israeli army has imposed strict security measures in the Palestinian West Bank town of Ramallah, in response to Wednesday evening's attack outside the town.

No-one has claimed responsibility for the shooting which killed two Israeli settlers and left five others injured.

No-one goes in or out of Ramallah without permission from the authorities.

Israeli soldiers search cars as they try to leave or enter the West Bank town.

The army has also blocked side roads from Ramallah with barbed wire and metal bars.

The town is now completely sealed off.

Palestinian police have also set up roadblocks and patrol the area, including the scene of the shooting, in an effort to locate the attackers.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat refused to make any comment on the shooting.

But Israeli government spokesman Moshe Fogel blamed the Palestinian Authority for not doing enough to crack down on militant extremists.

SOUNDBITE: (english)

"This tragic terrorist attack is a test case for the Palestinian authority, if they will live up to their part of the agreement and that is preventing terror. As far as we're concerned the Palestinian authority is obligated to exert at one hundred per cent effort to find these terrorists and bring them to trial."

SUPER CAPTION: Moshe Fogel, Israeli Government spokesman

In the West Bank settlement of Psagot, members of the settler council met to discuss last night's events and to decide their position on the attack.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"We warned when Oslo was first signed that it would result in a Bosnia/Lebanonisation of Israel, that's what we're seeing now. Oslo is dead, the question is whether or not the government of Israel is ready to recognise that Oslo is dead."

SUPER CAPTION: Yeichel Leiter, West Bank Settlers spokesman, West Bank

The shooting comes at a time of deep distrust between Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-line government and the Palestinian Authority.

Talks on an overdue Israeli troop pullback in the West Bank town of Hebron are deadlocked, and Palestinians are angry about Israel's plans to build 132 homes for Jews in the heart of an Arab neighbourhood in east Jerusalem.

Speaking from Ramallah Hanan Ashrawi, Minister for Higher Education in the Palestinian National Authority also addressed the issue.

She warned that the reasons for violence in the region had to be addressed in order to avoid the explosion of the Middle East

"powder keg".

SOUNDBITE:

"My reaction is that we live in a situation of tremendous complexity, volatility and great injustice...we live in a powder keg situation - it's bound to explode at any moment. The fact that there was another incident of violence demonstrates beyond any doubt that real reasons for violence have to be addressed - that the peace process has to proceed with vision and with courage to change realities on the ground, that collective punishments and transforming the Palestinian territories into a collective prison is conducive to violence and that there has to be the will to proceed with the peace process effectively and to transform realities on the ground.

SUPERCAPTION: Hanan Ashrawi, Minister for Higher Education in the Palestinian National Authority

This latest attack is yet another setback in already troubled and uneasy Arab- Israeli relations.

Ramallah, West Bank, Gaza, Tel Aviv, Psagot Settlement, December 12 1996.

Ramallah:

1. Palestinian legislative council podium

2. Wideshot of council

3. Set-up Hanan Ashrawi, Minister of The Palestinian National Authority;

4. Council podium

5. SOUNDBITE: Ashrawi

6. GV Israeli army roadblock

7. Soldiers checking cars and IDs

8. Cars backed up at roadblock

9. Army closing side roads/laying down barbed wire

10. Palestinian police roadblock

11. Palestinian police patrolling

Gaza:

12. Arafat sitting down

Tel Aviv:

13. SOUNDBITE: Moshe Fogel, Israeli Government spokesman

Psagot Settlement

14. SOUNDBITE: Yehiel Leiter West Bank Settlers spokesman, West Bank

15. Settler meeting

16. Settler meeting.

English/Nat

Palestinians in the West Bank village of Dura on Wednesday buried three construction workers shot dead by Israeli soldiers the previous day.

The killings triggered the worst day of violence in the West Bank in months.

At least 32 Palestinians were injured by rubber bullets in stone throwing clashes with Israeli soldiers in a number of West bank towns and villages.

Troubles flared again on the streets of cities throughout the West Bank.

Palestinians - angry at the latest killings - hurled stones at Israeli troops outside a refugee camp near Hebron.

The soldiers replied with gunfire.

Fiery calls for vengeance and tears of private sorrow in the West Bank village of Dura as three construction workers shot dead by Israeli soldiers on Tuesday are buried.

More than 10-thousand people joined a funeral procession that snaked through the narrow hilly streets to the sound of Koranic verses.

