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| SECURING THE FUTURE | |
 May 23, 1996 
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CHARLES KRAUSE: Ronit Amsalem is a young mother who works for the Israeli government.
CHARLES KRAUSE: To counter the fears and the threat of another suicide
bombing, police and security forces in Jerusalem were placed on maximum
alert late last week. Specially trained rapid reaction units now patrol
the city's streets. Soldiers and undercover agents guard bus stops and
busy intersections wherever a bomb might explode or a terrorist might
strike. (siren) Jerusalem's bomb squad is dispatched to check out unattended
parcels or packages some forty to fifty times a day, while specially
trained police dogs search Outside Jerusalem, Israel's border with Gaza and the West Bank has been temporarily closed. Only Israeli citizens and Palestinians who live in East Jerusalem are now allowed to cross the so-called green line from the territories into Israel proper. The stepped up security will remain in place at least through next week because Israeli intelligence is reported to have evidence that Hamas and other terrorist groups backed by Iran will attempt another deadly attack before next Wednesday to try to influence the outcome of the election. The terrorists' goal, according to Ehud Sprinzak, a political science professor at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, is to slow down or stop the Middle East peace process by turning Israelis against Prime Minister Shimon Peres and his government. EHUD SPRINZAK, Hebrew University: The Israeli intelligence community is almost unanimous in the conviction that the Iranians are very disturbed by the peace process. CHARLES KRAUSE: Sprinzak and most other Israeli analysts say Iran would like nothing better than to see Peres, the architect of the peace process, defeated and thrown out of office, in favor of a new more conservative government led by Israel's former ambassador to the United Nations, Likud Party candidate Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu's campaign slogan is peace with security, and he's promised to slow down the peace process by taking a much tougher line with Israel's Arab neighbors if he's elected. Peres continues to hold a slight lead in the polls, but Sprinzak and most other analysts say that Israeli voters would almost certainly blame Peres and elect Netanyahu if there were another terrorist attack.
CHARLES KRAUSE: Politically, what Peres must avoid is a repeat of the suicide bombings that occurred in Israel last February and March. More than 60 Israelis were killed and many others wounded in a period of just nine days, and as a result, Peres's approval ratings plummeted by nearly 20 percent.
CHARLES KRAUSE: Sheila Brull is an Israeli citizen born in England who says she's decided to vote for Netanyahu because she doesn't think Peres cares enough about security. SHEILA BRULL: He wants peace, which is a wonderful thing, but he's blinding himself to the reality. You cannot trust the Arabs. The Arabs won't be satisfied till we're in the sea. DAVID ROTH, Bank Employee: You have to understand the psyche here.
DAVID ROTH: It is just so severe and so, umm, hard to accept the severity of the incident that it will cause certain, certain people who are undecided to take another look and maybe just have to take a different, a different route. It's like an Oklahoma City. It is that severe that it can change what the outcome of this election will be. CHARLES KRAUSE: Although there have bene no more bombings so far, there have been signs of increased terrorist activity in Jerusalem over the past several weeks. Two suicide bombers, one of them staying at this hotel in East Jerusalem, blew themselves up before they were able to strike in what the Israeli press calls work-related accidents. Then just last Friday, Israeli soldiers captured Hasan Salameh. Salameh is said to be a top Hamas operative engaged in recruiting young Palestinians for suicide missions inside Israel. Ehud Olmert, Jerusalem's mayor, has direct access to sensitive intelligence and meets regularly with top government security officials. The terrorist threat he says is real, and Jerusalem is one of the terrorists' primary targets.
