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Israel Has Erected New Electrified Fence in Jerusalem For Security Purposes

Aired April 25, 2002 - 06:05   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Israel has erected a new electrified fence in Jerusalem for security purposes, they say. But as CNN's Chris Burns found out, many on the Jewish side of the fence aren't feeling so secure.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The rolls of barbed wire still shiny, a new fence separating Israelis from Palestinians inside Jerusalem, the beginnings of Israel's new policy in the wake of suicide and other attacks by Palestinian militants.

Israel's cabinet last week approved the fence as a buffer zone to protect not only Israel Proper, but Jewish settlements on the West Bank.

DAN MERIDOR, ISRAELI CABINET MINISTER: It's very difficult if not impossible to defend yourself against suicide bombers and terrorists if between you and them, there is no fence.

BURNS: Proponents argue the electrified fence around the Gaza Strip has prevented any suicide attacks from there.

Palestinian leaders say the fences will create isolation centers, jails for their people. In effect, the partition and annexation they long feared.

AHMED QUOREI, SPEAKER, PALESTINIAN PARLIAMENT: Even (UNINTELLIGIBLE) partition, it's an attempt of annexation. It's an attempt of annexation and deportation of the Palestinian people.

BURNS: A recent Market Watch Poll indicates a majority of Israelis favor the fence idea. Israeli officials insist the barrier is only temporary for security, not political reasons. Opponents argue other barriers started the same way and lasted for decades.

(on camera): Razor wire was how the Berlin Wall began, dividing a city by ideology, this time dividing Arab East Jerusalem from an Israeli neighborhood, where many live in fear.

(voice-over): Near the fence, there is a bomb scare on the Israeli side. Police use a robot to check a suspect bag at a bus stop. Nothing inside this time, but children in the working-class neighborhood of Nevay Acov (ph) say they are still afraid.

"We are afraid to go out of the house. We are afraid that if we go out, a terrorist will come and shoot us in the head."

"I have two Jewish friends."

BURNS: On the Palestinian side of the fence, Michael (ph), an Armenian Christian, says he misses playing with his two Jewish friends on the other side. Good fences make for good neighbors, as the poet Robert Frost once wrote, a maxim some here would willingly embrace and others see as a provocation.

Chris Burns, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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