Among the mourners were old men leaning on canes and young masked activists who shouted "Netanyahu is bad, and we'll kill him".

The bodies of the three labourers were driven to a small cemetery in white vans decorated with wreaths of flowers.

Palestinian policemen ran alongside the procession to keep order.

Tuesday's shooting occurred at an army roadblock near the village of Tarkoumiah, west of Hebron, when a van carrying Palestinian workers returning from jobs in Israel tried to bypass a line of cars waiting at the roadblock.

The army said soldiers opened fire after the van struck and injured one of the soldiers.

A Palestinian passenger said troops began shooting after the van sped up to prevent another car from cutting in front of the vehicle.

The killings triggered the worst day of violence in the West Bank in months, with at least 32 Palestinians injured by rubber bullets in stone throwing clashes with Israeli soldiers.

Some of the fiercest clashes took place in Ramallah.

Here, hundreds of students from Bir Zeit University clashed with Israeli soldiers who

shot and wounded at least seven protestors.

The killings came amid growing Palestinian frustration over the stalled peace talks with Israel and there is concern that the incident could trigger widespread violence.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat denounced the killings of the labourers as a "big crime".

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"It is a big crime against our workers and our labourers who were returning from their work to their homes."

SUPER CAPTION: Yasser Arafat, Palestinian President

The Islamic militant movement Hamas said Israel was bearing the responsibility for the latest violent developments in the region.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"All the Israeli events between the Palestinians and the Israelis stopping areas were intended and planned by the Israeli governments. So we are considering that the Israeli authority, the Israeli government are responsible of the killings."

SUPER CAPTION: Mahmud al-Zahar, Hamas movement spokesman in Gaza

Israel on Tuesday expressed its condolences for the incident.

A day later, Defence Minister Yitzhak Mordechai reiterated that the Jewish state was sorry and added the Israeli army was investigating the incident.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"We are very sorry about those people who were killed yesterday. We are investigating what happened there. I am going to be there, in the area this afternoon to find out what happened there. I think what it needs is to ask everybody here in this area and in other places to keep order and law and not to change the direction that all of us would like to mobilise the area to the peace-time."

SUPER CAPTION: Yitzhak Mordechai, Israeli Defence Minister

Before Wednesday's funeral, Palestinians clashed briefly with Israeli soldiers outside Dura.

Hospital officials in Hebron said 25 Palestinians were injured in Hebron and Dura.

Two of the injured are said to be in a serious condition.

An Israeli border policeman was slightly injured in the stone throwing.

Dura Village, Ramallah & Hebron, West Bank; Gaza city, Gaza strip; Jerusalem - March 10 1998

Al Fawwar refugee camp, near Hebron

1. Israeli soldier shooting at Palestinian throwing stones.

2. Palestinians throwing stones

3. Palestinians burning tires

Dura Village

4. Wide shot thousands of people in the cemetery

5. People carrying coffins covered with flowers and Palestinian flags

6. Wide shot mourners

7. Close up mourners

Ramallah

8. Palestinians throwing stones toward Israeli soldiers

9. Medium shot Palestinians throwing stones

10. Israeli soldiers firing tear gas and rubber bullets towards Palestinians

11. Various of with Palestinians and Israeli soldiers

12. Student demonstration

13. Wide shot students demonstrating

Gaza Strip

14. Arafat arriving by car at his office

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Yasser Arafat, Palestinian president

16. Set up of Mahmud al-Zahar, Hamas movement spokesman in Gaza

17. SOUNDBITE: (English) Mahmud al-Zahar, Hamas movement spokesman in Gaza

Jerusalem

18. Meeting between Mordechai and Indian Chief of Staff

19. Cutaway camera

20. SOUNDBITE: (English) Yitzhak Mordechai, Israel Defence Minister

Hebron, West Bank

21. Large group of Israeli soldiers chasing Palestinians.

22. Soldier tries to kick out fire on ground

23. Large crowd of Palestinians - some throwing stones

English/Nat

A bomb killed at least one man and injured others in the West Bank just us the U-S Envoy to the Middle East, Dennis Ross prepared to wrap up a five-day trip to the region today with final talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Despite the U-S attempted mediation the latest violence is a cruel reminder of the impasse in the peace process.

