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

English/Nat

For the first time since Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak came to power, his government has begun assessing the fate of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

A cabinet committee convened on Sunday to discuss whether or not settlements which are determined to be illegal should be demolished.

One of the places on their list is Mitzpe Danny, an illegal settlement of several caravans situated on a distant hill top north of Ramallah.

The eight families living there say they will do anything within the law to fight a decision to remove them.

Many of these settlements were established during the tenure of Barak's predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Forty-two of them are considered illegal and the Israeli government has indicated that they could be removed.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"We will try to stay here but if the government decides otherwise we will go - but we will try to come again and again. We won't give up this place."

SUPER CAPTION: Yiftah Ben Aroush, settler of Mitzpe Danny

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"This is a special committee of ministers, chaired by the Prime Minister and we have to examine how legal or illegal are 40 settlements which most of them were built in the last seven months of the Netanyahu government."

SUPERCAPTION: Haim Ramon, Minister in Israeli Prime Minister's office

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"We really hope that Barak, in the footsteps of his predecessor Yitzhak Rabin, will be able to redefine the meaning of security. Security is not just an occupation or territory, the definition of security is a much broader one."

SUPERCAPTION: Dan Jacobson, Demonstrator

Mitzpe Danny and Jerusalem, 10 October 1999 XFA

Mitzpe Danny, West Bank (near Ramallah)

1. Settlement with caravans

2. Road sign leading to Mitzpe Danny

3. Caravan in settlement

4. Prayer books inside the caravan

5. Establisher of Yiftah Ben Aroush, settler of Mitzpe Danny

6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Yiftah Ben Aroush, settler of Mitzpe Danny

7. Yiftah climbing up a water tank

8. Long shot settlement

Jerusalem

9. Exterior of Prime minister's office

10. Efraim Sneh, Deputy Defence Minister, getting out of his car

11. Sneh walking

12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Efraim Sneh, Deputy Defence Minister

13. Sneh talking to journalists

14. Long shot of the peace demonstration

15. Long shot of signs

16. Sign

17. Caravan on truck with sign on it

18. Establisher of Dan Jacobson

19. SOUNDBITE: (English) Dan Jacobson, Demonstrator

Jerusalem (earlier Sunday morning)

20. Barak arriving

21. Midshot Barak

22. Barak

23. Long shot of the cabinet meeting

24. Long shot of the demo of the settlers

25. Settlers singing

26. Settlers with signs

27. Settler praying

28. Long shot of police and demo

Hebrew/Nat

Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak pledged on Tuesday to strengthen the largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank.

The announcement comes just 24 hours after the launch of peace talks which the Palestinians have said could be scuttled by further settlement expansion.

Barak's tour of Maaleh Adumim - a day after the launch of Israeli-Palestinian permanent status talks - was a pointed reminder that he intends on cultivating hard-liners even as he moves swiftly to revive the peace process.

Referring to housing under construction in the settlement just east of Jerusalem, he said that every house being built is part of the State of Israel forever.

SOUNDBITE: (Hebrew)

"I tell you, that you will continue under all circumstances and under all arrangements to be part of the state of Israel in any final agreement."

SUPERCAPTION: Ehud Barak, Israeli Prime Minister

Such remarks are likely to infuriate the Palestinians.

Just the day before, the top deputy to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas, emphasized that the resumption of the permanent status negotiations required a full cessation of all Israeli settlement activities including the expansion of existing ones.

However, Barak was adamant that development would go ahead.

SOUNDBITE: (Hebrew)

"We will continue to develop and strengthen Maale Adumim"

SUPERCAPTION: Ehud Barak, Israeli Prime Minister

Barak has described the permanent status negotiations as a crucial phase in bringing an end to Palestinian-Israeli hostilities.

But he is also determined not to alienate hard-liners.

Some Israelis believe that the bitter differences between the settlers and Yitzhak Rabin, the prime minister who led breakthrough negotiations with the Palestinians, poisoned political dialogue in the country and led to Rabin's assassination in 1995.

XFA Maale Adumim, West Bank September 14 1999

1. Long shot settlement of Maale Adumim

2. Barak arriving in Maale Adumim

3. Barak meeting city leaders

4. Barak and city leaders shaking hands

5. SOUNDBITE: (Hebrew) Ehud Barak, Israeli prime minister

6. Cutaway press

7. SOUNDBITE: (Hebrew) Ehud Barak, Israeli prime minister

8. Various shots of Barak visiting the settlements

Natural Sound

XFA

Middle East negotiators at Camp David in the United States took a break from their intense discussions on Saturday in respect of the Jewish Sabbath which ends at sundown.

But with the pressure mounting to find a deal, Palestinians took to the streets of Gaza and the West Bank to urge their leader Yasser Arafat not to make key concessions to Israel.

Supporters of the Islamic militant group, Hamas, held a rally in Gaza City on Saturday to protest against the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in Washington.

The rally was attended by Hamas founder and spiritual leader, Ahmed Yassin.

Hamas has accused Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat of selling out on the issue of Palestinian land.

Protesters at Saturday's rally were attempting to put pressure on Arafat not to give in to U-S and Israeli pressure.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"We Palestinians are not going to compromise any inch of our land especially in Jerusalem"

SUPER CAPTION: Ismail Abu Shanab, Hamas spokesman

Arafat's stance on the sensitive issue of Jerusalem and other key Arab demands were also high on the agenda at a Palestinian rally at Al Ram Junction, in the West Bank between Jerusalem and Ramallah.

About thirty to forty Palestinians demonstrated by shouting, chanting slogans and unfurling banners.

