Hebrew/Eng/Nat

XFA

In the final run up to Tuesday's Israeli election, all the indicators point to a resounding victory for Ariel Sharon, the right wing candidate who has captured the hopes of many disillusioned Israelis.

An influential Likud member of the Knesset, Tsahi Hanegbi, speaking at party headquarters, was upbeat about Mr Sharon's chances.

He said Sharon has always been a staunch supporter of the Israeli state and pointed to his involvement in peace treaties with both Jordan and Egypt as proof of his ability as a peacemaker.

Despite new opinion polls released on Monday showing Sharon with an 18 per cent lead amongst voters, sitting premier Ehud Barak said he remained confident.

He was backed up by prominent Israeli writer Amos Oz, who addressed a press conference of left wing professors and academics, both Jewish and Arab, calling on the people of Israel to continue Yitzhak Rabin's legacy and vote for Barak and peace.

Oz said that the opinion polls were inaccurate and did not take into account undecided voters, who he said numbered thousands.

He warned Israelis to be wary of Tuesday's ballot, saying they would be making a critical choice between peace and war.

If Barak is to stand any chance, he will have to win over Israeli Arabs.

They represent one sixth of Israel's population, but plan to boycott the election in protest at the 13 Arab Israelis shot dead by Israeli security forces since the latest intifada began last October.

At the Knesset, Israeli Arab member Ahmed Tibi confirmed that Israeli Arabs would not cast their support for either candidate.

That will cost Barak dear - over 90 per cent of Israeli Arab votes went to him in the last election.

Speaking for the Palestinians, Ziad Abu Ziad, Minister in charge of Jerusalem Affairs, said they considered the election an internal Israeli matter but, he said that they would like to see someone who is committed to the peace process elected leader.

Israeli soldiers based near Beit El, adjoining the flash point West Bank city of Ramallah, have already cast their votes, a day ahead of the rest of the electorate.

Soldiers on active duty always vote in advance, leaving them free to carry out security and other duties on election day.

This year, Israeli security forces are under high alert for possible attempts by Palestinian militants wishing to carry out terror attacks on election day.

Meanwhile, many Israelis rushed to register to vote on Monday after a municipal strike left the Jerusalem registration office closed for more than a week.

Now, with less than a day to go before the vote, there were long queues and even longer delays.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"I am optimistic and believe I will win. My way towards peace is the only way forward, that means setting clear borders between Palestinians and Israelis."

SUPER CAPTION: Ehud Barak, Israeli Prime Minister

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"Ignore public opinion polls, there are hundreds of thousands of Israelis who are not yet decided. And I say that he or she will have to live with the fact, very much like the Gore/Bush elections in America, very much the Florida syndrome, who will have to live with the fact that his or her vote sentenced Israel and Palestine to another war. I don't envy him or her."

SUPER CAPTION: Amos Oz, Israeli writer

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"We cannot give our confidence and our trust to Barak after we gave him at least 96 percent in the last election in 1999 and he neglected all our demands. It started in mistakes in the civil issue and finishing with very great mistakes shutting his police, his police shutting 13 of us."

SUPER CAPTION: Ahmed Tibi, Israeli Knesset member

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"We consider the Israeli elections an internal Israeli affair and we don't want to intervene in the internal affairs of Israel. At the same time we are concerned to see in the office of Israel a Prime Minister who will respect the peace process, who will be committed to the peace process and who will do something in order to save the peace process from the problem which is facing it."

SUPER CAPTION: Ziad Abu Ziad, Jerusalem Minister, Palestinian Authority

Beit El, West Bank, Tel Aviv, Israel and Gai Gate, near Jerusalem 5 February 2001

Beit El, West Bank - 5 February

1. Soldiers arriving at polling station

2. Soldiers inside casting their votes

3. Close up of ballots being placed in ballot boxes

Gai Gate, near Jerusalem

4. Barak arriving at campaign stop

5. Handshakes with supporters

6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ehud Barak, Israeli Prime Minister

7. Barak gets into car in convoy

8. Convoy departs

Tel Aviv - 5 February

9. Setup of press conference

10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Amos Oz, Israeli writer

Tel Aviv

11. Exterior shot of Likud Party headquarters, pan to police tape

12. Sharon arrives and waves

13. Setup shot of Tsahi Hanegbi, Likud MK

14. SOUNDBITE: (English) Tsahi Hanegbi, Likud MK

15. Rear view of Sharon's car

Jerusalem - 5 February

16. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ahmed Tibi, Israeli Arab Knesset member

17. Setup Ziad Abu Ziad

18. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ziad Abu Ziad, Jerusalem Minister, Palestinian Authority

19. Exterior of Interior Ministry office

20. Close up of sign on wall

21. Wide shot of people waiting to be registered

}8929A RR 8929A - ISRAEL/WEST BANK : RIGHT TURN

14.7.89 (dur: 7 min 31 sec/eng.sot: 2 min 00 sec)

RR STORY: Once again bloodshed and violence have intervened in

Israel to change the political agenda. Along with radical

changes in the policies of both parties forming the ruling

coalition, a bus crash caused by an Arab extremist which

resulted in 14 deaths, has hardened Isreali public opinion

against the intifada and the Palestinians in the occupied

territories.

SHOWS: (File) intifada clashes; Likud meeting; applause,

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Trade and Industry

Minister Ariel Sharon voting, Shamir and Sharon shake hands;

Shamir television address, Palestinian family watch,

Palestinian sot; Labour Party leader and finance minister,

Shimon Peres sot; rescue operation at site of bus crash,

helicopters, stretchers, fire-fighters, wreckage, body-bags;

ambulance arrival hospital, injured carried in, emergency

treatment, survivor sot underlaid, casualty ward, doctor sot;

cabinet meeting, Peres sot; Labour Party meeting; vote;

Defence Minister Yitzhak Rabin sot; Peres' car surrounded by

angry mourners; demonstrators; funeral of crash victims,

mourners; Israeli demonstration broken up by police with

Israeli vox pop sot underlaid; closed shop on West Bank;

troops beat up youth in Ramallah demonstration; Palestinian

children and youths throw stones at troops.

SOURCES: WTN/ITN

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide shot US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas walking to the press conference

2. Wide shot Rice and Abbas at podium

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State:

" It is very important for ordinary Palestinian people in their daily lives, whether it is the farmer, university student or the restaurant owner that there will be a freedom of movement established between gaza and West Bank and also that we ease issues of movement in the West Bank, so we have spend a good deal of time speaking about that."

4. Wide shot press conference

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State:

" We do with the Israelis what we do with each of the parties - which is to ask them to concentrate very hard on what they need to do to fulfil their obligations. These are partnerships in which we are involved and we expect that or partners live up to their obligations."

6. Wide shot press conference

STORYLINE:

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice continued an intensive round of diplomacy in the Middle East on Monday.

After meeting the Palestinian leader in Ramallah, she said that an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians on easing restrictions on a Gaza Strip border crossing was "in sight."

Reducing restrictions on the movement of cargo from Gaza into Israel, and opening the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt are considered crucial to efforts to revive the economy of the impoverished coastal strip.