Israel came away from the talks on Sunday saying no new troop pullbacks from the West Bank can proceed without security pledges from the Palestinians.

But Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat welcomed an American proposal for a peace summit in Washington.

A deserted area in the West Bank town of Ramallah, just north of Jerusalem, was the latest terrorist target.

Police say the charred remains of a white Peugeot where packed with explosives and suspect it was to be driven elsewhere to be used in a terrorist attack.

Witnesses say a body with its legs blown off could be seen lying next to the charred remains of the car.

Ramallah is the site of several Palestinian government ministries.

The last serious terror attacks in Israel were more than six months ago, when suicide bombings in Jerusalem, carried out by the militant Islamic group Hamas, killed the five bombers and 20 Israelis.

Meanwhile in Jerusalem, U-S Peace Envoy Dennis Ross tried to sell to Israel a withdrawal package of 13-point-one per cent of West Bank territory over a 12-week period.

But Israel says it cannot withdraw from more than nine percent of the West Bank and have demanded strict security pledges from the Palestinians.

Israel radio without citing its sources, said the two would meet again today (Monday).

Ross then headed to Gaza late on Sunday evening to meet Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

It was there that Arafat, when he was asked if he was ready to meet with Netanyahu, welcomed what he called an American proposal for an international summit with world leaders.

Such a summit could give Arafat political justification for continuing the peace process even if Ross fails to win concessions from Israel.

Ross has been trying to win acceptance for a U-S proposal for an Israeli troop pullback from about 13 percent of the West Bank but Israel has said it will not withdraw from more than 9 percent.

The withdrawal would be carried out in tandem with Palestinian moves to do more to fight terrorism who are demanding more territory.

However reports have circulated that a 10 percent to 12 percent pullback was being discussed.

Asked about reports that he would accept a 10 percent withdrawal, Arafat said it was still under discussion.

Netanyahu meanwhile said no percentages had been discussed in his meetings with Ross, although they were expected to have come up in the Sunday night meeting.

When Ross emerged with Arafat in the early hours of Monday morning little details were revealed.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"Well what I can say is that I have had very thorough discussions with both leaders on our ideas and on the refinements that we have made on our ideas. They've had an opportunity not only to present our refinements but to hear reactions from both sides. I will be going back to Washington and reporting to the Secretary and to the President on these discussions in detail. It's been very clear from the guidance I had on coming out here that both the President and the Secretary believe that it's important to bring this process to a conclusion but the President and Secretary will make a decision on when it's appropriate to do so."

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

Meanwhile, Israeli media reported Sunday that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had told American Jewish leaders that the United States might pull out of the peace process if no progress was made.

But Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice-chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said the reports of the group's conference call with Albright were "exaggerated."

While Arafat welcomed an American proposal for a peace summit in Washington, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly decided to meet Ross again on Monday.

Ramallah, West Bank, Gaza City, Gaza and Jerusalem - 29,30 March 1998

Ramallah, West Bank , 29 march 1998 - Night shots

1. Wide shot of explosion scene

2. Wide shot of police sifting through debris

3. Mid shot of fire truck

4. Various of police looking through debris

5. Wide shot of explosion scene

Gaza City & Jerusalem, Israel - 29 and 30 March 1998

Jerusalem, 29 March

6. Wide shot exterior of office building of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

7. Cutaway media

8. Ross and Netanyahu emerge for photo opportunity and handshake

Gaza City, 29 March

9. Night Exterior Palestinian building

10. Night shot of Palestinian flag

11. Medium shot Ross's car arrives for meeting with Palestinian president Yasser Arafat

12. Pan from Arafat to Ross sitting inside before meeting

English/Nat

In a fifth straight day of clashes in the West Bank, Palestinians hurled stones on Saturday at Israeli troops, who fired back with tear gas and rubber bullets.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat called for "international protection" for Palestinians and accused the Israelis of escalating the violence.

More than 200 Palestinians have been hurt in the five days of clashes, sparked by the shooting deaths of three Palestinians at an army roadblock on Tuesday.

Israeli troops were once more firing volleys of rubber bullets at Palestinian demonstrators in the West Bank.

This time the fighting came in the village of Dura, the hometown of three Palestinian workers shot dead on Tuesday at a military checkpoint.

About 200 Palestinian hurled stones at Israeli troops, who fired back with tear gas and baton rounds.

