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

Arabic/Eng

For Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the dream of an independent Palestinian state draws ever closer.

He insists that such a state will be declared next May, a step which the Israelis caution him against taking.

As the deadline draws ever nearer, new evidence of Palestinian statehood -- from state postage stamps and licence plates to state ministries are becoming apparent.

Over the past four years, Palestinians have slowly built up a political entity that looks very much like a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Five years after he entered the historic process of compromise with Israel, the tired leader of Palestinian nationalism, Yasser Arafat, intends to reach his goal.

He is demanding an independent Palestinian state not just in words, but in reality.

Yasser Arafat, who has the title of president of the Palestinian Authority, is promising to make it official at midnight on May 4, 1999.

SOUNDBITE: (Arabic)

'There will be no peace, no security, and stability only with the establishment of the Palestinian state with Jerusalem its capital, whether they like or not, whether they like it or not, whether they like it or not.'

SUPER CAPTION: Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader

There is already a 30-thousand-member police force in training and patrolling the border lines with Israel and the streets of the Palestinian self-rule areas.

A Palestinian passport has been issued and Israeli licence plates have been replaced with Palestinian ones.

There are also now Palestinian stamps.

But Israel has already hinted that if the Palestinians declare statehood on their own, it might annex large tracts in the West Bank, where the Palestinians govern only 27 percent of the land.

Israeli Prime Minister top advisor David Bar Illan says Israel will retaliate if the Palestinians declare their own state.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

'It must be clearly understood that once the Palestinian scuttle the agreement by declaring a state, Israel will have to protect itself from the consequences of such acts and it will have to take unilateral actions to afford itself this kind of protection.'

SUPER CAPTION: David Bar Illan, Netanyahu top aide to Benjamin Netanyahu

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has his own ministers that meet weekly and discuss Palestinian affairs.

The Palestinian flag already flies outside ornate Palestinian ministries in the West

Bank and Gaza Strip.

Some believe Arafat is using the statehood card to create a crisis in hopes of a diplomatic rescue from the United States.

Palestinian political analyst Ali Jirbawi believes that if Arafat can guarantee support from countries supportive of the peace process, he should go ahead and declare his independent state.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

'If we can secure recognition for the state from countries which are important in this peace process, like the United States of America then I think we shall go ahead and announce it.'

SUPER CAPTION: Palestinian political analyst

Arafat, who expects more than 100 nations to recognise a Palestinian state, hopes international backing will hold Israel in check and prevent reprisals.

He has already begun his international campaign with an effort in the United Nations to upgrade the observer status the Palestinians have now.

Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron, Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Jericho, Jerusalem --1-5 July 1998 and file

Ramallah, West Bank, 4 July 1998

1. Various of streets in Ramallah

2. Palestinian policemen talking

3. People walking in street

Bethlehem, West Bank, 30 June 1998

4. Yasser Arafat laying corner stone for a new hotel

5. Arafat pounding on stone

Ramallah, West Bank, 1 July 1998

6. Arafat walking into Palestinian council

7. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Palestinian chairman Yasser Arafat

Jericho, West Bank 17 May 1998

8. Palestinian police marching

9. Palestinian police graduation march

Gaza City 5 July 1998

10. Palestinian police officer talking on radio

11. Palestinian policemen in car patrol

12. Palestinian policeman directing traffic

13. An application for a Palestinian passport

14. Picture on computer screen for passport application, pan to passport being printed

15. Palestinian passport coming out of printer

Hebron, West Bank 3 July 1998

17. Palestinian removes Israeli licence plate off car

18. Palestinian plate being printed

19. Cover being peeled off plate

20. Close shot Post Office sign

21. Palestinian woman buying stamps

22. Close shot Palestinian stamp

23. Close shot woman writing address on letter

24. Stamp being stuck to letter

25. Woman putting letter in mail box

Jerusalem, 2 July 1998

26. Set-up shot of David Bar Illan, Netanyahu's adviser

27. SOUNDBITE: (English) David Bar Illan, Senior Aide to Prime Minister Netanyahu

Hebron, West Bank 4 July 1998

28. Arafat heading Palestinian cabinet

Gaza City, 5 July 1998

29. Exterior of Palestinian finance ministry

30. Sign of the Palestinian finance ministry

31. exterior of interior ministry

Ramallah, West Bank, 4 July 1998

32. Set-up shot Ali Jirbawi, Palestinian political expert

33. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ali Jirbawi, Palestinian political expert

