Days of Rage in the Middle East

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH:

For reaction in the Arab world we go to the New York Times bureau chief Neil MacFarquhar. He joins us by phone from Amman, Jordan.

Thanks for being with us, Neil. What's the reaction in Jordan today to the events just across the border in Israel and the West Bank?

NEIL MacFARQUHER:

Well, there is a strong connection, of course, in Jordan with the West Bank because many Palestinians live here who have family members there. So there were an increasing tempo of protests today, most of them either on university campuses or in refugee camps.

And basically, the riot police fought extended battles with those students on the camps of the University of Jordan and in the refugee camps that contain the protests there, with the protesters hurling stones at the riot police, and the riot police firing back tear gas or using water cannon at the university.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH:

Are the protectors mostly focusing on Israeli actions in Israel, or is there some protest against the United States, as well?

NEIL MacFARQUHAR:

There's a great deal of protest against the United States. Some of the chanting in Jordan was, you know, to break off ties with the United States or kick out the American ambassador along with that from Israel and in Cairo — when they couldn't reach the American embassy, they trashed a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet and people seemed particularly incensed by Bush's remarks, because they saw him on television sort of relaxing on his ranch in a blue jean shirt and condemning Yasser Arafat and telling him to do something, while they were watching on their television screens Israeli tanks rolling through the West Bank and blowing holes in the sides of buildings and so forth. So they feel like the United States is being unbalanced in the treatment of the region.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH:

You're talking to officials in Jordan. Is there any concern that these demonstrations could grow so fierce that they could threaten the stability of the government?

NEIL MacFARQUHAR:

Well, I think that's the concern behind, you know, a lot of governments in the region of just… that they could be a destabilizing factor. And that's why they're working so hard to keep them, you know, very limited to… trying to keep the students tied into their campuses and the refugees into their camps, and not let them get out on to the main streets of the capitol.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH:

And Neil, you've just come from Lebanon. What's happening there? You were in a Shatila refugee camp that has quite a history. What did you find in Lebanon?

NEIL MacFARQUHAR:

Well, I think, you know, people were sort of hopeful, you know, against their better judgment almost, that maybe the summit, with its offer for all Arab states to make peace with Israel if it withdrew to its 1967 borders, would finally edge towards a solution.

And then, of course, the suicide bombing happened in Netanya, and the Israeli move to take control of the West Bank started again, and, you know, their hopes were dashed all of a sudden. And so there was a great deal of bitter both towards the Arab leaders, as well as the United States and Israel. And actually, in some of the protests today, we've heard chanting saying, "no to the Arab summit." So they're just as disgruntled with their own leadership as they are with, you know, the Americans and the Israelis.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH:

And Haaretz– sorry– Haaretz Newspaper in Israel is reporting that the Israeli defense force command is preparing for a massive Hezbollah attack on Israel from Lebanon, and they're saying that Israel's likely to respond with a strong strike against Syrian interests in Lebanon. Did you hear anything about that, I mean, if there is an attack by Hezbollah on the border?

NEIL MacFARQUHAR:

Well, the pattern of threats back and forth is one that we've seen before. There were sort of minor skirmishes there over the weekend between the two sides, and of course, there's a sense… you know, Hezbollah has been making some strong statements about taking armed action over the past few weeks, and there's a sense that they would like to, you know, sort of start a second front there to show their solidarity with the Palestinians.

But of course, the Syrian and the Lebanese governments would both likely pay the consequences of that, and so they may be trying to rein them in. They will never admit quite how direct a relationship there is there.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH:

And for the situation in Israel and the West Bank, we turn to James Bennet, New York Times bureau chief in Israel. He joins us by phone from Jerusalem.

Jim Bennet, thanks for being with us. What's known so far about the bombing and the bomber in Jerusalem today?

JAMES BENNET:

Well, the bomber was pulled over at a checkpoint on a road that divides Israeli West Jerusalem… Jewish West Jerusalem from Palestinian East Jerusalem.

A policeman approached the car, and a bomber exploded some sort of device, blowing himself through the roof of the car, killing himself and critically injuring a policeman who later died in the hospital.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH:

James, you reported from Haifa over the weekend from a restaurant where Israelis and Arabs had… Jews and Arabs had been having lunch and dinner together in a very friendly way for a long time, but there was a bombing there, too. Is nowhere safe?

JAMES BENNET:

It's starting to feel that way here. Police put out some statistics today showing that 79 Israelis have died since the first suicide bombing of the year, which was January 24. Of them, more than half, about 39, have died since Wednesday night. There's been an extraordinary wave of these suicide attacks. And they've been in all sorts of places recently — in religious neighborhoods, in secular neighborhoods. The bombers have been young and single. They've been older and married. And now they've even struck in Haifa, as you said, in a restaurant that everybody felt was safe because there were so many Arabs there among the wait staff and among the diners.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH:

And in Ramallah– let's move to Ramallah now– what's the latest from there and from Arafat's headquarters?

JAMES BENNET:

Well, Yasser Arafat is still essentially imprisoned in his office in Ramallah. Soldiers are operating freely throughout the city and throughout what remains of his compound there. He's holed up in there with some aides, with some peace activists who managed to get in there yesterday.

And the Israelis say he's also got a number of people that they want arrested in there with them. And top Israeli officials are still talking about trying to actually go into the offices and extract those people, so it remains a really, really tense, very volatile and dangerous situation.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH:

Israeli newspapers are reporting deep divisions in the cabinet over Arafat's fate. What can you will tell us about that?

JAMES BENNET:

Well, there was a big battle on Friday within the government over the approach that they should take to Arafat as they launch this campaign in Ramallah. The prime minister, Ariel Sharon, was all for expelling him, according to ministers that I've talked to.

He was opposed by Shimon Peres, the foreign minister, as well as Benjamin… Ben-Eliezer, who is the defense minister. They're both members of the Labor Party, which historically is the left-leaning counterpart… or counterweight to Sharon's Likud Party in the government.

What the decisive factor was that the security officials also argued against expelling Arafat. They said he would be much more dangerous to Israel outside of the territories than locked down in Ramallah.

The problem they've got is that there's essentially a stalemate here now. Arafat is in isolation, as Sharon says, to a certain extent — they're preventing diplomats from reaching him — but on the other hand he still has a telephone. He's calling everybody in the world. There are still activists in there with him, and in many ways he is in a position to generate some sympathy for his plight.

ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH:

And Jim Bennet, what is happening to ordinary Palestinians in the cities that are under siege? There's no water, no electricity, right?

JAMES BENNET:

They've restored electricity to some areas, but there's still… it's obviously a very, very tense and difficult situation. I mean, they've put people are under curfew. They're not able to move around. They're running out of food. And they're scared.

I mean, their cities have become military zones, battle zones. There's still gunfire. There's still exchanges of fire. The Israelis are now moving into several other cities in the West Bank. They've taken up positions in Tulkarm and Qalqilya further north of here, and also they're moving into Bethlehem. In all these places Palestinians are essentially trapped in their homes.