Twelve Palestinians were hurt, including a journalist. At least one Israeli soldier was also injured, apparently struck by a stone.

Dura is near the West Bank town of Hebron which has been the scene of recent clashes.

More than 200 Palestinians have been injured in the ongoing violence, which topped the agenda at the Palestinian Authority cabinet meeting on Friday.

After the meeting, higher education minister Hanan Ashrawi accused Israel of employing a deliberate policy of confrontation and violence against the Palestinians.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"The real danger now stems from this Israeli government's policies, its extremist measures, from its total disregard for the sanctity of Palestinian life and from its deliberate policies of attempting to use violence against Palestinians civilians which has become a pattern now in Israeli behaviour."

SUPER CAPTION: Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian Higher Education Minister

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat called on Saturday for international protection for Palestinians.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"You see, I'm sorry to say they are escalating their aggression against our people and we are asking for international protection very soon."

SUPER CAPTION: Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader

Arafat says there is a great deal of international concern over the upsurge of violence in the West Bank.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"The nature of which we push the Israeli government to implement accurately and honestly what had been signed at the White House under supervision of President Clinton."

Q: And the Americans have declared that they are very worried about what is happening?

A: "No doubt, all of us are worried."

SUPER CAPTION: Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader

Arafat didn't elaborate, but senior Palestinian officials said he meant increased diplomatic pressure on Israel from the United States and Europe and more international observers in Palestinian lands.

Dura, West Bank - March 14; Gaza, Gaza Strip - March 14; Ramallah, West Bank - March 13, 1998

Dura, West Bank - March 14

1. Rear shot of Israeli soldiers firing on demonstrators

2. Palestinian demonstrators throwing stones

3. Soldier fires rifle

4. Palestinian demonstrators throwing stones, pull out to soldier re-loading rifle

5. Wounded soldier carried to army vehicle

6. Wounded demonstrator

7. Army vehicles driving, troops jumping out

8. Palestinian throws stones and raises flag on makeshift pole

Ramallah, West Bank - March 13

9. Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian Higher Education Minister arriving

10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian Higher Education Minister

Gaza, Gaza Strip - 14 March

11. Palestinian honour guard

12. Yasser Arafat arriving at his office

13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader

14. Cutaway to Cameraman

15. SOUNDBITE: (English) Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader

16. Arafat walking into office flanked by guards

English/Nat

Palestinians and Israeli troops clashed on Wednesday in a scene reminiscent of the six-year Intifada.

In one West Bank village Palestinians threw stones at Israeli army jeeps and the troops responded with live rounds as they rescued a trapped comrade.

But other demonstrations were peaceful on the fourth anniversary of the massacre of 29 people by Jewish extremist Baruch Goldstein.

In other developments on Wednesday, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat returned to his headquarters in Gaza after a number of days spent abroad.

In the West Bank village of Kalandia, Palestinian demonstrators were trapped between the roof tops after pelting Israeli troops with rocks.

Israeli soldiers from both sides of the street responded with tear gas.

The army sealed the entrance to the camp on Tuesday night with nine-foot (3-metre) cement blocks.

Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli soldiers arrested six Palestinians in a sweep after a spate of stone-throwing at troops and Jewish settlers.

The arrests seemed intended to show Palestinians that Israel does not intend to give up security of the villages around Ramallah and Hebron in the next handover of West Bank territory.

Meanwhile Palestinian chairman Yasser Arafat arrived back in Gaza following a visit to Cairo where he discussed with the Egyptian president the stagnated peace process.

Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations have stalled over the extent of the next Israeli troop pullback.

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered to hold Camp David-style talks with Arafat to try to reach a permanent peace agreement with the Palestinians.

Arafat refused to take part until Netanyahu had fulfilled a previous agreement to pull troops out of the West Bank.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"We are insisting on to carry on with the implementation of what had been signed and what had been agreed upon in the White House, by the Israelis, and we are insisting that commitments which have been agreed upon are implemented very soon".

SUPER CAPTION: Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader

In the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, dozens of Israeli Peace Now left-wing activists and Jewish settlers engaged in a shouting match at the grave of extremist Baruch Goldstein.

The grave of Goldstein, who killed 29 Palestinian at the site of the tomb of the Patriarch in Hebron four years ago, has become a place of pilgrimage for the settlers.