Hebron, West Bank, File 19 January 1997

34. Arafat waving to crowd

35. Thousands of Palestinian cheering Arafat

36. Arafat giving the victory sign to crowd

Natural Sound

The President of the European Parliament, Klaus Haensch, has strongly criticised Israeli plans to expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

His comments came in an address to the Palestinian Legislative Council in the West Bank town of Ramallah Wednesday.

In Nablus, thousands of supporters from the Islamic Fundamentalist group Hamas held a rally in memory of the Palestinians killed in riots this September.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, meeting World Bank officials in Paris, said despite the setbacks, his people are still committed to a peaceful solution in the Middle East.

Supporters of the fundamentalist group of Hamas, held a memorial rally in the West Bank city of Nablus Wednesday, to commemorate the death of more than 60 Palestinian killed by Israeli soldier during riots in September.

15 Israeli soldiers were also killed.

Hundreds of supporters some chanting Allahu Akbar and some waving Hamas flags turned out for the rally at An-Najah University.

Masked members of Hamas marched through the throng of people carrying an assortment of weapons. Some members of the fundamentalist Islamic group wrapped themselves in white robes -- symbolic death shrouds.

The President of the European Parliament, Klaus Haensch, also arrived Wednesday in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

A ceremonial guard of honour stood to attention outside the Palestinian Legislative Council, where Haensch was greeted by the head of the Council, Ahmed Quriea.

After talks between the two men, Haensch addressed the 88-member council.

In his speech, he strongly criticised the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, describing them as illegal.

Haensch also expressed support for the concept of Palestinian statehood, but said Palestinians must be patient with the faltering peace talks with Israel.

The E-U is the main source of financial support for the Palestinian autonomous government, providing more than seven (m) million U-S dollars in aid since 1993.

Meanwhile, in Paris, the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met World Bank officials, seeking financial support for his battered economy.

The economic situation of Palestinians has worsened in the past year after the closure of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank last February - unemployment has risen from 11 to 23 percent.

To ease the Palestinian woes, donor nations pledged more than 845 (m) million dollars.

The money, to be released in 1997 will be used to create jobs, rebuild the Palestinian territories' roads and utilities.

Arafat reiterated his commitment to the peace process in the Middle East.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"In spite of all these difficulties we are committed to the peace process, and we will continue to be committed to the peace process."

SUPER CAPTION: Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader

Earlier in the day Arafat met with the French Premier Alain Juppe and thanked France for its continued support in the peace negotiations.

Nablus and Ramallah, West Bank, and Paris, France - 20 November 1996

Nablus, West Bank:

1. Wide shot of rally at An-Najah University

2. Mid shot of rally

3. Wide shot of rally with people carrying a line of flags

4. Mid shot of drummers

5. High shot of people gathered at rally

6. Close-up of crowd

7. Mid shot of banner

8. Various shot of Hamas members with their heads covered

9. Various shots of members carrying guns

10. Mid shot of children waving flags

11. Mid shot of women and children in crowd

12. Close-up of covered Hamas men holding guns

Ramallah, West Bank:

7. Exterior of Palestinian Legislative Council

8. High shot of Palestinian soldiers lined up

9. Wide shot of European Parliament speaker Klaus Haensch convoy arriving

10. Haensch met by Head of Palestinian Legislative Council Ahmed Quriea

11. Wide shot of Haensch and Ahmed Quriea

12. Mid shot of Haensch

13. Mid shot of Ahmed Quriea

14. Close up of Haensch and Ahmed Quriea

15. Haensch and Ahmed Quriea enter the council

16. Wide shot of Palestinian members of the council

17. Mid shot of Haensch and Ahmed Quriea on stage

18. Close up of Haensch

Paris, France:

19. Exterior of World Bank

20. Arafat entering conference hall

21. Wide shot conference hall

22. SOUNDBITE: Yasser Arafat, Palestinian Leader

23. Wide pan of conference room

24. Arafat arrives to meet Juppe

25. Wide shot Arafat and Juppe

26. Mid shot of same

27. Wide shot exterior of Juppe's office

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

English/Nat

Yasser's Arafat's vision of a Palestinian state has come a step closer.