Rice made the remarks at the joint news conference with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.

Earlier on Monday she met Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.

Later Rice will attend the memorial service of Yitzhak Rabin, Israel Prime Minister who was assassinated 10 years ago, November, 1995.

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide shot inside press conference

2. Rice and Abbas entering room

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State:

"I have said to the president (Abbas) that if the parties work very hard now on the Wolfensohn agenda that there is an agreement in sight because they, with enough will and creativity I believe this issues can be resolved and we talked about some of those aspects. We talked about the need to support the democratic process here in the Palestinian territories, and also the need to condemn and fight terror. It is a roadmap obligation of the Palestinian Authority to fight terror and to dismantle the infrastructure of terror."

5. Wide shot presser

6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian President:

"The obstacles that are on the ground are still there and we are trying to overcome them. Today we have had thorough discussions and have reached an agreement on the issues concerning the Gaza Strip. We hope that this a positive opening to all our people in Gaza because freedom of movement is very important and this will help the rebuilding of the Gaza Strip."

7. Cutaway

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State:

"The murder of Rafik Hariri is of course not something that the United States is investigating but that the United Nations is investigating. It is being investigated under the Security Council resolution because it appears, according to Mr Melles's interim report that the security services of one state may have been involved in the murder of the prime minister of another state, and that is very serious charge and it has to be taken seriously and it has to be fully investigated. I would just note that there is 150 US Security Council resolution that was sponsored by United States, France and the Great Britain to compel Syrian cooperation with the Melles investigation, but Mr Melles is of course not the investigator appointed by United States but it is the investigator appointed by the Secretary General of the United Nations, may I just note that is extremely important that Syria cooperate, they are increasing their isolation if they refuse to cooperate because these are very serious charges."

9. Various of Rice and Abbas shaking hands and leaving the room

STORYLINE:

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice continued an intensive round of diplomacy in the Middle East on Monday.

After meeting the Palestinian leader in Ramallah, she said that an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians on easing restrictions on a Gaza Strip border crossing was "in sight."

Reducing restrictions on the movement of cargo from Gaza into Israel, and opening the border crossing between Gaza and Egypt are considered crucial to efforts to revive the economy of the impoverished coastal strip.

Rice said that the US supports the "democratic process here in the Palestinian territories" , adding that it is part of the roadmap obiligations of the "Palestinian Authority to fight terror and to dismantle the infrastructure of terror."

Referring to freedom of movement in and out of Gaza, Abbas said, "The obstacles that are on the ground are still there and we are trying to overcome them."

In response to a question about the U.N. probe into the assassination of

former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Rice said it's "extremely important" for Syria to cooperate in Hariri probe.

Rice made the remarks at the joint news conference with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.

Earlier on Monday she met Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.

Later Rice will attend the memorial service of Yitzhak Rabin, Israel Prime Minister who was assassinated 10 years ago, November, 1995.

SHOTLIST

1. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Israeli President Moshe Katsav sitting together

2. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon:

"I want to ask everybody not to attack the policemen and soldiers and not to blame them or make it hard for them. I do not want them harmed or attacked. I am responsible attack me, blame me, they are under enough stress."

3. UPSOUND of Sharon talking with Katsav (Hebrew): "When you say attack me, you mean rather criticise me, not attack."

4. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon

"Yes, I am saying criticise me, don't hurt the policemen, the policewomen and the soldiers, and don't offend them, do it to me, I'm responsible."

5. Press cutaway

6. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon

"The pictures that we are seeing are heartbreaking. They are tearing my soul and I have to say that the settlers, with all the difficulties that they are experiencing after years of living there, are behaving in a restrained way. I think that they are making a big effort to make sure that the evacuation will pass in a peaceful manner."

7. Sharon and Katsav getting up

STORYLINE:

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Wednesday said that the images of Gaza settlers being removed from their homes were "heartbreaking" and he praised the restraint of both settlers and soldiers.

"The pictures that we are seeing are heartbreaking," Sharon said. "They are tearing my soul and I have to say that the settlers, with all the difficulties that they are experiencing after years of living there, are behaving in a restrained way."

Sharon appealed to opponents of the pullout to avoid physical and verbal confrontation with the security forces.

"Attack me, I am responsible for this, attack me, accuse me, don't attack the men and women in uniform," he said.

Israeli President Moshe Katsav, who sat next to Sharon, cut in to correct the prime minister's choice of words. "You mean criticise, not attack," Katsav said.

Israeli security forces have warned that Sharon, like his slain predecessor Yitzhak Rabin, could be targeted by extremists.

Sharon defended his decision to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank, saying it would help Israel's security and economy.

SHOTLIST:

1. Nicolas Sarkozy, chairman of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement party in France entering room

2. Israeli Prime minister Ariel Sharon greeting Sarkozy

3. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Ariel Sharon, Israeli Prime Minister:

"We are happy to receive Mr Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife. Mr Sarkozy is now the head of the ruling party, and a friend of Israel, I hope that this visit will tighten the contacts between Israel and France, and will promote these contacts."

4. SOUNDBITE (French) Nicolas Sarkozy, ruling Union for a Popular Movement party in France:

"Mr. Prime minister I would like to say that it is a great honour for us to visit Israel, even more so when we realise that these days are especially busy for you. I want to tell you how much we admire your personal courage regarding the past days, the initiative you have taken gives great hope for peace. As a friend I am happy to take part in these discussions aware that for Israel the security issue is non negotiable; and I understand the significance if the decisions you took."

5. Sarkozy and Sharon shaking hands

STORYLINE:

Rising French politician Nicolas Sarkozy, chairman of French President Jacques Chirac's conservative Union for a Popular Movement party and former French finance minister met Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Wednesday afternoon in Jerusalem.

Sarkozy praised Sharon for his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank next year.

"I want to tell you how much we admire your personal courage regarding the days which are ahead, which gives great hope for peace," Sarkozy said.

Earlier on Wednesday Sarkozy visited the Yad Vashem cemetery and laid wreaths at the Holocaust memorial and the grave of assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Sarkozy is scheduled to meet Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom on Thursday, then speak at an academic conference, before winding up his visit.

France has experienced a recent wave of anti-Semitic incidents, coinciding with the four year round of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

There has also been growing friction between the 600-thousand strong French Jewish community - the third-largest in the world - and France's Muslim population of almost 5 (m) million.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sparked a diplomatic row in July when he told visiting Jewish American leaders that France was host to "the wildest anti-Semitism."

The French Foreign Ministry called the remarks "unacceptable." Chirac called on Sharon to explain his remarks and said that until he did so, Sharon would not be welcome in France.

Israeli media later reported that Chirac sent a message to Katsav saying he considered the incident closed.