Peace activists and settlers were both demonstrating to mark the fourth anniversary of the Hebron massacre, although moved by very different loyalties.

The Peace Now activists began their protest silently but ended up calling for the dismantling of Kiryat Arba.

A police cordon had to keep the two sides apart.

Kalandia and Kiryat Arba, West Bank and Gaza Strip - 25 February 1998

Kalandia, West Bank

1. Palestinian throwing stones at Israeli soldiers.

2. Israeli soldier shooting tear gas.

3. Long shot roof top.

4. Palestinian throwing stone.

Gaza

5. Arafat's convoy arriving.

6. Honor guard.

7. Cutaway cameramen.

8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Palestinian chairman Yasser Arafat.

Kiryat Arba,West Bank

9. Long shot left wing activists across Goldstein's grave.

10. Long shot peace now activists holding banner.

11. Close up policeman.

12. Close up Baruch Goldstein gravestone

Arabic/Eng/Nat

A Palestinian court has convicted three men of carrying out last week's West Bank highway ambush that killed an Israeli woman and her son.

Abdel Nasr Kaasi and Ibrahim Massad received life sentences in the speedy trial, and driver Ibrahim el Alqam got a 15-year sentence, according to a top Palestinian security official in the West Bank.

Israel had demanded that any assailants arrested in the attack be handed over to them but the men will serve their sentences in jails in the West Bank.

The arrests and quick trials of the three men accused of the drive-by shootings was front page news in the West Bank.

Abdel Nasr Kaasi and Ibrahim Massad received life sentences each, for carrying out drive by shooting itself.

The driver, Ibrahim el Alqam, got a 15-year sentence, said a top Palestinian security official.

42 year old Eeta Tsur and her 12 year-old son Efraim were killed last Wednesday, when gunmen opened fire on their car as they drove home to the Jewish settlement of Beit El.

Three other family members were wounded in the attack.

The radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the attack, and Palestinian police began rounding up members of the group shortly afterward.

One of the men involved in the shooting, Kaasi, is from a refugee camp in the Bethlehem area while the others - Alqam and Massad are from Ramallah.

The family of Ibrahim el Alqam are still convinced their son is innocent.

SOUNDBITE: (Arabic)

"He was out with a snare (fishing) when they took him, we tried to find out what was going on from the authorities but they didn't tell us anything. We understood that the Israelis took him."

SUPER CAPTION: Sallah el-Alqam, Father of convicted prisoner

The Palestinian authority had to face inside opposition to the trial and arrest of Palestinians, with students in the West Bank holding protests against the arrests.

Israel is also unhappy at the speedy trial having demanded any one arrested be handed over to them.

But the Israel-PLO accords allow for extradition of Palestinians believed to have committed crimes in Israeli-held territory - except for cases in which the Palestinians prosecute them first.

Under Palestinian law a life sentence means no parole for at least 25 years.

This guarantees the assailants now will not be handed over to Israel.

In the past Israel has charged that the Palestinians stage quick trials for militants in order to circumvent the extradition requirement.

Palestinian cabinet member, Hanan Ashrawi defended the Palestinian authority's trial.

SOUNDBITE:

"And therefore I feel that since we have our own judiciary our own legal system, our own detainees will be tried within the Palestinian system. There's no way in which we can start handing to the Israelis Palestinians in the same way in which the Israeli will not hand over to us those Israeli who carry out attacks against Palestinians.

SUPERCAPTION: Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian cabinet member

Following reports of the trial, Israel, eased up the restrictions on travelling in and out of Ramallah which they had put in place immediately after the shooting.

Jericho, Beit El, Ramallah, West Bank. December 19 and file 1996.

Jericho

1. Two shots of newspaper stories on the arrests and trial

Beit El, West Bank

2. Various file of the shooting aftermath

Ramallah, West Bank

3. Family of Ibrahim el Alqam at their house

4. Father looking at newspaper reports

5. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Sallah el Alqam, Father of Ibrahim

6. Various students' rally protesting the trial and arrest

7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian cabinet member

9. Exterior Palestinian Council

English/Nat

Palestinians in a village in the West Bank demonstrated Tuesday against an Israeli decision to expand settlements in the area.

The protesters, who waved banners and flags, said the decision to expand would mean the confiscation of their land.