That's after the U-N General Assembly voted to upgrade the status of the Palestinians at the U-N to that of a virtual state - despite U-S opposition.

The U-S voted against the move and had argued that it would jeopardise efforts to restart the stalled Mid East peace talks.

Israel's prime minister says it wasn't a very important development, calling it a "minor correction" to the status of the Palestinians.

But in the Palestinian-controlled parts of the West Bank and Gaza there's plenty of evidence already of effective Palestinian statehood.

From postage stamps and licence plates to state ministries -- facts are being created on the ground. A-P-T-V takes a look.

Over the past four years, Palestinians have slowly built up a political entity that looks very much like a state in the parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip they control.

There are highly-visible trappings of statehood -- like the Palestinian police force.

.

There is already a 30-thousand-member police force in training and patrolling the border lines with Israel and the streets of the Palestinian self-rule areas.

And other less visible but no less important trappings -- like Palestinian passports.

.

A Palestinian passport has been issued.

And Israeli licence plates have been replaced with Palestinian ones.

Palestinian Cabinet Minister Hanan Ashrawi welcomed Tuesday's U-N vote upgrading their status.

She called it an essential step on the path to peace in the region.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"We hope that it will reach the stage of recognition of Palestinian statehood fully. We believe it will give us the opportunity to participate globally in order to contribute at the international arena and we believe it will also contribute to the peace process because we view Palestinian statehood and the recognition of Palestinian rights as an essential component, as an essential prerequisite for a just and lasting stable peace in the region."

SUPER CAPTION: Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian Cabinet Minister

Other signs of at least partial independence -- there are also now Palestinian stamps.

Such symbols of statehood are no doubt a boost to Palestinian morale.

But they don't address one of the main stumbling blocks between Israel and the Palestinians -- land.

Israel has already hinted that if the Palestinians declare statehood on their own, it might annex large tracts in the West Bank.

There the Palestinians govern only 27 percent of the land.

Hardly surprisingly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has played down the U-N vote.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"Well I'm satisfied that the Palestinian effort to upgrade their standing in the U-N to virtually to the state, the status of a state did not succeed and in fact what they achieved are minor corrections to their current status."

SUPER CAPTION: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister

But whatever Netanyahu may say, those Palestinian symbols at least hint the opposite.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has his own ministers that meet weekly.

The Palestinian flag already flies outside ornate Palestinian ministries in the West

Bank and Gaza Strip.

Yasser Arafat's P-L-O was granted observer status in the U-N General Assembly in 1974.

That was upgraded in 1988 when the General Assembly decided to designate the P-L-O as "Palestine."

And now the latest move up the ladder of international recognition must give Arafat some hope of achieving his dream of full statehood.

Ramallah, Hebron, Gaza City, Gaza, Jericho and Jerusalem, 07th July 1998, recent and file

Jericho, West Bank 17 May 1998

1. Palestinian police marching

2. Palestinian police graduation march

Gaza City 5 July 1998

3. Palestinian police officer talking on radio

4. Palestinian policemen in car patrol

5. Palestinian policeman directing traffic

6. An application for a Palestinian passport

7. Picture on computer screen for passport application, pan to passport being printed

Ramallah, West Bank, 7 July 1998

8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Hanan Ashrawi, Palestinian Cabinet Minister