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide of exterior of Yad Vashem

2. Close up sign post to Hall of Remembrance

3. Interior - close up on wreath from Belgian people

4. Wide of interior

5. Close up Belgian Foreign minister Louis Michel (on right) and official

6. Official reading

7. Wide officials including Michel, he goes forward and turns up the gas to increase the eternal flame (symbolic act)

8. Close up plaque

9. Michel pull out to wide

10. Michel takes wreath and places it on slab

11. Michel walks to exit

12. Long shot Michel arriving at Rabin's grave at Mount Herzl

13. Close up Rabin's gravestone

14. Michel places a wreath at grave

15. Zoom in on Michel bowing head

16. Wreath pull out

17. Michel leaving

STORYLINE:

On Monday morning, Belgian Foreign minister Louis Michel visited Jerusalem's Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem, and laid a wreath in memory of the Jews killed in World War Two.

Later he paid his respects at the grave of Israel's late Prime minister Yitzhak Rabin on Mount Herzl.

Michel is on an official visit to Israel where he held talks on Sunday with current Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

Later on Monday he is due to meet Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat in Ramallah on the West Bank.

Michel is known among European leaders for his harsh stance towards Israel, and has criticised Israel's behaviour towards the Palestinians.

Michel is not in Israel for diplomatic reasons, but for research.

He is on a study tour, visiting all the countries in the region in order to get first hand information before Belgium takes over the presidency of the European Union in July.

SHOTLIST

Jerusalem - 17 January 2011

1. Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak entering room

2. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Ehud Barak, Israeli Defence Minister:

"Israel is facing serious challenges, mainly the political process with the Palestinians and the entire area, security challenges and complex economic and society challenges. We are ready to face all these challenges."

3. Wide of Barak during press conference

4. Wide of Cabinet Minister Isaac Herzog during press conference

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Isaac Herzog, Minister of Welfare and Social Services:

"We believe that the (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu government has come to a standstill vis-a-vis the peace process, and we believe the Netanyahu government has come to a standstill when it comes to dealing with the racist under-tones and the partnership with Mr (Foreign Minister Avigdor) Lieberman. Therefore I find no place in this cabinet."

6. Wide of Cabinet Minister Avishai Braverman during press conference

7. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Avishai Braverman, Minister of Minorities:

"It is clear and obvious that a government that decided not to promote the peace process is not a government I can be a part of, this is why by the end of this news conference I will hand my resignation to the Prime Minister."

8. Tilt down of Kadima faction meeting

9. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Tzipi Livni, Israeli opposition leader:

"The Netanyahu government is a narrow government that is falling apart from the inside since there is no alternative, because of political rot and a lack of vision and path."

10. Set-up shot of Barak's follower, Labor MP Einat Wilf

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Einat Wilf, Knesset Member (Labor):

"I think this makes it clear that in order to have a peace process, in order to have an agreement, this is the team with whom they (the palestinians) should be negotiating."

Ramallah, West Bank - 17 January 2011

12. Set-up shot of Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Nabil Shaath, Palestinian negotiator:

"He (Ehud Barak) has done a lot of damage to the peace process and a lot of damage to the Labor party that he has led. Our only hope is that a new leadership comes up with a better opposition in Israel."

Mevasseret Zion, Israel - 17 January 2011

14. Professor Gideon Rahat displaying figure of Ehud Barak from his politicians figures collection

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Professor Gideon Rahat, Department of Political Science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem:

"I don't think it will have any impact. I don't think that the Labor left has any influence on the government before it left it, i don't think that there will be any influence, peace is not only about what a few members in Labor are doing but it's about the whole government, it's about the American government, it's about what the Palestinians will do, it's about public opinion so it's really a small piece in the puzzle that is called the peace process. I don't see much significance there. The significance is historical when it comes to the Labor party."

Jerusalem - 17 January 2011

16. Wide of Likud faction meeting

17. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister:

"The government became much stronger today. it became stronger in governing, it became stronger in its stability, and it's important to the state of israel. The whole world knows and the Palestinians also know this government will be here in the coming years and this is the government they must negotiate with for peace."

18. Wide of Likud faction meeting

STORYLINE

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak abruptly announced on Monday that he was leaving the Labor Party - dividing the movement that dominated Israeli politics for decades and setting off a chain reaction that cast new doubts over already troubled peace efforts with the Palestinians.

The split in the iconic party that led Israel to independence did not appear to threaten the majority of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition.

Barak, a former prime minister and military chief, will stay in the ruling coalition with four followers who joined him.

Three of Labor's eight remaining members, who had been pushing him to leave the government because of the impasse in peace talks, have resigned from the cabinet.

The five more were expected to resign.

With a smaller but more unified majority and rid of these dissenting voices, the government could find it easier to dig in on hard-line positions.

Labor has been the sole moderate party in Netanyahu's coalition, which is otherwise dominated by religious and nationalist parties that oppose major concessions to the Palestinians.

Barak, one of the most powerful members of the government, said he was tired of the infighting within Labor.

He accused his former partners of moving too far to the dovish end of the political spectrum.

"Israel is facing serious challenges, mainly the political process with the Palestinians and the entire area, security challenges and complex economic and society challenges. We are ready to face all these challenges," he said.

Netanyahu said the Labor shake up made his government stronger by dashing any hopes the Palestinians might have that his coalition would fall.

"The whole world knows and the Palestinians also know this government will be here in the coming years and this is the government they must negotiate with for peace," he told a meeting of lawmakers from his ruling Likud Party.

Peace talks broke down in late September, just three weeks after they were launched, over Israel's refusal to renew an expiring settlement freeze in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Since then, Israel has announced plans to build hundreds of homes in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

The Palestinians refuse to negotiate until Israel freezes construction in those areas, captured by Israel in 1967 and claimed by the Palestinians for a future independent state.

The chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, called Barak's decision a domestic affair, but appeared sceptical of the current government's commitment to peace.

Erekat said the Palestinians this week would ask the United Nations Security Council to condemn settlements - a long-planned move aimed at raising international pressure on Israel.

Nabil Shaath, one of the Palestinian negotiators said that Barak had "done a lot of damage to the peace process and a lot of damage to the Labor party that he has led. Our only hope is that a new leadership comes up with a better opposition in Israel."

Opposition leader Tzipi Livni called on Netanyahu to dissolve his government and hold a new election.

Barak and Netanyahu have had a mutually beneficial relationship.

The men have known each other for decades, back to the time that Barak was Netanyahu's commander in an elite commando unit in the army.

As a former prime minister who offered a peace plan to the Palestinians a decade ago that called for uprooting settlements and sharing Jerusalem, Barak has given the governing coalition a well-known and relatively moderate face to deal with the international community.

At times, particularly with the US, Barak has served as a de facto foreign minister, replacing Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, an ultranationalist who is often scorned in the West.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, has given Barak extra influence in decision-making out of proportion to the relatively small size of Labor.

But Labor members have grown increasingly unhappy with Barak, accusing him of enabling Netanyahu to stall in peace efforts.

Although Barak is an outspoken advocate of peace with the Palestinians, he also takes a tough line on security matters and has moved slower than his critics would like on making concessions.

The Labor rebels also were uncomfortable about sitting in the same government with Lieberman, who has ridiculed the notion of reaching a peace deal and openly questions the loyalty of Israel's Arab minority.

Barak's decision took other Labor lawmakers by surprise, and Israeli radio commentators said he orchestrated the move in tandem with Netanyahu.

The prime minister's office refused to comment.