In Gaza P-L-O leader Yasser Arafat met with a Spanish delegation headed by Federico Trillo, Speaker of the Spanish parliament who expressed his country's solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

Palestinian villagers in the West Bank village of Al-Khader (20 miles / 35 kilometres south of Jerusalem) held a march Tuesday to protest Israel's decision to expand a nearby Jewish settlement.

Protesters carrying banners and Palestinians flags angrily criticised the confiscation of land in the area.

Israeli soldiers watched nearby.

Some protesters prayed at the site of confiscated land.

About 145-thousand Jewish settlers live in the West Bank and Gaza amid 2 million Palestinians.

Israel this week added to the tension by approving the construction of 474 new homes in the West Bank's Jordan Valley.

Meanwhile, in Gaza, European involvement in shoring up the fragile peace in the Middle East continued with a Spanish delegation meeting P-L-O leader Yasser Arafat.

In talks planned in Madrid for Tuesday, Spain intends to make clear to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his government must demonstrate its support for the Middle East peace process.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar intends to push Netanyahu to halt the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and to break the deadlock over withdrawing Israeli forces from the West Bank city of Hebron.

Arafat welcomed European involvement and Spain's support.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"The peace process is facing some troubles and we are in need of the role of Europe and the role of Spain."

SUPER CAPTION: Yasser Arafat, PLO leader

SOUNDBITE: Spanish)

"I would like to say that all factions within the Spanish parliament have expressed to President Arafat their solidarity with the Palestinian cause, and the commitment of all Spanish political forces to the peace process."

SUPER CAPTION: Federico Trillo, Speaker of Spanish Parliament

It will be Netanyahu's first visit to Spain since taking office seven months ago.

Al-Khader, West Bank and Gaza. December 3 1996

Al-Khader, West Bank:

1. WS hill

2. Palestinian marchers

3. Palestinians holding banners

4. Israeli soldiers standing

5. Various of march

6. Palestinian praying at hill

Gaza City, Gaza strip:

7. Yasser Arafat with Federico Trillo, Speaker of Spanish Parliament

8. Yasser Arafat

9. Federico Trillo, Speaker of Spanish Parliament

10. Various of Spanish delegation

11. Walking shot Yasser Arafat

12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Yasser Arafat, PLO leader

13. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Federico Trillo, Speaker of Spanish Parliament

14. Cutaway to press

15. Yasser Arafat walks to car

English/Nat

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has spoken to reporters Sunday for the first time since Benjamin Netanyahu was declared Israeli Prime Minister elect.

Despite fears among many Palestinians that Netanyahu might jepordise the already fragile peace process, Arafat sounded upbeat.

But even as he was speaking Israeli bulldozers were opening a new road through Palestinian land in the West Bank.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat making an official visit to the Rafah airfield, his first engagement since the day Israelis went to the polls to elect a new hard-line leadership.

Arafat spoke as the first Palestinian plane landed at the airfield which is being upgraded to handle international flights.

He said that the Palestinian Authority and people have no other choice other than to respect the Israeli democracy in the choice of their new leader.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"We are respecting the democratic choice of the Israeli people"

SUPER CAPTION: Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat

But Arafat also said that he hoped the final negotiations which he will conduct with the new Israeli Prime Minister will achieve the Palestinian dreams.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"We are looking forward that the final negotiations will lead for the Palestinian independent state"

SUPER CAPTION: Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat

In a statement issued early Saturday, the Cabinet and the PLO Executive Committee said they respected the Israeli electorate's decision and appealed to the international community "to increase efforts to push the peace process forward."

But as Arafat made his comments, Israeli bulldozers started opening a new road through Palestinian land in the West Bank.

Landowners said that Israeli bulldozers began working before dawn, protected by Israeli soldiers

SOUNDBITE: (ARABIC)

"We saw them working in our land, we asked them whether they have a permit or a court order to work in the land , they said they do not have anything."

SUPER CAPTION: Palestinian land owner, George Shomali]

With the Israeli army there, how could they stop them, asked another.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"Many people came here to defend their land but what can they do while the army protecting the bulldozers and the machines are uprooting the trees."

SUPER CAPTION: Palestinian land owner, Hanna Araj

Even though Benjamin ("Bibi") Netanyahu is still not installed in office as Prime Minister, Palestinians are already afraid that the next four years will be filled with more settlements, land confiscations and obstacles to peace.