Hebron, West Bank 3 July 1998

9. Palestinian removes Israeli licence plate off car

10. Palestinian plate being printed

11. Cover being peeled off plate

12. Close shot Post Office sign

13. Palestinian woman buying stamps

14. Close shot Palestinian stamp

15. Close shot woman writing address on letter

16. Stamp being stuck to letter

18. Woman putting letter in mail box

Jerusalem, 7 July 1998

19. Set-up shot of Netanyahu

20. SOUNDBITE: (English) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli

Hebron, West Bank 4 July 1998

21. Arafat heading Palestinian cabinet

Gaza City, 5 July 1998

22. Exterior of Palestinian finance ministry

23. Sign of the Palestinian finance ministry

24. exterior of interior ministry

Hebron, West Bank, File 19 January 1997

25. Arafat waving to crowd

26. Thousands of Palestinian cheering Arafat

27. Arafat giving the victory sign to crowd

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

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

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

English/Nat

Fourteen Palestinians were injured by rubber bullets as Palestinians and Israeli soldiers clashed in protests that swept the West Bank on Thursday.

It was the second full day of protests following the shooting deaths of three Palestinian workers at an Israeli army roadblock.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said he was still committed to the peace process despite the killings.

Troubles continued for a second full day on the streets of West Bank cities on Thursday.

Triggered by the shooting deaths of three Palestinian workers at an army roadblock, Palestinians hurled stones at Israeli soldiers in Hebron.

Palestinian police moved in to disperse the protesters.

Israeli troops fired rubber bullets and tear gas to break up the angry crowds in five separate locations, including downtown Hebron, the victims' home village and a Jerusalem refugee camp.

Fourteen Palestinians were injured by rubber bullets, and a Palestinian free-lance photographer was struck in the head by a rock.

In a leaflet distributed in the West Bank, Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement had called for protests on Thursday.

Three construction workers were shot and killed at an army roadblock in west of Hebron on Tuesday evening.

The three were riding in a van, along with other workers, and were heading home to their village of Dura.

When the van approached the roadblock, it tried to cut in front of other cars and Israeli soldiers opened fire.

The soldiers said they believed the van had run over one of their comrades and that their lives were in danger.

But Palestinian witnesses said troops fired without provocation.

The army is investigating the shooting and Israel has rejected demands by the Palestinians for a joint inquiry.

The three soldiers who opened fire were initially arrested for questioning, but were released on Wednesday evening.

Despite the unrest, hundreds of Jewish settlers marked the Jewish holiday of Purim parading from the Beit Hadassah enclave in Hebron towards the site of clashes.

Israel's army commander in the West Bank, Brigadier-General, Yitzhak Eitan, had previously asked both settlers and Israeli soldiers to act with restraint in order to reduce the tensions in the city.

About 450 Jews live guarded by hundreds of Israeli soldiers in the town, home of 130-thousand Palestinians.

Stone-throwing clashes also erupted in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.

In Gaza city, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano.

At a joint news conference, Arafat said he hoped the latest events in Hebron would not damage the peace process.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"Still we did not receive the investigation, they had promised us and we are waiting for it.

Q: And do you think it will affect the peace process?

A: We hope not because we are committed to the peace process and despite of all what we are facing and we will continue throughout the peace process."

SUPER CAPTION: Yasser Arafat, Palestinian Leader

Turning to another troubled region, Nano called on Albanians to also look towards peace in Kosovo.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"I invite, also the Albanians in Kosovo to keep mature as they have kept. To never forget the blood that was shed, but to try to convert in new energies for building peace."

SUPER CAPTION: Fatos Nano, Albanian Prime Minister

There were also protests in the village of Dura, near Hebron, in the West Bank towns of Beit El and in the Shuafat refugee camp north of Jerusalem.