They too are adamant that Arafat should stand firm against Israeli and U-S pressure to compromise key Arab demands for the sake of securing a deal at the Camp David summit in Washington.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"We are coming here to celebrate the frontier and to support our delegation in Washington, and to support President Arafat to implement all the resolutions the central council of the PLO. And we are coming here to tell all the people and all the world that we are supporting to have Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine"

SUPER CAPTION: Shaher Sade, Secretary General of Palestinian Workers Union in West Bank

The West Bank and Gaza is central to the dispute between Palestinians and Israelis.

The so-called "Occupied Territories" were captured by Israel from Jordan and Egypt in 1967.

In the Oslo peace accord, Arafat and assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin agreed to a gradual handover of occupied land to Palestinian control, in exchange for recognition of Israel and security.

But Rabin's death and divisions within former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition delayed the process.

Last year's election of Ehud Barak as Israeli prime minister raised hopes of a settlement, but progress on sensitive issues like Jerusalem, settlements, refugees and final borders has been slow.

The Camp David summit and President Clinton's quest for a legacy has increased pressure on Arafat to make concessions on key Arab demands.

But many Palestinians maintain it would be better to have no deal than one that involves a compromise on Palestinian refugees, the status of Jerusalem or the liberation of territory conquered by Israel in 1967.

Gaza City, Gaza Strip; Al Ram Junction, between Jerusalem and the West Bank - 22 July 2000

Gaza City, Gaza Strip

1. Various people gather for rally

2. Various people chanting

3. People with banners

4. People gather around Hamas founder and spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin's car

5. Various Ahmed Yassin is driven slowly through crowd

6. Crowd march and chant

7. Various children with flags

8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ismail Abu Shanab, Hamas spokesman

9. Various of rally

Al Ram Junction, West Bank

10. Protesters walking carrying banners

11. Various march

12. Wide banners

13. Various march and security

14. SOUNDBITE: (English) Shaher Sade, Secretary General of Palestinian Workers Union in the West Bank

15. Wide shot of march

Voice and effects

VOICED BY PHILIPPA MEAGHER

While U-S, Israeli and Palestinian leaders attended the memorial summit in Oslo, Norway, for the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli members of the left wing movement Peace Now visited one of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank, scheduled to be evacuated during the next few weeks.

To their surprise, not only was the settlement still occupied but new construction work was underway and five new caravans had been placed on a hill nearby.

00 00 The issue of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has been one of the most contentious in the whole Middle East peace process.

00 10 Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak had promised that some of the 42 settlements that were started immediately after last May's general election would be evacuated.

00 19 It was to hold the Israeli government to that commitment that members of the left wing movement, Peace Now, travelled to Kramim, in the West Bank.

00 28 It was one of 12 settlements that was meant to have been closed down.

00 33 When they arrived, they discovered it was actually being expanded to a nearby hill.

00 38 A spokesman for Peace Now accused the settlers of bad faith.

00 42 SOUNDBITE: (English)

"No, no, they don't deliver the goods. They didn't evacuate up to now, even not one populated outpost. Three weeks past they said they are going to evacuate in a week all the outposts. They don't deliver the goods and that's why the government should evacuate all of them."

SUPER CAPTION: Mossi Raz, Peace Now Spokesman

00 52 But the settlers were not worried by the protest and said it wasn't certain that they would have to move.

00 59 But despite the ongoing difficulties posed by the issue of new settlements, there's a keen interest in the Oslo summit.

01 07 People are concerned that the chances for peace are slipping away from the Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

01 13

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"Whatever has to be done by both sides has to be done, because to continue without peace to continue to kill innocent people and to continue to live in hate and we have to change that."

SUPER CAPTION: West Jerusalem resident

01 25 But others are just pleased that the two sides are talking with U-S President Clinton acting as the mediator.

ends 01 33

Kramim near Ramallah, West Bank and West Jerusalem - November 2, 1999 XFA

Kramim near Ramallah, West Bank

00 00 Mechanical digger making a trench

00 10 Trench with copper pipes, tilt up to buildings on hill

00 13 Wide shot of valley

00 17 Wide shot housing at Kramim settlement

00 21 Peace Now Demonstrators gather, police vehicle stands by

00 27 Demonstrators with placards

00 30 Wide shot demonstrators

00 35 Pan form settlement to demo

00 42 SOUNDBITE: (English) Mossi Raz, Peace Now Spokesman

00 52 Three settler women walking, one with baby

00 56 Wide shot caravans on construction site

01 00 Two shots of bar at Kramim with patrons watching TV coverage of Oslo summit

01 13 SOUNDBITE: (English) Voxpop, West Jerusalem resident

01 25 Jewish man reading newspaper in West Jerusalem

01 29 Muslim women walking through market place

ends 01 33

Arabic/Eng/Nat

XFA

As darkness fell, demonstrations continued in the Middle East and people from the Arab and Israeli communities reminded their leaders not to forget them when negotiating at the Mideast summit at Camp David in the U-S.

The Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, and the Palestinian Leader, Yasser Arafat, are in the United States for this last ditch attempt to strike a peace deal.

In Tel Aviv, members of 120 families who have lost their loved ones in the Arab-Israeli conflict gathered in a tent, vowing to keep up a vigil in the square where former premier Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated until the summit ends.