Cabinet Ministers Isaac Herzog, Avishai Braverman and Binyamin Ben-Eliezer quit the government just hours after Barak's announcement.

Gideon Rahat, a political scientist at Hebrew University, thought the impact of Monday's shake-up would be minimal because the departing Labor lawmakers have little influence over foreign policy.

Labor dominated Israeli politics for the country's first three decades, producing a string of prime ministers that included Israel's founding father, David Ben-Gurion, and the slain prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin.

Barak himself briefly served as prime minister in 1999-2000.

But in recent years, Labor has been reduced to a midsize party, with just 13 seats in the current parliament.

Many party members hold Barak responsible for the party's demise, and accuse him of abandoning its socialist and dovish ideals to remain in power.

Barak's departure from Labor resembled Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's departure from Likud in 2005 to form the centrist Kadima Party in the wake of his pullout from the Gaza Strip.

Sharon suffered a stroke shortly after, but his successor, Ehud Olmert, led the party to victory in a 2006 election.

SHOTLIST:

AP Television News

Jerusalem - 1995

1. Wide of Benjamin Netanyahu at anti-left-wing demonstration

2. Mid shot of Netanyahu on balcony

3. Leaflet of prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin dressed as Nazi soldier

4. Wide shot funeral of Rabin

5. Various of funeral of Rabin

6. Netanyahu at funeral

Tel Aviv - 1996

7. Wide shot of Netanyahu during 1996 election campaign

8. Mid shot of Netanyahu running in Israeli Prime Ministerial elections (system has since been changed and Prime Minister's are no longer elected by popular ballot, but chosen by dominant party)

9. Israelis celebration victory of Netanyahu

10. Netanyahu with wife Sara and son

11. Netanyahu in Jordan with his wife

Erez Crossing, southern Israel - 1997

12. Netanyahu shaking hands with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat

Masada, Israel - 1998

13. Netanyahu with (former) United States President Bill Clinton touring Masada

14. Netanyahu and Clinton

Jerusalem - 1999

15. Various of Netanyahu visiting market and shaking hands with people

Tel Aviv - May 17, 1999

16. Wide of Netanyahu talking

17. SOUNDBITE: (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu, Likud Party leader:

"I announce today of my retirement from the Likud leadership"

18. Likud activists crying

19. Wide of Likud election night event

20. Likud supporters dancing

21. SOUNDBITE: (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu:

"This evening we can see all the difference, we are united and they are quarrelling, this is such a clear difference".

22. Mid shot of supporters

Likud party convention - 2005

23. Netanyahu, Olmert and Ariel Sharon at Likud convention

24. SOUNDBITE: (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu, Likud leader:

"I respect the democratic decision of the Likud members, I am a democrat, the decision of the majority is a commitment and commits all of us, running for the Likud primaries, I expect to hear this from the prime Minster, the Likud is not a conditional party, you commit, you run for the primaries, this is chapter "A" and we lost over a difference of only few votes".

25. Wide of Netanyahu, zoom in to him speaking (soundbite begins)

26. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Benjamin Netanyahu, Likud leader:

"The country is facing major challenges and I do not think is going at the right direction. I think that our way will lead the country to the right way and I think that all of us will have to work hard in the next few days so we can bring back the ways of the Likud - first of all to ourselves - and then the way of the Likud to national leadership."

27. Wide of candidates, zoom out to journalists

28. Wide of Likud convention

STORYLINE:

Former Prime Minister and leader of the right-wing Likud Party, Benjamin Netanyahu is the hardline contender in the new Israeli political landscape.

Netanyahu came to prominence in the mid-1990s when he opposed Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's signing of the Oslo Peace Accords. His tactics were condemned by some, including Rabin's widow, Leah, who blamed Netanyahu for fomenting the hateful atmosphere that led to her husband's killing.

After the assassination of Rabin, Netanyahu was elected Prime Minister. Netanyahu's leadership was a period marked by economic slowdown and little progress in peace negotiations.

He resigned in 1999, contending with various public and personal issues, and re-emerged in 2003 as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Finance Minister, only to resign over Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, just two weeks before the pullout last summer.

Last November, Sharon resigned from Likud over opposition to his pullout from Gaza and part of the West Bank, setting up the new party, Kadima, as a centrist faction.

Although Likud dominated Israeli politics for nearly three decades, Sharon decimated its power base by forming a new party that supports his efforts to reach a final peace deal with the Palestinians.

His exit left behind a small group of politicians, like Netanyahu, who opposed his Gaza Strip withdrawal, and object to any further territorial concessions to the Palestinians.

The Likud Party, reeling after Sharon's desertion, elected Netanyahu as its leader to fight the March elections.

Taking a hawkish stand, Netanyahu has stated he is opposed to further West Bank withdrawals, and said his party would work to protect what it sees as Israel's vital interests.

Netanyahu opposes most Israeli territorial concessions, saying much of the West Bank should remain under Israeli control. He calls for Israel's government to take a tougher stance against the new Hamas-led Palestinian government.

Born in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu moved with his family to the United States as a teenager, speaks fluent, American-accented English and holds a master's degree in business management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

During service in the Israeli military he was posted to the same elite commando unit as his former political rival Ehud Barak.

While serving as Israel's ambassador at the United Nations in the 1980s, he became the leading proponent in the United States of the reigning Likud's policy and the government's spokesman on the first Gulf War.

SHOTLIST

Tel Aviv

+++ Night shots +++

1. Various of thousands of people attending rally in Rabin Square

Gan Or Settlement

+++ Day shots +++

2. Exterior of settler's house

3. Sign

4. Various of Palestinian workers helping settlers pack up

5. Israeli soldiers arriving to help family pack

6. Boxes inside house

7. People inside house

8. Men taking furniture out of house and putting onto back of vehicle

9. Men piling furniture into van

10. Men loading wood onto truck

Neve Dekalim Settlers

11. Tracking shot along human chain by roadside

STORYLINE

Tens of thousands of opponents of Israel's pullout from Gaza and part of the West Bank gathered in downtown Tel Aviv on Thursday evening for their last large-scale demonstration before the withdrawal is to begin.

The demonstrators filled the square in front of Tel Aviv city hall, named after Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was gunned down there after a peace rally in 1995. Protesters carried signs criticising Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, architect of the pullout, which begins next week.

The theme of the demonstration was "Gush Katif and Samaria, I pledge (allegiance)," a slogan painted in black on an orange background of many of the signs in the crowd. Orange is the colour adopted by the protesters to symbolise their struggle against the pullout.

Gush Katif is the main block of settlements in Gaza, and Samaria refers to the northern West Bank, where four settlements are to be removed in the government's "disengagement" plan.

Orthodox Jews, the main element of the opponents, explain their stand against the pullout by saying Israel cannot relinquish control over any part of the biblical Holy Land. Also, settler leaders warn that removal of any settlements will inevitably lead to further pullouts.

Sharon has said maintaining 21 settlements in Gaza, surrounded by 1.3 million hostile Palestinians, is untenable. He said the "disengagement" will strengthen Israel's hold on its main West Bank settlement blocs, and he has pledged that there will be no further unilateral pullbacks.