Meanwhile the outgoing cabinet, headed by Shimon Peres, convened one of its last meetings.

Peres was expected to discuss the proposed redeployment from the disputed West Bank town of Hebron, Israel Army Radio said.

The report said Peres planned to refrain from the scheduled army pullout, preferring to leave the problem for Netanyahu's government.

Hebron - a city of 94,000 Palestinians and 450 Jewish settlers - is the last major town in the West Bank to remain under Israeli control.

Palestinians in the city have been closely watching the elections in Israel.

After Netanyahu's victory, Hebron Mayor Mustafa Natche urged Prime Minister Peres to withdraw from the city before stepping down.

But a spokesman said Peres had decided to leave the date of the withdrawal up to the incoming government.

Netanyahu is expected to seek to shift the Hebron problem to final status talks, which are to resolve such issues as the final borders, the return of Palestinian refugees and the status of Jewish settlements.

GAZA STRIP, WEST BANK, JUNE 2 1996

GAZA STRIP, RAFAH

1-Arafat arriving at airport

2-plane landing at Rafah airport

3-co-pilot waving Palestinian flag from plane

4-Arafat near plane surrounded by guards

5-Palestinians chanting

6-SOUNDBITE: Yasser Arafat

7-intercut - Arafat

8-SOUNDBITE: Arafat

9-Arafat walking with two Israeli policemen holding hands

BEIT SAHOUR, WEST BANK

10-bulldozers in field

11-bulldozer opening road

12-Palestinian watching bulldozers

13- uprooted olive trees

14-SOUNDBITE: Shomali

15-more bulldozers

16-Palestinians in bulldozed land

17-SOUNDBITE: Araj

18--bulldozers in field

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK

19-palestinian police directing traffic

20-Ramallah market

21-centre of Ramallah

Hebron, West Bank:

22. Various of Palestinians reading newspapers

23. Various street scenes

24. Various of Israeli soldiers

25. Man reading paper on street

English/Nat

Israeli troops have withdrawn from the town of Ramallah in the West Bank under a hail of stones.

The latest pullout gives Yasser Arafat control over 99 percent of the West Bank's Palestinian population and one-third of its land.

It is Israel's last withdrawal from the West Bank before Palestinian general elections on January 20 and leaves only Hebron still under Israeli troop control.

The pull-out began shortly after 1300 GMT when half a dozen Israeli

jeeps drove out of the Israeli police station in the center of town.

Thousands of Palestinians surrounded the station to see off the Israeli occupiers.

There was an air of celebration as the first jeeps pulled out -- but the jubilation turned sour as crowds started to pelt the jeeps with stones and bottles.

The jeeps kept driving -- for now unable to retaliate in an area that is under the control of the Palestinians themselves.

As soon as they were gone, Palestinians climbed triumphantly to the top of the station and hoisted the Palestinian flag.

Ramallah is the last town to be handed over to Palestinian control before the January 20 Palestinian election.

Under the Israeli-Palestinian peace accord, Israeli troops have withdrawn from seven West Bank towns and more than 400 villages over the past month giving the P-L-O control over more than one-third of the West Bank.

The withdrawals have created a new reality in the Delaware-sized territory after 28 years of Israeli occupation.

Only Hebron is still to be handed over.

The eighth West Bank town due to come under Palestinian control is also the most controversial. The town of 200-thousand Palestinians has a tiny -- and highly vulnerable -- Jewish settlement of 450.

Israeli troops will pull out of most Hebron by the end of March but remain in the downtown area to protect the 450 Jewish settlers living there.

For years, Ramallah was a center of resistance to Israeli occupation.

Just 12 miles north of Jerusalem, it may become Yasser Arafat's future seat of government.

For now, Arafat is still working out of Gaza City in the Gaza Strip.

He said Wednesday that he was satisfied with the way the pull-out was progressing.

SOUNDBITE:

The schedule that we are had agreed upon and that we had signed is going in an accurate way.

SUPER CAPTION: Yasser Arafat, chairman of PLO

He has reason to be -- the pull-out from Ramallah happened one day ahead of schedule.

Ramallah, West Bank and Gaza, Gaza Strip, Israel. 27 December 1995

Ramallah, West Bank.