The group's organiser, Itzhak Frankental, said that unless a deal is struck at the Camp David summit, more families would suffer similar bereavement.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"We are a group of 120 bereaved parents who have lost their kids only because there is no peace with the Palestinians. We support the peace process and think it is more important to reach a solution because the price of no peace will be more bereavement. And that is what we would like to say to Barak and to Chairman Arafat. 'Find a way to peace because there is no other way. Only bereavement'"

SUPER CAPTION: Itzhak Frankental, Organiser

Earlier in the day supporters of the D-F-L-P (Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine) also staged a protest in Time Square in the heart of the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Waving banners and placards they urged Arafat and his delegation to stand firm at Camp David and not to make any concessions to the Israelis at the peace summit.

The demonstrators waved DFLP flags and chanted 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem'.

Some held banners calling for the release of Palestinian prisoners, and others held up posters warning that there could be no peace and no security while Jewish settlements remained in the occupied territories.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"We want to tell everybody in the Camp David negotiations that our Palestinian people have decided to stick to their rights as recognised by the UN resolutions. The rights to reclaim all the occupied territories in 1967 including Arab Jerusalem and to stick to the rights of refugees to get back to their homes as recognised by the UN resolution number 194 of 1948."

SUPER CAPTION: Kayse Abulaila, DFLP leader in the West Bank

In Bethlehem, hundreds of Palestinian refugees gathered at Dehesha Refugee camp to call upon Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat not to forget them.

They fear that he will make concessions to the Israelis that would compromise their right to return home.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"Any attempt to go around the refugees' right to return will fail, That is what this rally is all about. "

SUPER CAPTION: Salah Tamari, Palestinian Minister for Settlement Affairs

SOUNDBITE: (Arabic)

"I am from Dehesha refugee camp. I live in very bad conditions and I would love to go back to my home."

SUPER CAPTION: Vox Pop, Child Refugee

Carrying banners, placards and lighted candles they marched from the camp to Manger Square in the city centre where they staged a rally.

The protest was still going strong at nightfall.

Tel Aviv, Israel/ Bethlehem and Ramallah, West Bank 12 July 2000

Tel Aviv

1. Pan left to right of outside of tent

2. Close shot of two people talking outside tent

3. Various shots inside tent - people sitting around

4. Close up of sign in English calling for peace

5. Various shots of people in tent

6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Itzhak Frankental, Organiser

Ramallah

7. Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) protestors in Time Square

8. Waving banners and placards

9. Man addressing crowd with megaphone

10. Close up banners

11. Little boy with banner calling for freedom for prisoners

12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Kayse Abulaila, DFLP leader in the West Bank

13. Various of demo

Bethlehem

14. Demonstrators gathering at Dehesha refugee camp

15. Various protestors carrying placards and banners

16. Slogans saying - 'Don't forget us and No Concessions'

17. People carrying lighted candles.

18. SOUNDBITE: (English) Salah Tamari, Palestinian Minister for Settlement Affairs

19. VOX POP: (Arabic) Child Refugee

Bethlehem -Night shots

20. Wide shot of protest

21. Various of candles

22. Girl holding poster saying "we have the right to go home"

23. Wide of people holding candles

English/Nat

Members of 120 families who have lost their loved ones in the Arab-Israeli conflict have gathered in a tent in Tel Aviv in support of Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

They say they will take it in turns to keep up a vigil in the square where former premier Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated throughout the summit in the hope that a lasting peace deal can be struck at Camp David.

The group's organiser, Itzhak Frankental, said they were there to show their support for Barak having all lost family members because of the failure to reach a lasting peace deal.

Frankental added that unless a deal was struck more families would suffer similar bereavement.

Elsewhere, hundreds of Palestinian refugees gathered at Dehesha Refugee camp in Bethlehem to call upon Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat not to forget them at Camp David.

They fear that he will make concessions to the Israelis that would compromise their historic right to return home.

Carrying banners, placards and lighted candles they marched from the camp to Manger Square in the city centre where they staged a rally.

Earlier in the day supporters of the DFLP (Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine) staged a protest in Time Square in the heart of the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Waving banners and placards they urged Arafat and his delegation to stand firm at Camp David and not to make any concessions to the Israelis at the peace summit.

The demonstrators waved DFLP flags and chanted 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem'.

Some held banners calling for the release of Palestinian prisoners, and others held up posters warning that there could be no peace and no security while Jewish settlements remained in the occupied territories.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"We are a group of 120 bereaved parents who have lost their kids only because there is no peace with the Palestinians. We support the peace process and think it is more important to reach a solution because the price of no peace will be more bereavement. And that is what we would like to say to Barak and to Chairman Arafat. 'Find a way to peace because there is no other way. Only bereavement'"

SUPER CAPTION: Itzhak Frankental, Organiser

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"Any attempt to go around the refugee's right to return will fail, That is what this rally is all about. "

SUPER CAPTION: Salah Tamari, Palestinian Minister for Settlement Affairs

SOUNDBITE: (Arabic)

"I am from Dehesha refugee camp. I live in very bad conditions and I would love to go back to my home."

SUPER CAPTION: Vox Pop, Child Refugee

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"We want to tell everybody in the Camp David negotiations that our Palestinian people have decided to stick to their rights as recognised by the UN resolutions. The rights to reclaim all the occupied territories in 1967 including Arab Jerusalem and to stick to the rights of refugees to get back to their homes as recognised by the UN resolution number 194 of 1948."