Settler leaders say they will send thousands toward Gaza next week in an attempt to reinforce the 8,500 settlers there. Many are expected to leave before the Aug. 17 deadline, some have already left but others plan to stay and offer resistance.

In the Gan Or settlement in Gush Katif on Thursday, settlers continued packing.

The Ya'akobi family's son is currently serving in the Israeli army. On Thursday Palestinian workers who have known the family for years, and Israeli soldiers worked together to help pack up the family's belongings.

In the Neve Dekalim settlement, however, there were few signs of movement.

Young people formed a human chain held together with orange ribbons to express opposition to the Gaza withdrawal.

Neve Dekalim, Gaza's largest settlement, is populated by observant Jews who have vowed to resist evacuation.

SHOTLIST

Tel Aviv

1. Wide of rally at Rabin Square

2. Various of beginning of rally

3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Vox pop, Jewish protester, No name available:

"If you shout when something hurts you, it doesn't help anything that you shout but still you shout."

4. Wide of rally

Gan Or Settlement

5. Exterior of settler's house

6. Sign

7. Various of Palestinian workers helping settlers pack up

8. Israeli soldiers arriving to help family pack

9. Boxes inside house

10. People inside house

11. Men taking furniture out of house and putting onto back of vehicle

12. Men piling furniture into van

13. Men loading wood onto truck

Neve Dekalim Settlers

14. Tracking shot along human chain by roadside

STORYLINE:

Tens of thousands of opponents of Israel's pullout from Gaza and part of the West Bank gathered in downtown Tel Aviv on Thursday evening for their last large-scale demonstration before the withdrawal is to begin.

The demonstrators filled the square in front of Tel Aviv city hall, named after Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was gunned down there after a peace rally in 1995. Protesters carried signs criticising Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, architect of the pullout, which begins next week.

The theme of the demonstration was "Gush Katif and Samaria, I pledge (allegiance)," a slogan painted in black on an orange background of many of the signs in the crowd. Orange is the colour adopted by the protesters to symbolise their struggle against the pullout.

Gush Katif is the main block of settlements in Gaza, and Samaria refers to the northern West Bank, where four settlements are to be removed in the government's "disengagement" plan.

Orthodox Jews, the main element of the opponents, explain their stand against the pullout by saying Israel cannot relinquish control over any part of the biblical Holy Land. Also, settler leaders warn that removal of any settlements will inevitably lead to further pullouts.

Sharon has said maintaining 21 settlements in Gaza, surrounded by 1.3 (m) million hostile Palestinians, is untenable. He said the "disengagement" will strengthen Israel's hold on its main West Bank settlement blocs, and he has pledged that there will be no further unilateral pullbacks.

Settler leaders say they will send thousands toward Gaza next week in an attempt to reinforce the 8,500 settlers there. Many are expected to leave before the Aug. 17 deadline, some have already left but others plan to stay and offer resistance.

In the Gan Or settlement in Gush Katif on Thursday, settlers continued packing.

The Ya'akobi family's son is currently serving in the Israeli army. On Thursday Palestinian workers who have known the family for years, and Israeli soldiers worked together to help pack up the family's belongings.

In the Neve Dekalim settlement, however, there were few signs of movement.

Young people formed a human chain held together with orange ribbons to express opposition to the Gaza withdrawal.

Neve Dekalim, Gaza's largest settlement, is populated by observant Jews who have vowed to resist evacuation.

SHOTLIST:

1. Jewish family walking in street

2. Youth standing in street

3. Crowd in street

4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Shaul Goldstein, head of Gush Etzion settlements and spokesman for settlers:

"He was elected on a totally, totally different agenda. The opponent, Mr. Mitzna, proposed the same plan that Sharon is planning today, and he was refused and rejected from the people. He got only 19 mandates and Sharon got twice as much. So don't tell me that Sharon was selected on this. I voted for Sharon. I am not going to vote for Sharon next time."

5. Wide shot of Zion Square settlers holding protest against disengagement plan

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Woman settler, Vox Pop:

(camera pans down to poster while woman is speaking)

"This is not democratic. The people didn't vote for that kind of action. And we are renewing the transfer in the European Nazis and we are in the same now. No more. No more. Finito. We finish this. We came from France. We came from Germany and we are in our country. You don't transfer Jews anymore. That used to be like that but not here. So we stay where we are implanted."

7. Man standing in front of banner

8. Wide shot of demonstration

STORYLINE:

Thousands of Jewish settlers and their backers demonstrated in Jerusalem on Sunday against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to evacuate all settlements from Gaza and four West Bank enclaves, amid escalating rhetoric and warnings of assassinations and civil war.

The plan has upset the Israeli political scene, turning Sharon's backers into opponents and detractors into supporters, while sceptical Palestinians believe the whole plan is a trick to annex large parts of the West Bank to Israel.

Tens of thousands filled downtown Jerusalem to protest the proposed pullout, most of them Orthodox Jews and many of them teenagers. A huge banner behind the stage set the theme: "Disengagement tears the people apart." Many waved blue and white Israeli flags.

Shaul Goldstein, a spokesman for the settlers, said: "Don't tell me that Sharon was selected on this. I voted for Sharon. I am not going to vote for Sharon next time."

Though organisers pledged to prevent incitement to violence, there were signs that said the head of Sharon's disengagement committee would "not be forgiven," and others that read, "A time to love, a time to hate," quoting the biblical Book of Ecclessiastes.

The issue of incitement has been especially sensitive in Israel since the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by an ultra-nationalist Jew opposed to peace making with the Palestinians.

Some Israeli commentators have compared the current atmosphere to the vitriolic period that preceded Rabin's death.

The Gaza withdrawal is a key component of Sharon's "disengagement" plan, along with a separation barrier being built in the West Bank.

The barrier, which Israel says is needed to block against suicide bombers, has drawn widespread international condemnation. The Israeli Supreme Court has also criticised the barrier, saying it causes too much hardship on Palestinians, and ordered changes in the route.

SHOTLIST

1. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon entering Jewish youth event

2. Woman waving flags

3. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister of Israel:

"Today the state of Israel took a step of great importance for its future. The government of Israel approved the disengagement plan I presented. We sent a clear message to the people of Israel, our Palestinian neighbours and the entire world. Israel is taking its future into its own hands. The disengagement process has begun. Today the government decided that it is Israel's intention to relocate all Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip and four settlements in Samaria by the end of 2005."

4. Sharon leaving podium

5. Set up of Israeli Housing Minister Efi Eitam

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Efi Eitam, Israeli Housing Minister:

"This is one of the most dark days in the history of modern Israel. It's one of the most bitter, horrible decisions which was made by any government since the establishment of Israel. Its actual meaning is that we are about to transfer thousands of Jews from their homes and to create Hamas and Jihad and Hezbollah independent states on the blood of innocent Jews."

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ehud Olmert, Israeli Vice Premier:

"This is an historical breakthrough. This is an historical turning point in the history of the Middle East and the history of the politics of the whole Israeli government. This is the first time that such a plan was formally adopted by the Israeli cabinet reacting on the Israeli cabinet's approval of the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, namely that Israel will - unfortunately given the circumstances - dismantle settlements and pull out entirely from the Gaza district ands this will be done within an agreed framework of time, which is until the end of 2005."