Hebron & Bethlehem, West Bank; Gaza - 12 March 1998

Hebron

1. Various of Palestinians clashing with Palestinian police

2. Injured man put in ambulance

3. Ambulance drives off

4. Palestinians throwing stones

5. Policeman holding his arm

6. Jewish Purim march

7. Wide shot march

Bethlehem

8. Palestinians throwing rocks

9. Palestinians running and throwing rocks

10. Israeli soldiers firing

11. Man throwing smoke bomb

12. Soldiers firing

Gaza

13. Arafat waits for the arrival of Nano

14. Arafat greets Nano

15. Arafat and Nano shake hands in meeting

16. Arafat and Nano walk towards podium at press conference

17. SOUNDBITE: (English) Yasser Arafat, Palestinian President

18. Cutaway press conference

19. SOUNDBITE: (English) Fatos Nano, Albanian Prime Minister

20. Nano leaves

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.

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 protesters.

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, Israel 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

Dura Village

1. Funeral procession entering cemetery

2. Body carried out of van

3. Body being carried

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

Palestinians, angered at the decision to build a Jewish settlement in east Jerusalem, are holding a general strike throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Shops were closed and universities unattended as Palestinians protested against the planned Har Homa neighbourhood - known as Jabal Abu Ghneim in Arabic, due to be built in an area they had hoped to make their capital.

Tensions between the two sides remain high following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's pledge to keep the city in Israeli hands.

For his part, Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat has hinted he might declare an independent Palestinian state.

The closed shops throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Monday, were reminiscent of Palestinian protest strikes during 1987 and 1993.

Back then they were a show of Palestinian unity, expressing anger at Israeli occupation of the West Bank.

This time they were an expression of Palestinian anger at an Israeli decision last week to build 65-hundred homes for Jews in east Jerusalem.

Palestinians fear the construction of the Har Homa neighbourhood -- in an area they had hoped to make their own capital -- will cut off east Jerusalem from the West Bank.

And Palestinians are worried it will make it increasingly difficult to maintain territorial integrity of the eastern sector captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war.

With tempers running high, there are fears the Israeli construction could spark violence similar to the clashes last September, when eight people died following the opening of a tourist tunnel in Jerusalem.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"It is our right to express our refusal of the invasion of our area by building Har Homa and it is right to express our refusal for this. If the government doesn't stop God forbid knows what will happen. It might come to another Intifada or something like this."

SUPER CAPTION: East Jerusalem resident

Throughout the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem on Monday, shops, schools and universities closed, public transport came to a halt and workers stayed at home.

The strike coincided with Palestinian Chairman, Yasser Arafat's, visit to the United States.

He has pleaded for international help in stopping the Har Homa project, and has angered Israeli officials by suggesting he might declare an independent state because of Israel's decision to build.

In turn, Netanyahu has pledged to keep the whole of Jerusalem in Israeli hands.

In an address to Likud supporters Sunday, Netanyahu warned Arafat an independent state would be a grave mistake - one that could jeopardise the entire Mid East peace process.

In a development that could further increase tensions, Israel has hinted it could miss a deadline for a West Bank troop withdrawal.

Israel has committed to three troop withdrawals from rural areas of the West Bank, the first of which was supposed to be completed by Friday.

David Bar-Illan, a senior aide to Netanyahu, has since said it may take time for the army

to implement the withdrawal.

East Jerusalem, Gaza, Ramallah, Hebron -- 3 March 1997

East Jerusalem

1. Wide shot street

2. Various closed shops

3. SOUNDBITE: (English) East Jerusalem resident

4. Medium shot padlocked gate

Gaza

5. Wide shot closed shops

6. Medium shot children in street with umbrellas

7. Various locked shops

8. Medium shot Palestinian police in street

9. Close up: pizzeria

10. Palestinian police in street

11. People in cart

Ramallah

12. Main square

13. Closed bank

14. Various of closed shops

15. People buying newspapers

Hebron

16. Palestinian cars stopped at checkpoint

17. Various shots of the streets

Natural Sound

The fury over Israel's slaying of two top Hamas fugitives led to a second day of clashes on the West Bank on Saturday, leaving at least a dozen Palestinians injured.

The Israeli military was on high alert and the Palestinian lands remained sealed off for a second day as the militant Islamic group Hamas threatened to stage bomb attacks inside Israel.