SUPER CAPTION: Kayse Abulaila, DFLP leader in the West Bank

Bethlehem and Ramallah, West Bank and Tel Aviv, Israel - 12 July 2000

Tel Aviv

1. People gathered outside tent in Rabin Square.

2. Pan left to right of outside of tent.

3. Close shot of two people talking outside tent.

4. Various shots inside tent - people sitting around.

5. Close up of sign in English calling for peace.

6. Few shots of people in tent.

7. Setup of Itzhak Frankental, Organiser

8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Itzhak Frankental, Organiser

Bethlehem

9. Demonstrators gathering at Dehesha refugee camp.

10. Various protestors carrying placards and banners.

11. Slogans saying - 'Don't forget us and No Concessions'.

12. People carrying lighted candles.

13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Salah Tamari, Palestinian Minister for Settlement Affairs

14. VOX POP: (Arabic) Child Refugee

Ramallah

15. Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) protestors in Time Square.

16. Waving banners and placards.

17. Man addressing crowd with megaphone.

18. Close up banners.

19. Little boy with banner calling for freedom for prisoners.

20. SOUNDBITE: (English) Kayse Abulaila, DFLP leader in the West Bank

21. Various of demo

Hebrew/Eng/Nat

While U-S, Israeli and Palestinian leaders attended the memorial summit in Oslo, Norway, for the late Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli members of the left wing movement Peace Now visited Mitzpeh Kramim, one of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank, scheduled to be evacuated during the next few weeks.

To their surprise, not only was the settlement still occupied but new construction work was underway and five new caravans had been placed on a hill nearby.

The issue of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has been one of the most contentious in the whole Middle East peace process.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak had promised that some of the 42 settlements that were started immediately after last May's general election would be evacuated.

It was to hold the Israeli government to that commitment that members of Peace Now travelled to Kramim, near the West Bank town of Ramallah, and site of one of the 12 settlements to be closed down.

When they arrived, they discovered that far from plans being made to close the settlement, it was actually being expanded to a nearby hill the settlers called Mitzpeh Kramim.

A spokesman for Peace Now accused the settlers of bad faith.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"No, no, they don't deliver the goods. They didn't evacuate up to now, even not one populated outpost. Three weeks past they said they are going to evacuate in a week all the outposts. They don't deliver the goods and that's why the government should evacuate all of them."

SUPER CAPTION: Mossi Raz, Peace Now Spokesman

The settlers said the demonstrators were wrong, and that they fully intended to continue building at Mitzpeh Kramim.

One settler said it wasn't certain that they would have to move.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"We're still negotiating, and I believe we'll be able to find a way to stay here, and you'll be able to come and visit us when the place is built with not only caravans but nice houses, and stone houses."

SUPER CAPTION: Jewish settler

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has said he will ask the United States to force Israel to slow down or freeze new settlements.

Although the United States has called the continued building of settlements in the occupied territories "destructive" to the peace process, it has not publicly reprimanded Barak for approving new homes at a faster pace than his hard-line predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Kramim and Mitzpeh Kramim, near Ramallah, West Bank - November 2, 1999

1.Wide shot of valley

2. Mechanical digger

3. Trench with copper pipes, tilt up to buildings on hill

4. Wide shot of valley

5. Wide shot housing at Kramim settlement

6. Wide shot valley, pan to caravans at of Mitzpeh Kramim

7. Demonstrators gather, police vehicle stands by

8. Demonstrators with placards

9. More demonstrators

10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Mossi Raz, Peace Now Spokesman

11. Two men walk from caravan

12. Demonstrators with placards

13. Settler being interviewed by radio reporter

14. SOUNDBITE: (English) Settler

15. Three women walking, one with baby

16. Wide shot caravans on construction site

17. Wide shot valley

18. Various interior bar at Kramim patrons watching TV coverage of Oslo summit

T/I: 11:28:51

Thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv on Saturday (13/9) to mark the signing, four years ago, of the Israeli-Palestinian peace accord.

Former premier Shimon Peres, one of the driving forces behind the Oslo peace accord addressed the crowds. The rally was organised by Yitzhak Rabin's son Yuval.

Meanwhile, EU envoy to the Middle East, Miguel Moratinos met Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Arafat briefed Moratinos on US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's visit to the region.

SHOWS:

ISRAEL/WEST BANK 13/9

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK

legislative council building - ext.

gv's of building;

photo of Yasser Arafat and Miguel Moratinos;

SOT (in English) Moratinos saying he'd been briefed by Arafat on Albright's visit, and hopes now there will be progress in Washington; the Eu was working in close cooperation with the USA, it had its own own proposals and was backing any efforts for peace.

SOT (in English) Nabil Sha'ath, Palestinian Planning Minister, saying they want to see progress towards the end of the siege (closure of Gaza and West Bank) and Israel meeting its committments to the peace process, but this was not happening;

TEL AVIV

demonstrators shouting "Bibi resign, we don't want you any more"; holding banners reading "we miss you (Rabin)";

cheering;

Opposition leader Shimon Peres and Yossi Sarid, chairman of Meretz party, in the crowd;

Ehud Barak, Likud leader, in the crowd;

SOT Peres (in Hebrew) from podium talking about Netanyahu, saying he promised to bring peace with a low price, instead he had brought us war with a high price;

Vs of rally;

Israeli flag waved;

SOT (In English) Peres saying peace will force the government to change its policies, not the other way around;

Ws of rally;

3.25

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.

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

English/Nat

XFA

Israel's secret service is reported to have beefed up security around Prime Minister Ehud Barak in light of threats by Jewish settlers over his plans to transfer land to the Palestinians.

Israeli news reports on Sunday focused on harsh rhetoric being used by some settlers in denouncing the potential uprooting of Jewish settlements in order to secure a peace accord with the Palestinians.

Barak has shrugged off the threats, saying he is convinced that the settlers understand that central historical processes won't be stopped with acts of violence.

Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Friday said that a final peace deal with the Palestinians could require the uprooting of around 20 percent of settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which would amount to 40-thousand people.

Barak's comment sparked increased tension between his government and the settlers.

Government officials said the angry atmosphere was reminiscent of the period leading up to the 1995 assassination of then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Some even called for authorities to arrest those who use rhetoric inciting violence.

While the prime minister briefed his government on Sunday on the developments in the peace talks with Palestinians, settlers stood outside his office in protest, their message clear.....

The settlers say that Barak's intention to hand over territories to Palestinians will destroy not only the West Bank but the entire state of Israel.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"I hope that Barak's government will fall because he has no Jewish majority in the Knesset. For example, in the last decision about Abu Dis, he needed the Arab voices in the Knesset, the anti-Zionist voices, that are people of PLO."

SUPER CAPTION: Voxpop, Demonstrator

The Palestinians hope to establish a state in all of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, areas that Israel captured in 1967.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are to meet later on Sunday to continue talks.

Jerusalem, June 4, 2000

1. Exterior Prime Minister's office

2. Ehud Barak arriving at cabinet meeting

3. Various cabinet members arriving

4. Various photo opportunity cabinet meeting

5. Anti-Barak placard

6. Demonstrators putting up banners

7. Security watching demonstrators

8. Demonstrator with placards

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Voxpop, Demonstrator

10. Settlers holding banners against Barak

11. Pull out from placard to demonstrator

English/Nat

Preparing the ground for crucial Mideast talks in London next week, U-S Vice President Al Gore held talks on Friday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But Netanyahu said the Israelis and the Palestinians remained divided on crucial issues.

The U-S is trying to forge an agreement on the question of further Israeli troop withdrawals from the West Bank.

During his visit, Gore lunched with Netanyahu, met Israeli opposition leader Ehud Barak and laid a wreath at the grave of slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

The two leaders met at the Israeli Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem

on Friday during Gore's visit to mark the Jewish state's 50th birthday.

Following talks Benjamin Netanyahu suggested he would meet the Palestinians halfway in the current dispute over the withdrawal of Israeli troops in the West Bank.

Gore's visit comes ahead of a new round of diplomatic efforts planned by U-S Secretary of State Madeleine Albright who will meet Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Monday.

At the forefront of her meetings will be security in the West Bank.

Until now, Israel's best offer has been a pullback from nine per cent of the land.

Palestinians meanwhile have accepted a U-S proposal for a withdrawal from 13 per cent as the absolute minimum.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

''My optimism tells me that I hope that we'll have an agreement in London. My realism tells me that in order for that to be achieved, there would have to be a considerable stretching still even though the distance, the President is right, there is a distance that is certainly shorter, smaller than it was many months ago. But nevertheless it still remains and to be a realistic optimist I want to say that I hope there's stretching on both sides before this optimism is vindicated.''

SUPER CAPTION: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister

U-S officials have said they expect both leaders to make difficult decisions in London.

But Gore said Washington remained committed to Israel's security.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

'''I came here not only to celebrate Israel's achievements, but also to restate our ironclad commitment to Israel's security and well-being in its next half-century and beyond.''

SUPER CAPTION: Al Gore, U-S Vice President

Following the meetings, Gore and Netanyahu lunched at the King David Hotel, where they traded toasts.

Gore also held talks with Labour Party Chairman Ehud Barak, the Israeli opposition leader.

Earlier on Friday, the U-S Vice President laid a wreath at the grave of slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Gore and his wife, Tipper, who visited the grave with Rabin's widow Leah, stood silently for a few minutes and then placed pebbles on the headstone, in line with Jewish custom.

The Gores also stopped at Jerusalem's Holocaust Hall of Remembrance, where they laid a wreath.

While Gore and Netanyahu met, Tipper Gore visited the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest shrine, with Netanyahu's wife, Sara.

Following Jewish custom, Mrs Gore slipped a note with a request into a crack between the honey-coloured boulders.

Asked what she wrote, Mrs Gore said: "God bless the children."

Jerusalem - 1 May, 1998

1. Exterior of Israeli prime minister's office

2. U-S Vice President Al Gore and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walk up stairs and into meeting

3. Gore and Netanyahu in meeting

4. Cut away to reporters and pan to Gore and Netanyahu shaking hands

5. Wide shot of two leaders emerging from building and taking podiums

6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

7. Wide shot of press conference

8. SOUNDBITE: (English) U-S Vice President Al Gore

9. Various exteriors of King David Hotel

10. Netanyahu and Gore in toast at luncheon

11. Cut away to Tipper Gore

12. Al Gore enters meeting room with Israeli Labour Party Chairman Ehud Barak

13. Mid shot of Gore and Barak talking

14. Mid shot of Gore laying wreath at former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's grave

15. Al Gore, wife Tipper Gore and Rabin's widow Leah Rabin at grave

16. Various of Al and Tipper Gore laying a wreath at the Holocaust Hall of Remembrance

17. Back shot Tipper Gore visiting Wailing Wall

18. Tipper Gore walks away

19. Her car drives away

Natural Sound

The president of the European Union, Romano Prodi, is continuing his tour of the Middle East.

On Monday, he held talks with Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy.

It is Prodi's first official visit to Israel as president of the EU.

Later this week, he is also scheduled to visit the West Bank and Gaza.

Romano Prodi arrived in Jerusalem late on Sunday.

Not long after his arrival, he was guest of honour at a dinner hosted by Israel's Minister of Finance, Avraham Shochat.