8. Olmert being interviewed

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Caleb Ben David, Managing Editor, Jerusalem Post:

"What you are going to see now is a real right-wing opposition to the government of Ariel Sharon. He tried to avoid that by bringing the National Union Party into the government. He wanted to avoid the kind of demonstrations, even violent demonstrations, that we saw during the years that Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres were the prime ministers. But I think that at the end of the day he can't avoid that. If he really wants to evacuate the settlements from Gaza he is going to have to confront the right-wing head on and I think we saw the start of that with the firing of the National Union members."

10. Wide shot of Caleb Ben David, Jerusalem Post managing editor in office

STORYLINE

The Israeli government on Sunday decided in principle for the first time to remove long-established settlements from the West Bank and Gaza

Strip, but Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's badly split cabinet added provisions that cast doubt on the plan's actual implementation.

Sharon declared victory for his "unilateral disengagement" plan after the cabinet vote, but opponents of settlement removal within his own Likud party were comfortable enough with the limits they imposed to go along with it - and Palestinians were sceptical.

"The disengagement process has begun," Sharon told a crowd of young Jews visiting Israel on a "birthright israel" programme just after the cabinet vote.

"Today the government decided that it is Israel's intention to relocate all Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip and four settlements in Samaria by the end of 2005," he told them.

However, cabinet opponents noted that no settlements could be removed unless approved by the cabinet in another vote, probably no earlier than next March.

That would give settlers and their backers plenty of time to mount another campaign to scuttle the plan - similar to the one they conducted among Likud members that led to the defeat of Sharon's disengagement proposal in a nonbinding party referendum on May 2.

The cabinet defied the referendum results and its own ideology in Sunday's decision.

Since the first Israelis settlements were established in 1968, a year after Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Mideast war, no Israeli government had ordered the removal of authorized settlements there before, though some illegal outposts have been taken down.

Egypt is preparing to play a central role in a Gaza realignment.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom was to travel to Cairo on Monday for talks about implementing the pullout plan.

Egypt has offered to train Palestinian security forces and help them take control of Gaza once Israel leaves.

Gaza is a stronghold of the militant Islamic group Hamas.

Shalom himself was one of the sceptics who was won over at the last minute by compromise wording that threw shadows over the possibility of implementing the plan.

In the end, the proposal passed by a deceptively comfortable 14-7 margin.

The decision appeared to offer something for everyone.

For Sharon and his backers, it stated: "Israel will leave the Gaza Strip, including the settlements there, and will redeploy outside the Strip."

Opponents pointed to a contradictory clause: "The cabinet approves the amended disengagement plan, although this decision does not mean leaving settlements."

Sharon's proposal has already fractured the ruling four-party coalition and threatened its parliamentary majority, raising the prospect of a snap

election even before the March vote on removing settlements.

To ensure a majority for the plan in his divided cabinet, Sharon dismissed the two ministers from the far-right National Union Party and another

pro-settlement faction, the National Religious Party (NRP), was close to resigning.

The first test comes Monday, when Sharon's government faces parliamentary motions of no confidence.

Though pundits will be looking to see how the NRP and Likud rebels vote, Sharon is in no danger of being toppled.

To pass, a no-confidence motion must receive 61 votes from the 120 parliament members and an agreed upon candidate to replace the premier.

Neither is expected on Monday.

Sharon's government seemed an unlikely candidate for the history-making decision to remove settlements, as it is made up of parties with ideologies backing Israel's control over the West Bank and Gaza Strip, building new settlements and expanding existing ones, and headed by the decades-long champion of the settlement movement - Sharon himself.

Sharon's history left many sceptical, especially Palestinians.

In a cool response to the cabinet decision, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said Palestinians welcomed any Israeli withdrawal from any part of our Palestinian land "if the withdrawal is total and comprehensive, which includes dismantling all the settlements".

SHOTLIST:

Hebron

1. Various, Hebron streets

2. Israeli soldiers administering curfew

3. Various, roadblocks

4. Various, Israeli soldiers telling Palestinians to stay in

5. Various, roadblocks in and around town

6. Palestinians trying to pass

7. Various, soldiers imposing curfew

Jerusalem

8. Setup shot, Dan Meridor

9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dan Meridor, Chairman of the Israeli Parliament Security Committee

"This is not a ceasefire, and it's the last minute for the international community, led by Mr Bush and the European community, to intervene with Mr Arafat and tell him "stop the fire, stop the shooting, you have promised to do so, you've committed yourself not to shoot, not to use violence but to talk. There is a conflict, it should be solved by agreement. If you do not honour your agreement to stop shooting, how can we sign more agreements with you? Stop it and start talking""

10. Meridor with camera crew

11. Jewish women demonstrating in front of the Israeli Foreign Ministry

12. Various, mock wedding with settlers dressed up as Peres and Arafat

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Nadia Matar, Head of Women in Green

"Ariel Sharon, come home and be the prime minister of the Jewish people. Stop caving in to terror, and for every Jew that is hurt we are going to demand from Ariel Sharon to build a new jewish neighbourhood in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. "

14. Various, demonstrators

STORYLINE :

The Israeli army has imposed another curfew on the 30 thousand Palestinians living in the Israeli-controlled part of the West Bank city of Hebron, after Monday's heavy gunfire.

Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer also ordered that Hebron be sealed off, meaning that all 130 thousand Palestinians living in the city will be unable to travel.

About 500 Jewish settlers live in tiny enclaves in the city.

Palestinian cities have faced blockades throughout much of the nine months of fighting, though most have been eased or lifted recently as part of a truce agreement.

In Monday's shooting, Palestinian gunmen on a hillside fired at Jewish enclaves in Hebron, injuring an Israeli army officer, three border policemen and a 7-year-old boy.

Dan Meridor, chairman of the Israeli Parliament Security Committee, said that Israel wouldn't be patient forever and if the Palestinians started shooting at Israeli citizens in Hebron, Israel had no choice but to reimpose the curfew on the West Bank town.

Settlers have demanded that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon do more to protect the Israelis living in the West Bank and Gaza.

The Israeli hardline "Women in Green" or "Women for Israel's Tomorrow" settlers' group demonstrated with an "Oslo Wedding" in front of the Foreign ministry in Jerusalem on Tuesday.

This consisted of a mock wedding between demonstrators dressed up as Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.

It referred to the 1993 Oslo peace agreement signed between Arafat and late Israeli Prime minister Yitzhak Rabin viewed by hardline right wingers as the "beginning of the end" for Israel.

English/Nat

Israeli soldiers at the army base near Beit El, adjoining the flash point West Bank city of Ramallah, began casting their votes in the prime ministerial election on Monday, a day ahead of the rest of the electorate.

Soldiers on active duty always vote in advance, leaving them free to carry out security and other duties on election day.

This year, Israeli security forces are under high alert for possible attempts by Palestinian militants wishing to carry out terror attacks on election day.