Two brothers, Imad and Adel Awadallah, who were wanted for a string of violent acts, were killed by Israeli troops on Thursday.

Hundreds of Hamas supporters have staged a second day of protest marches in the West Bank and Gaza following the deaths of two members of their group.

It was the killing of Imad and Adel Awadallah who were shot to death in a raid on their hideout on Thursday by Israeli troops that sparked these latest clashes.

In the area of the West Bank town of Ramallah, soldiers fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse dozens of stone throwers.

Army radio said at least 10 Palestinians were hurt.

In the town of El Bireh (near Ramallah), some 300 people marched from the home of the Awadallah family to the nearby Jewish settlement of Psagot, shouting 'Revenge'.

Five people were hurt in clashes in what is the killed brother's hometown.

About 80 Palestinian teenagers, some masked and armed with slingshots, hurled stones and bottles at Israeli troops near the Jewish enclave of Rachel's Tomb on the outskirts of Bethlehem.

At least three Palestinians were slightly hurt by rubber bullets.

Against this tense backdrop, U-S envoy Dennis Ross sat down on Saturday for more talks with Palestinian chairman Yasser Arafat.

The Palestinian Cabinet suggested Israel's killing of the fugitives was timed to scuttle the mediator's mission.

So far, the meetings have yielded little sign of progress.

The killings spotlight an issue that Ross has been trying to untangle during this visit: the quarrel between Israel and the Palestinians over how much Arafat's Palestinian Authority should be expected to do to fight Islamic militants in exchange for the further redeployment of Israeli troops from the West Bank.

The Ross-Arafat meeting was held in the northern West Bank town of Nablus.

While the two spoke, about 2-thousand students at a nearby university staged a rally to protest the killing of the fugitives and to call for a halt to peace talks.

Hamas leaders are warning that the group will retaliate, possibly with suicide bombings, as it did when its chief bomb maker was assassinated in January 1996.

Demonstrators burned the Israeli flag and chanted slogans.

The Israeli army has now sealed the West Bank and Gaza Strip to prevent retaliation attacks.

Ross, who arrived on Wednesday, is due to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem later on Saturday.

Bethlehem, Nablus, Ramallah, El Bireh, West Bank - Sep 12 and 11 1998

Ramallah - 12 Sept

1. Various of Palestinians throwing stones

2. Various of Israeli soldiers shooting tear gas

3. Soldiers running

El Bireh, Near Ramallah - 12 Sept

4. Various of demonstration with people shouting anti-Israeli slogans

Bethlehem - 12 Sept

5. Palestinians throwing stones

6. Palestinians burning tyres

7. Israeli soldiers firing tear gas

8. Mid shot of youths throwing stones

Nablus - 12 Sept

9. Mid shot of Dennis Ross arriving in a jeep for meeting with Arafat

Nablus - 11 Sept

10. Mid shot of Ross and Arafat sitting in chairs talking

11. Various of Ross and Arafat talking to entourage

12. Pan back from Arafat to conference table

13. Shot of conference table from behind Arafat

14. Various of delegates

Nablus - 12 Sept

15. Various of Hamas demonstrators shouting slogans

16. Hamas demonstrators burning Israeli flag

17. Mid shot of Hamas demonstrators making speeches

Arabic/Eng/Nat

Plans for a major tourist resort with a casino are causing controversy in the West Bank town of Jericho.

When it opens this autumn, the hotel and casino complex could provide much-needed jobs for hundreds of Palestinians.

But local Islamic leaders are outraged at the idea.

While the arguments rage, the building is being completed and the gambling staff are being trained - behind closed doors.

Here in the West Bank town of Jericho the curtains are tightly drawn at this local restaurant.

That's to hide what's going on inside.

Many in this Muslim town would consider it a shameful secret -- young Palestinians are training to deal blackjack and spin roulette wheels.

These croupiers are to go and work this autumn in a luxury casino and hotel.

It's being built in the desert near biblical Jericho and just across the road from the mud-brick huts of the Aqabat Jaber refugee camp.