Leading members of the economic community and the governor of the Bank of Israel, David Klein, were also at the function.

On Monday Prodi met Israeli Foreign minister David Levy.

The pair discussed strengthening E-U-Israel relations and, of course, the Peace Process was also on the agenda.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"And the European policy did not changed and we are based on the United Nations' resolutions and we simply must give more active contribution to peace."

SUPERCAPTION: Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission

SOUNDBITE: (Hebrew)

"Not with violence, not with insight and not with threats . Whoever wants peace, the way is open and Israel wants peace, may he (whoever wants peace) kindly speak the language of peace and not threats."

SUPERCAPTION: David Levy, Israeli Foreign Minister

Later Prodi travelled to the Yad Vashem museum, where he placed a wreath in honour of the victims of the Holocaust.

He also laid a wreath at the grave of assassinated former Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin.

Prodi is also expected to meet President Ezer Weizman, the speaker of the Knesset and Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

Later this week Prodi is due to visit Gaza and the West Bank.

He is expected to meet Yasser Arafat and discuss the EU's programme of assistance to the Palestinians.

Jerusalem, 28 Feb 2000

King David Hotel, 28 February, 2000

1. Various exterior of hotel

2. Various inside the hotel

3. Romano Prodi entering building

4. Prodi talking to his colleague

5. David Levy welcoming Prodi

6. Levy and Prodi shaking hands

7. Various Prodi and Levy around the table in breakfast

8. SOUNDBITE: (English), Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission

9. Cutaway

10. SOUNDBITE: (Hebrew) David Levy, Israeli Foreign Minister

Yitzhak Rabin's Grave, 28 February, 2000

11. Various of Prodi laying wreath near the grave

12. Prodi leaving the grave

Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, 28 February, 2000

13. Various Romano Prodi visiting the museum

14. Various of Prodi laying wreath near the grave

15. Prodi laying a wreath in the museum

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.

Hebrew/Nat

On the eve of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's departure for Camp David, right-wing parties have begun pulling out of the ruling coalition.

They are opposed to any territorial concessions that might be offered to Yasser Arafat.

Interior Minister Natan Sharansky, leader of the Russian immigrants Yisrael Be'aliya party, submitted his resignation at the weekly Cabinet meeting.

By law the resignation does not take effect until 48 hours have passed, but party spokesman David Shechter said the party is already out of the coalition.

He then joined a group of supporters who had pitched a tent outside the prime minister's office.

He said he would be in the tent every day throughout the summit to enlist public opinion

against the concessions.

Sharansky has been calling on Barak to form a national unity government with the opposition Likud party, a move he feels will permit more control over Barak's handling of the peace process.

Another coalition partner, the National Religious Party (NRP), said last week, as soon as the summit was announced, that it would quit the coalition.

Its leader, Housing Minister Yitzhak Levy, was expected to submit his resignation after the weekend.

The N-R-P is a patron of Jewish settlers in the West Bank and is opposed to all territorial concessions to the Palestinians.

When Barak formed his government, he brought the party in hoping to avoid an acrimonious debate over the peace process like that which preceded the murder of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Levy says his party cannot countenance the concessions it believes Barak is about to make.

Barak reportedly is ready to hand over close to 90 percent of the West Bank to the Palestinians, including some Arab neighbourhoods adjacent to Jerusalem and part of the Jordan Valley, which previous Israeli governments have tried to retain to prevent any foreign army from crossing the Jordan.

An even more serious threat to Barak's coalition came from the religious Shas party, which has also expressed misgivings about the "painful decisions" Barak has warned he will have to make.

Shas, an ultra-Orthodox party of Sephardic, or Oriental, Jews, is the second biggest party in the coalition, with 17 seats in parliament.

Its departure would be a very serious blow to Barak's hopes of winning approval for a peace treaty with the Palestinians.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"I am resigning as the Minister of the Interior with sad feeling because we started many positive reforms in this ministry and I hope the minister after me will continue with these important reforms. Nonetheless I express my regret that from the very beginning the coalition wasn't partners. In the negotiations with the Palestinians there was no attempt to bring together a broad concensus among the members of the coalition on the peace process. Unfortunately some had already reached some understanding with the Palestinians which cannot be acceptable to me or other members of the coalition."

SUPER CAPTION: Natan Sharansky, Interior Minister and Yisrael B'Aliya party leader

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"The Prime Minister, instead of building a broad support in his own government and then going to the summit, he is going to the summit in a very weak position. The agreement he will reach as a result cannot only be dangerous but can bring very serious splits among the Jewish and Israeli people. The only way to avoid this split is to

create a national unity government. I exhausted my efforts to influence things in this direction from inside government, and now I shall continue outisde."

SUPER CAPTION: Natan Sharansky, Interior Minister and Yisrael B'Aliya party leader

Jerusalem - 9 July 2000

1. Exterior Prime minister's office

2. Interior minister Sharansky arriving on foot at office.

3. Showing resignation letter.

4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Natan Sharansky, Interior Minister and Yisrael B'Aliya party leader

5. Cutaway

6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Natan Sharansky, Interior Minister

7. Going into a protest tent outside PM's office.

English/Nat

Prince Hassan Ibn Talal of Jordan, arrived in Jerusalem on Sunday to mark the fifth anniversary of the Jordan-Israeli peace treaty.

He was welcomed by Israeli President Ezer Weizman.

His visit marks an upturn in relations between the two countries after Israeli settlers heckled a Jordanian delegation visiting Hebron earlier this month.

Jordan's former crown prince Hassan arrived in Jerusalem for a brief visit on Sunday, and was greeted by Israeli President Ezer Weizman.