Meanwhile, in Tel Aviv professors and academics from the left wing, both Jewish and Arab, staged a press conference calling on the people of Israel to continue Yitzhak Rabin's legacy and vote for the incumbent prime minister Ehud Barak and peace.

The press conference was addressed by prominent Israeli writer Amos Oz who told Israelis to be wary of Tuesday's ballot, saying they would be making a critical choice between peace and war.

At the Knesset, Israeli Arab member Ahmed Tibi confirmed that Israeli Arabs would not cast their support for either candidate.

And, speaking for the Palestinians, Ziad Abu Ziad, Minister in charge of Jerusalem Affairs, said the Palestinians consider the election an internal Israeli matter but, he said that they would like to see someone who is committed to the peace process elected leader.

Meanwhile, many Israelis rushed to register to vote on Monday after a municipal strike left the Jerusalem registration office closed for more than a week.

Now, with less than a day to go before the vote, there were long queues and even longer delays.

With just a day left until the election, Prime Minister Ehud Barak is trailing Likud party leader, Ariel Sharon.

In surveys published in Monday's Israeli newspapers, polls indicated that a majority of voters, skeptical of Barak's high-risk peace efforts after four months of bloodshed, prefer Sharon's "security first, peace later" approach.

In a poll in the Yediot Ahronot daily, Sharon had the backing of 56 percent of the voters, compared to 38 percent for Barak.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"Ignore public opinion polls, there are hundreds of thousands of Israelis who are not yet decided. And I say that he or she will have to live with the fact, very much like the Gore/Bush elections in America, very much the Florida syndrome, who will have to live with the fact that his or her vote sentenced Israel and Palestine to another war. I don't envy him or her."

SUPER CAPTION: Amos Oz, Israeli writer

SOUNDBITE: (English)

" We will not change our position which will be no for either Barak or Sharon, it will be a blank vote, to tell that we cannot give our confidence and our trust to Barak after we gave him at least 96 percent in the last election in 1999 and he neglected all our demands. It started in mistakes in the civil issue and finishing with very great mistakes shutting his police, his police shutting 13 of us."

SUPER CAPTION: Ahmed Tibi, jerusalem File Minister, Palestinian Authority

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"We consider the Israeli elections as an internal Israeli affair and we don't want to intervene in the internal affairs of Israel. At the same time we are concerned to see in the office of Israel a Prime Minister who will respect the peace process, who will be committed to the peace process and who will do something in order to save the peace process from the problem which is facing it."

SUPER CAPTION: Ziad Abu Ziad, Israeli Knesset member

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"I've been waiting about an hour and a half and I think I'll probably wait for at least another two to three hours. No doubt."

SUPER CAPTION: Ziad Abu Ziad, Israeli Knesset member

Beit El, West Bank, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem - February 5, 2001

Beit El, West Bank - 5 February

1. Soldiers arriving at polling station

2. Other soldiers checking identification documents

3. Soldiers inside casting their votes

4. Close up of ballots being placed in ballot boxes

Tel Aviv - 5 February

5. Setup of press conference

6. Cutaway of professors and academics attending

7. Cutaway press

8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Amos Oz, Israeli writer

Jerusalem - 5 February

9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ahmed Tibi, Israeli Arab Knesset member

10. Setup Ziad Abu Ziad

11. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ziad Abu Ziad, Jerusalem File Minister, Palestinian Authority

12. Exterior of Interior Ministry office

13. Close up of sign on wall

14. Wide shot of people waiting to be registered

15. SOUNDBITE: (English) Voxpop

16. People being registered

17. Wide shot of people waiting

SHOTLIST:

1. Outgoing defence minister, Shaul Mofaz and incoming defence minister, Amir Peretz arriving at ceremony

2. Band playing at ceremony

3. Peretz surveying guard of honour

4. Various of band playing at ceremony

5. Peretz walking on red carpet with Israeli army chief of staff, Dan Halutz

6. Peretz shaking hands with generals

7. Pull out of Peretz standing on red carpet as military personnel salute him

STORYLINE:

Amir Peretz, Israel''s new defence minster was sworn in on Sunday in Tel Aviv.

Peretz, the leader of the left wing Labour party and a former union boss, has built his political career on social issues, and has little military expertise.

Although he is not the first civilian to serve in the post, previous civilian defence ministers such as Shimon Peres and Moshe Arens had strong ties to the military establishment.

Most of Israel''s defence ministers have been legendary war heroes and generals, such as Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin, Ezer Weizman, Ariel Sharon, Ehud Barak and outgoing Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz.

There was some speculation that Peretz''s dovish political views could serve as an antidote to Israel''s rapidly deteriorating relationship with the Palestinians.

At the weekly Cabinet meeting earlier on Sunday he instructed security forces to ease travel restrictions for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

He also ordered the issuing of more permits for Palestinians to work in Israel, which will mean greater freedom of movement for Palestinian merchants.

Travel restrictions and a sharp reduction in work permits for Palestinian labourers has deepened the misery in the West Bank and Gaza that has accompanied five years of fighting.

responsibility for the use of all and any content included within the AP Television News service and for libel, privacy, compliance and third party rights applicable to their Territory.

SHOTLIST

Jerusalem, POOL

1. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli Prime Minster Ariel

Sharon walking toward microphones

2. SOUNDBITE (Hebrew) Ariel Sharon, Israeli Prime Minister:

" We are happy to welcome US Secretary Dr. Condoleezza Rice, a friend of Israel who is acting intensively to reach an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians and who makes great efforts to strengthen the democratisation process in the Middle East. We are happy to welcome her and we are sure that this visit will strengthen the relationship between Israel and the US."

3. Sharon and Rice shaking hands

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State:

"I bring greetings from the President, as I said last night the President and I and the American people admire your courage and having led the successful disengagement of Israel from Gaza and I look forward to continue to work with you and with your team for movement toward a two state solution in which Israel and Palestinians can live in peace, free of terror, side by side in the more democratic and free Middle East, that is truly at peace."

5. End shot of Rice and Sharon standing in the entrance to Prime Minister's house

Jerusalem, APTN

6. Exterior shot of US and Israel flags at foreign ministry

7. Rice and Shalom shaking hands

Ramallah, West Bank, APTN

8. Convoy of cars arrives Muqata compound

9. Palestinian security guards at Muqata

10. Condoleezza Rice gets out of a car and walks up stairs

11. Rice being greeted by Palestinian finance chief Salam Fayyad

12. Condoleezza Rice waves to camera

13. Various of Rice and US delegation with Palestinian ministers around table

STORYLINE:

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice started an intensive round of diplomacy in the Middle East on Monday.

Rice began the day with meetings with the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom in Jerusalem.

She then travelled to the West Bank city of Ramallah for a series of meetings with the Palestinian leadership.

After arriving at the Muqata compound, the former headquarters of PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat who died one year ago, she held talks with a group of Palestinian ministers headed by finance chief Salam Fayyad.

Later she is due meet Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

It is the first visit of a senior American diplomat since Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip.

Rice will also attend the memorial service of Yitzhak Rabin, Israel Prime Minister who was assassinated 10 years ago, November, 1995.