CHARLES KRAUSE: It's often said that terrorism is a war that takes
place in the shadows. If that's so, then the man whose responsibility
it is to ensure that Jerusalem does not suffer yet again from another
shadowy GEN. ARIEH AMIT, Jerusalem Police Chief: Well, no one can ask me to put a fence in the street, in the middle of the street, because we don't have any border here. We have to give feeling to everybody that this is a normal city. This is not prison, and this is not some place near the border. This is simply a city with special problems but still the capital of Israel. CHARLES KRAUSE: And finally, Gen. Amit took us to the heart of old Jerusalem, where the passions and hatreds that have separated Muslims, Christians, and Jews for centuries come together in an area about half the size of Central Park. GEN. ARIEH AMIT: I simply like to be here. I feel closer to God. CHARLES KRAUSE: It was here in front of the Wailing Wall that we asked Gen. Amit about the terrorist threat and his efforts to try to prevent another major incident before next week's watershed election.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: In the past, Israelis have voted for political parties running for seats in parliament. On Wednesday, for the first time, they will cast separate votes for prime minister and for members of the parliament, or Knesset. |
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CHARLES KRAUSE: On the surface, Jerusalem remains much as it has always
been, a place of extraordinary beauty, an ancient city of churches,
mosques, and synagogues, of winding streets, and outdoor cafes, a city
which appears to be at peace, both with itself and with its neighbors.
But appearances can be deceiving, especially here in the Middle East.
Jerusalem was stunned when two suicide bombers blew up two buses earlier
this year. And now, as next week's election approaches, the government
has warned Jerusalem's residents that the city may once again be the
target of a terrorist attack. Nimrod Bichler is an amateur tennis player
who recently completed his military service. 
NIMROD BICHLER, Tennis Player: I was born in Jerusalem, and I can't
say that I feel as safe as I used to when I was younger because the
last year there was a big increase of the terror. Right now it's, it's
frightening to go on buses on the public places like malls, and you
have to look around and really be a detective, to see if there is anybody
suspect, and the security level is much lower now.
RONIT AMSALEM, Government Employee: (speaking through interpreter) I
feel that I should always be looking over my shoulder to ensure that
there's no threat behind me. That is not a secure feeling. I also don't
feel safe letting my little girl walk around on the streets because
it's dangerous, dangerous because terrorists might blow up a building
or bus. Or they might do more personal attacks, like the stabbings that
have taken place not far from here.
buses
for explosives.
EHUD SPRINZAK: A major issue right now in this election is the issue
of personal security. If people in Tel Aviv and in Jerusalem do not
feel secure, even within small Israel, they then don't see a point in
supporting the peace process. There is also an issue of expectations.
When Peres brought the Oslo agreement to the Knesset, he promised the
Israelis hundred years of peace. He said no more war. It's not working
like that. And the expectation is being disappointed, and this is why
people now emotionally are moving after every bombing to the right.
SHEILA BRULL, Retired Worker: People have had enough. One more bus bomb,
one more any bomb, and it will swing the election.
CHARLES KRAUSE: David Roth, who moved to Israel 10 years ago from the
United States, says it's impossible to forget the savagery of the bombings
that occurred earlier this year.
MAYOR EHUD OLMERT, Jerusalem: They choose the point which is the most
sensitive for the other side. It's the logic of the entire attitude
of the Palestinians, so since Jerusalem is the most sensitive point,
and they know that this will cause the greatest pain, although, of course,
when you suffer casualties, it doesn't matter where they are, they are
casualties, and it causes a great deal of pain for everyone, but there
is always an additional dimension because this is Jerusalem, this is
the heart of the country, this is the capital of Israel, and so many
people across the world care for Jerusalem. (siren)
attack
is the city's police chief, General Arieh Amit. Young and supremely
self-confident, Amit commands a force of some 3,000 men and women ranging
from cops on the beat to highly sophisticated counterterrorism units
directly engaged in Israel's continuing struggle to maintain control
in Jerusalem. We spent several hours with Gen. Amit last week, driving
from his headquarters in West Jerusalem past the gate of the old city
to neighborhoods where Jews and Arabs live virtually side by side.
GEN. ARIEH AMIT: It is not a secret that Iran is anxious to succeed
in a very big terrorist act in Israel and naturally in Israel, when
they are talking about Israel, they are talking about Jerusalem, including,
of course, this place because we know we have intelligence reports from
time to time that the Hamas will try to make the act here because they
know that if there is a place that will hurt all the Jewish people,
this is the place.
CHARLES KRAUSE: For Israel, for the PLO, for the United States, for
Shimon Peres, for Yasser Arafat, for Benjamin Netanyahu, and for Arieh
Amit, the stakes couldn't be higher. With Israel's borders now split
almost evenly down the middle, just one bomb on one bus could decide
the outcome of next week's crucial election in Israel, an election which
could, in turn, decide the future of peace throughout the Middle East.