1. Jeeps containing Israeli troops leaving compound

2. Cut away to Palestinians looking out of apartment block

3. Close up of jeep with soldiers inside

4. Various of jeeps with Israeli troops leaving

5. Various of crowds throwing stones at jeeps

6. Wide-shot of soldiers with guns and Palestinian flags on roof of police station

7. Close up of soldiers with guns and Palestinian flags

8. Crowds clapping, pan to police station

9. Mid-shot of Marwan Bargouti, head of Fatah in Ramallah area, speaking through microphone to crowd, zoom to close up

10. Cut away of Palestinians listening to speech at apartment window

11. Wide-shot of crowds

Gaza, Gaza Strip.

12. Yasser Arafat, chairman of PLO walking past guards

13. SOUNDBITE:

14. Pan from Palestinian flag, to Arafat's office in Gaza.

Natural Sound

Supporters of the militant Islamic group staged a noisy protest in Gaza City in memory of Fathi Shakaki, the leader of the Islamic Jihad, gunned down in Malta last week.

They claimed responsibility for two suicide car bombings this week and said the violence would continue.

On the West Bank, there were clashes between Palestinians and police over the death of a Palestinian youth allegedly shot by a Jewish settler on Friday.

Thousands of supporters of the militant Muslim group, Islamic Jihad gathered (Saturday) for a rally in the Gaza Strip in memory of their slain leader.

Fathi Shakaki was shot by an unidentified gunman in Malta last week. His followers blame the Israelis.

Anonymous spokesmen at the rally claimed it had been their activists who carried out two suicide car bombings in the Gaza Strip this week which injured 11 Israelis.

Previously no group had claimed responsibility, but it had been feared the attack was in revenge for the death of Shakaki.

The spokesmen also announced the car bombings were a first response and more attacks would follow.

Angry followers wearing t-shirts bearing a photograph of Shakaki burned Israeli and American flags and an effigy of Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin.

The suicide bombings, which were apparently planned and carried out in Palestinian controlled territory, proved embarrassing for the P-L-O chief Yasser Arafat.

Israel has warned it will freeze its planned troop pullback in the West Bank if Arafat is unable to contain the militants and prevent such incidents.

But Israel has its own problems controlling trouble spots on the West Bank.

Palestinian youths from the West Bank refugee camp at Jalazoun clashed repeatedly with Israeli soldiers.

They were angry at the death of 15 year old Muhamed Ramahi on Friday.

Palestinians claim he was shot and killed by a Jewish settler whose car was stoned by youths from Jalazoun.

The general scene of unrest was repeated in the Palestinian town of Ramallah.

Running battles were fought in the streets - tyres were set alight and the Palestinians pelted soldiers with stones.

In return, the Israelis used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowd.

The town of Ramallah, along with other West Bank cities, is to come under P-L-O control by the end of the year.

It is feared that Saturday's events could set off further violence and delay Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.

Later in the day, mourners in Jalazoun staged a mock funeral of the dead teenager.

Marchers, carrying pictures of the dead youth and P-L-O leader Yasser Arafat, paraded through Jalazoun to the local cemetery.

Emotions in Jalazoun were running high immediately after the death of the 15 year old youth on Friday.

Mourning relatives claim that Ramahi was murdered by the settler.

The camp is only a few minute's drive from the Jewish settlement of Beit-El.

130-thousand Jewish settlers live among one (m) million Palestinians in the West Bank, and claim that the Israeli pullout will compromise their security.

Gaza Strip and Jalazoun and Ramallah, West Bank, November 3-4 1995

Gaza Strip November 4th

1. WS man with flag running in front of crowds at rally

2. crowds chanting

3. close up of poster of Shakaki

4. various of crowds wearing Shakaki t-shirts

5. various burning flags and effigy

6. close-up of man burning flags

Jalazoun 4 Nov

7. Wide shot tires burning on road

8. Israeli soldiers arriving and shooting

Ramallah 4 Nov

9. Various of Palestinians throwing rocks at soldiers

10. Wide shot street.

11. Palestinian boy arrested by soldiers and put in jeep

Jalazoun 4 Nov

12. Marches in street carrying pictures of Arafat and dead boy.

13. Marchers carrying mock body

14. Wide shot cemetery

Jalazoun, 3 Nov 1995

15. Night shot burning tyres

16. Poster of dead boy

17. Various tyres burning

18. Grieving relatives