Rice said the purpose of her visit was to mark the anniversary of Rabin's death and help both Israelis and Palestinians to work towards a peaceful two state solution for the region.

SHOTLIST

Tel Aviv

+++ Night shots +++

1. Various of thousands of people attending rally in Rabin Square

STORYLINE

Tens of thousands of anti-pullout protesters filled a square in downtown Tel Aviv late on Thursday, vowing that Israel's withdrawal from Gaza and part of the West Bank would not happen.

The demonstrators filled the square in front of Tel Aviv city hall, named after Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was gunned down there after a peace rally in 1995.

Protesters carried signs criticizing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, architect of the pullout, which begins next week.

The theme of the demonstration was "Gush Katif and Samaria, I pledge (allegiance)", a slogan painted in black on an orange background of many of

the signs in the crowd.

Orange is the colour adopted by the protesters to symbolise their struggle against the pullout.

Gush Katif is the main block of settlements in Gaza, and Samaria refers to the northern West Bank, where four settlements are to be removed in the

government's "disengagement" plan.

Security was tight at the rally.

About two-thousand police patrolled the area of the demonstration and each protester was carefully checked before entering the square.

Weapons were banned and police X-rayed bags, using airport-style machines mounted on trucks.

SHOTLIST:

Jerusalem, 18 October 2004

1. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon walking down corridor in Knesset surrounded by nine security guards: UPSOUND Supporters chanting pro-Sharon slogans in Hebrew

Tel Aviv, 19 October 2004

2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Shimon Peres, Leader of Israeli Labour Party

"There are similarities but it is not the climate that kills persons, there is a person that kills persons. So I mean while I am very much worried about the climate, I believe that all the security measures were taken, to defend anybody who may be in danger including the Prime Minister"

Jerusalem, 18 October 2004

3. SOUNDBITE: (Hebrew) Silvan Shalom, Israeli Foreign Minister

"We had enough a decade ago, there is no way we can allow ourselves to experience the same trauma again. There were always threats against Prime Ministers, from all sides, from all directions and I think that we need at this time, at this hour to call for a pause."

Jerusalem, 17 October 2004

4. Israeli security at settler demonstration

5. Girl holding up sign saying "Arik (Ariel Sharon) is a traitor"

6. Settlers shouting "Arik (Ariel Sharon) is a traitor"

7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Baruch Ben Yosef, extreme right wing activist:

"The Prime Minister is a traitor, he has committed treason against the foundation of Zionism which is settlements and his acts are treasonous and he should be put on trial and thrown into jail."

Jerusalem, 19 October 2004

9. Settler at desk reading Maariv newspaper

10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Josh Hasten, Yesha settler council spokesman:

"At this point we have not been informed of any specific threats, there have been general statements made by certain elected officials and by the security services - general blanket statements which we think don't do any good, actually harm or rather cast an entire group of people in a negative light - we don't think those statements are going to make anything better - if there's specific threats or specific warnings then we want to do everything in our power to prevent that happening - we don't want to see another political assassination - that's the bottom line."

11. Woman walking past posters of Sharon

12. Poster of Sharon saying "Crazy???"

Jerusalem - 18 October 2004

13. Sharon walking down corridor in Knesset surrounded by nine security guards

STORYLINE:

Israeli opposition leader Shimon Peres said he was worried Jewish extremists may try to kill Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, as verbal attacks become more vociferous over a planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip next year.

Sharon was facing intense opposition to his "unilateral disengagement" from the Palestinians, which would remove thousands of settlers from their homes - 8,200 in Gaza and 600 in four small communities in the northern West Bank.

Withdrawal opponents are pushing for a national referendum, but Sharon has dismissed the idea as a stalling tactic.

Next week, the Israeli parliament is to vote on the disengagement plan.

Sharon lost his parliamentary majority several months ago over the withdrawal, but was expected to win the vote with the help of the moderate Labour Party, headed by Peres.

Peres said the divisive political climate reminded him of the atmosphere in Israel nearly a decade ago when then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin came under relentless attack from hard-liners opposed to his peace deals with the Palestinians.

Rabin was assassinated by an ultra-nationalist during a 1995 peace rally also attended by Peres.

Sharon was among those who harshly criticised Rabin in 1995, and recently apologised for the statements he made then.

Josh Hasten, the Yesha settler council spokesman, said he has not been informed of any specific threats, and added that "we don't want to see another political assassination."

In recent days, posters have appeared across the country showing a picture of Sharon, the word "crazy" and three question marks written across his forehead.

Posters on some city buses accuse Sharon of "tearing the nation apart."

Several prominent rabbis have issued statements in recent days, urging soldiers to refuse orders to dismantle settlements as part of the disengagement plan.

Jewish settlers say they feel betrayed by Sharon, who for decades was the main force behind settlement expansion in the West Bank and Gaza.

SHOTLIST:

1. Wide pan across thousands of demonstrators holding placards and flags

2. Settlers with placards

3. People with banners, one banner reads- "The world needs a Palestinian state like it needs a bullet in the head"

another sign saying "Likud is right - it's time Sharon left"

4. Flags and banners

5. Teenage settlers dancing and waving Israeli flags

6. Various settlers

7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Shaul Goldstein, settler leader and organiser of rally:

"President Bush is fighting the terror all over the world. Unfortunately, you see, the only government who surrender to the terror is the government of Israel. And by giving them (Palestinians) the prize are putting our communities (settlers)....giving them the land to establish the terror state is disastrous and destructive to the state of Israel and must be stopped. I think the world should understand it."

8. Wide shot Uzi Landau, Israeli Minister without portfolio addressing crowd from stage

9. Pan across the crowd

10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Reuven Rivlin, Likud lawmaker and parliamentary speaker:

"I am not so sure that all the people here are against the Prime Minister, they are in favour of the state of Israel. We have some differences of opinion with our friend and our leader the Prime Minister of Israel. Nevertheless it was well known by the Prime Minister that many members of the Likud Party are against any kind of a solution that will bring us to a need to withdraw from a lands and to evacuate the settlements."

11. Fenced off Rabin memorial, police guarding

STORYLINE:

More than 100 - thousand settlers and their backers on Sunday protested plans by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, once their greatest champion, to evacuate settlements in a peace agreement with the Palestinians or even in unilateral moves.

The demonstrators filled the square in front of the Tel Aviv municipality and surrounding streets to listen to ministers from Sharon's own Cabinet heap criticism on his newfound moderate views.

Some threatened to leave the ruling coalition if he carries them out.

Gathering in Tel Aviv's Rabin square, named for Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin who was assassinated there by a Jewish extremist after a peace rally, the crowd carried signs protesting against Sharon and his plan.

Police estimates put the crowd at 120,000 people. Among the protesters were many members of Sharon's own Likud party, including a dozen lawmakers.

The settlers and their supporters believe in their God-given right to live wherever they want within the biblical Land of Israel, which includes the West Bank.

However, Palestinians say the settlements are an encroachment on land they claim for a future state.

Organizers said all the lawmakers present had signed a pledge not to support legislation that would uproot settlements or create a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.

Police also cordoned off a memorial to Rabin, fearing it could be defaced during the demonstration.