His trip comes during slightly heightened tensions between the two countries, following the heckling by Israeli settlers of a Jordanian delegation visiting Hebron earlier this month.

The incident, which took place during a visit to a holy site in the West Bank town, led some Jordanian legislators to demand that Jordan cut its ties with Israel.

Amman responded to the incident by cancelling a planned visit to its capital by Israeli Trade and Industry Minister, Ran Cohen.

Both countries consider Hassan's trip an important relations-building exercise.

It also comes just weeks before the 4th anniversary of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on 4th November 1995.

Hassan's visit coincided with another delay of the opening of a land link between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators once again disagreed over related security issues.

The two sides were unable to agree on Saturday on the location of a joint office in the Gaza Strip that would hand out travel permits for the Palestinians.

Prince Hassan remained optimistic about the peace process, despite the stumbling blocks of the past few months, including the disagreements over the handing over of Palestinian prisoners and the land-for-security deal.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

\"No peace process is without events, without difficulties. One minute we are happy, the next minute we are less happy, but that doesn't mean that our basic commitment to peace - whether in terms of Egyptian-Israeli peace or Jordanian-Israeli peace or the future of Palestinian and hopefully Syrian and Lebanese peace - that doesn't mean that we lose heart.\"

SUPER CAPTION: Prince Hassan Ibn Talal of Jordan

Hassan also met Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak whose residence he left later in the day.

Prince Hassan was due to travel to Tel Aviv to inaugurate the session of the conference on the fifth anniversary of the Jordan-Israeli peace treaty.

He was scheduled to return to Amman on Sunday night.

XFA Jerusalem, 17 October 1999

1. Exterior president's house

2. Prince Hassan's car arriving

3. Hassan getting out of car

4. Israeli President Ezer Weizman welcoming Hassan

5. Weizman and Hassan shaking hands

6. Various of photo opportunity

7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Prince Hassan

8. Prince Hassan's car leaving Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's house

Hebrew/Eng/Nat

Israel's new Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Tuesday presented his 18-member cabinet to the Knesset with a mixture of pessimism from his main opposition Likud party and some optimism from his Palestinian peace partners.

He stressed that Israel was a country made up of many different types of people, not just Jews and said that his coalition government would work for them all.

Members of Barak's coalition said that they will try their best to push the peace process forward in all tracks.

Already the new Israeli government says it will halt the building on the controversial Jewish settlement building in Ras as Amud claiming it's unnecessary and was a mistake.

Arriving for the session of the Knesset which would see the end of his reign as Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu appeared happy to be handing over responsibility to the incoming Prime Minister, Ehud Barak.

Aware of the diverse political and religious make-up of Israel, Barak has taken time to chose his cabinet and had drawn members from seven parties with a wide range of ideologies.

Thus with a coalition of 75 legislators, Barak is assured of approval in the 120-member parliament, or Knesset.

He took no time in telling the Knesset that his government would aim to bring peace and security to the region, likening the neighbouring countries of Syria, Egypt, Palestine and Jordan as four corners upon which peace could be achieved.

SOUNDBITE: Ehud Barak (Hebrew)

"The Arab countries should know that only a strong and self confident Israel would be able to bring peace. From this place, today, I call all the leaders of this region to reach out for our hand, the hand that is reaching out for peace, and to achieve a peace of the brave; a peace of the brave in an region that has known so many wars and suffering."

SUPER CAPTION: Ehud Barak, Israeli Prime Minister

But Barak's main opposition Likud party is worried the new government will give in to the demands of the Arabs and lead to an insecure Israel.

This was denied by the newly installed foreign minister, David Levy.

SOUNDBITE: (French)

"We'll do everything in order to give a push to the peace process. Of course it does not only depend on us but on our neighbors too"

SUPERCAPTION: David Levy, Israeli Foreign Minister

The widow of Yitzak Rabin, the man who brought Israel to the edge of peace and into a new understanding with the Palestinians backed the new government.

Although for her any visit to the Knesset is tinged with sadness.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"I am here in a feeling of elation, of festivity . At the same time, of course, I am also sad to be here when I know that my husband is not here and will never be here again."

SUPER CAPTION: Leah Rabin, Widow of Yitzak Rabin

But Silvan Shalom a member of the Likud Party put a shadow on events and said that Barak's promises for a better Israel were all lies and Barak's policies will only lead to Israel giving up more land to the Arabs.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"I think Israel is getting here today a government that won't implement its promises to its voters. I think that what we have seen in the last 50 days with the negotiations of the coalition, that the prime minister elect, Barak, did not do even one thing that he promised to the Israelis."

SUPERCAPTION: Silvan Shalom, Likud member

But others were more optimistic.

The Palestinians said they hope Barak will put the Middle East peace at the top of his government's agenda and will implement the agreements already signed.

Ziad Abu Zayyad a minister in Yasser Arafat's self-rule cabinet said he hoped Barak will move quickly and prove to the Palestinians that Israel is serious about achieving peace .

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"I won't say a peace government, but I will say that this government, I expect it to continue the peace process. I expect it to implement the Wye Valley agreement, to go ahead, to intensify talks about the final status issues"

SUPER CAPTION: Ziad abu-Zayyad, Palestinian council member

It appears that the new Israeli Prime Minister intends to carry out that pledge.