Yasser Arafat's government regards the 46 (m) million U-S dollars casino as an

important step on the Palestinians' long road from dependence on international handouts to prosperity.

They believe the Palestinians will have an economic future only if they can attract large numbers of tourists and develop a service industry.

SOUNDBITE: (Arabic)

"No doubt that the Casino will have his own clients that will pour money to the Palestinians, I understand that the other side (Israel) is happy about the project which means cooperation between both of us."

SUPER CAPTION: Mitri Abu Aita, Palestinian Minister of Tourism

But Islamic militants - led by the Hamas group, Arafat's most powerful political rival - say they will try to scuttle the project.

Gambling is "haram", or forbidden by Islam, they say.

Hamas fears that would lead to the dismantling of traditional Palestinian society.

Jericho's preacher and Hamas leader, Sheik Harb Jaber, has allowed members of his flock to do construction work at the site.

But he has said it is totally forbidden to seek employment in the casino itself.

SOUNDBITE:(Arabic)

"Those people that are claiming the casino will pour millions of dollars to the Palestinian people are lying and deceiving their people. This casino will only have a negative effect on the Palestinian people."

SUPER CAPTION: Sheikh Harb Jaber, Hamas leader and Jericho preacher

Already, the project has proved to be a boon for nearby Aqabat Jaber, a camp of 4,000 people and few jobs.

Every morning, workers from the camp trudge across the road to the construction site.

Others stream in from Jericho and other West Bank towns.

Those less lucky sit near the camp's main square, pondering whether it is more important to feed a family or observe the edicts of Islam.

Nabil Yaghi, the owner of a grocery store is one of them.

SOUNDBITE: (Arabic)

"We are not in need of such a project, first it's immoral, and no one will benefit from the people, people have no money to eat."

SUPER CAPTION: Nabil Yaghi, Refugee and shopkeeper

Instructors from Britain, Denmark and elsewhere were brought in by the main casino company.

It's an international company running a number of casinos and related businesses.

Palestinian investors and Arafat's Palestinian Authority are junior partners in the Jericho

project.

The General Director of the project, Alexander Tucek, insists that if it's a success, then everyone will benefit.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"To be successful, I think that is the name of the game in the business is that you want to have a successful business which gives profit to the people that invest the money, or give profit to the people living here and gives profit to the people joining them in the resort, having a successful project is that we expect here, we believe in it."

SUPER CAPTION: Alexander Tucek, General Director of Casino Project

Most Israelis are reluctant to enter Palestinian-governed areas, fearing attacks by Islamic radicals.

However, the lure of slot-machines is powerful, especially now that the casinos in Turkey, once a popular destination for Israeli gamblers, have shut down.

Jericho and Bethlehem, West Bank, August 18th-19th 1998

Jericho, West Bank, August 18th

1. Exterior of Seven Trees Restaurant

2. Pan of training hall with curtains down

3. Trainee moving curtain

4. Shot through window of trainees in hall

5. Long shot of Casino then pulls out to nearby Aqbat Jaber Refugee camp

6. Construction at Casino site pan to building

7. Bulldozer working outside building

8. Workers at site

9. Workers at ladder

Bethlehem, West Bank, August 19th

10. Establishing shot of Palestinian Minister of Tourism, Mitri Abu Aita

11. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Mitri Abu Aita, Palestinian Minister of Tourism

Jericho, West Bank, August 18th

12. Various of streets in Jericho

13. Women walking

14. Establishing shot of Harb Jaber, Hamas leader and Jericho preacher

15. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Sheikh Harb Jaber, Hamas leader and Jericho preacher

16. Palestinian children playing inside the camp, pulls out to wide of camp

17. Palestinian women walking in camp

18. Establishing shot of Nabil Yaghi, refugee and shopkeeper

19. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Nabil Yaghi, refugee and shopkeeper

20. Establishing shot of Casino project manager

21. SOUNDBITE: (English) Alexander Tucek, General Director of Casino Project

22. Bulldozer working

23. Workers at site

24. Long shot of Casino