Jerusalem and Ramallah, West Bank. 6 July, 1999

Jerusalem

1. Benjamin Netanyahu arriving

2. Ehud Barak arriving

3. Wide shot of interior of Knesset

4. Ehud Barak going up on stage

5. SOUNDBITE: Ehud Barak, (Hebrew), Israeli Prime Minister

6. David Levy, new foreign minister

7. SOUNDBITE: David Levy, (French), Israeli Foreign Minister

8. Leah Rabin, widow of Yitzhak Rabin being kissed by man

9. SOUNDBITE: Leah Rabin (English), Widow of Yitzhak Rabin

10. Likud member Silvan Shalom

11. SOUNDBITE: Silvan Shalom (English), Likud member

12. Benjamin Netanyahu greeting Knesset members

Ramallah, West Bank:

13. Exterior of the Palestinian Council

14. Palestinian flag

15. Various of council members at session

16. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ziad abu-Zayyad, Palestinian council member

17. Cutaway Ziad

English/Nat

Polling stations have opened throughout Israel as the people of the Jewish state elect a new prime minister and 120 members of the Knesset.

The incumbent Premier Benjamin Netanyahu, head of the right wing Likud Party, is trailing in the opinion polls behind opposition leader Ehud Barak who is expected to win the race with a comfortable majority.

The contest has been closely fought and focussed heavily on personality, but the possible outcome was altered dramatically on Sunday when three other candidates for the premiership withdrew.

Polling opened at 0700 local time (0400 GMT) and will close at 2200 local time (1900 GMT)

Serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived early in central Jerusalem with his wife Sara to cast his vote.

The prime minister's race had been expected to stretch into a runoff vote in early June.

But the 11th-hour withdrawals by three minor candidates meant that hard-line Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his moderate opponent Ehud Barak would decide the election in a single round.

Two candidates endorsed Barak, boosting his lead in the polls over Netanyahu.

By the close of polls on Monday evening Netanyahu could be out of office and in the political wilderness, but when asked why his campaign had gone awry, Netanyahu affected an air of confidence.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

Q. What went wrong with your campaign ?

"Who said anything went wrong ?

Q. You went to the Western Wall today, do you need a miracle to win ?

"I go to the Western Wall many days, because I believe, I believe in the people, I believe in this country, and I believe in its future, and I suggest we meet tonight"

What's your mood today ?

"Very fine"

SUPER CAPTION: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister

Meanwhile Netanyahu's main challenger, the leader of One Israel, Ehud Barak,

arrived with his wife at a polling station in his hometown of Kochav Yair.

He filled out two ballot slips - one for prime minister and one for a party.

One poll gives Barak an eight-to-ten point lead going into the election.

Barak wants Israel to return to its commitments under the Wye River peace agreement brokered by U-S President Bill Clinton last October.

The deal calls on Israel to cede land to the Palestinians in exchange for security measures.

Barak also wants to contain settlement and advocates a separation from the Palestinians.

Barak, a highly decorated soldier is thought to have modelled himself on Israel's assassinated warrior-turned-peacemaker Yitzhak Rabin.

Whoever wins, Arabs in the region have tired of the five-month campaign that has effectively stymied any progress in the peace process.

Barak's arrival at the polling station was greeted by a battery of camera flashes and a barrage of questions - creating a mood that was in stark contrast to Netanyahu's arrival in central Jerusalem earlier in the morning.

Barak looked confident but wouldn't comment on his chances of success, saying he would wait to see the election results.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"I am optimistic and know that only through hard work on the details we will be able to win. It's an important day for Israel's democracy but at the same time it's a first step for change, for unity and for hope."

SUPER CAPTION: Ehud Barak, Prime Ministerial Candidate

Barak has planned last-minute appearances in Israel's four major cities while Benjamin Netanyahu began his day with a prayer stop at the Western Wall, where he was warmly welcomed by supporters chanting his nickname, "Bibi".

Shimon Peres, the former left wing prime minister deposed by Netanyahu in 1996, was quite clear about the outcome of the election.

He said that Israel felt let down by Netanyahu.

SOUNDBITE: (English)

"I think that Barak will take the elections with a very clear majority, all the indications, whether by polls or through meeting people, right through the country, it is clear that Israel is disappointed with Netanyahu, and Barak brings a new hope."

SUPER CAPTION: Shimon Peres, former prime minister

During a hard fought and often vicious election campaign the issue that substantially divides Barak and Netanyahu, how to revive the peace process, barely got a mention.

Netanyahu, who froze peace talks with the Palestinians in December, has said they must fulfill a long list of demands before he brings Israel back to the table.

Some of his demands have been dismissed by the region's U-S peace brokers as unrealistic.

Security was high as the polling stations opened.

Most Palestinians are being kept away from the area during voting.

The army announced a 24-hour closure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, effective at midnight.

Jerusalem and East Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Israel, and Kochav Yair, Central Israel - 17 May 1999

Jerusalem

1. Netanyahu casts vote and walks back, greets officials in polling station

2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister

Kochav Yair, Central Israel

3. Ehud Barak and his wife arriving at polling station

4. Barak walking into polling booth and greeting people

5. Cutaway of press

6. Barak being given voting papers

7. Barak going into booth

8. Barak placing slip into ballot box

9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ehud Barak, Prime Ministerial Candidate

Jerusalem

10. Security at wailing wall

11. Netanyahu arriving at Wailing Wall

12. Various Netanyahu praying at Wall

Tel Aviv

13. Shimon Peres arriving to vote

14. Peres voting

15. SOUNDBITE: (English) Shimon Peres, former prime minister

16. Peres leaving

A-Ram roadblock, near Ramallah, West Bank

17. Soldiers at Israeli roadblock

18. Soldiers checking permit of Palestinians