CNN - With closure of territories

With closure of territories, resentments fester on West Bank

April 3, 1996
Web posted at: 7:45 a.m. EST (1245 GMT)

From Correspondent Walter Rodgers

BORQAH, West Bank (CNN) -- The armed wing of Hamas is threatening to resume suicide bombings against Israel in response to a crackdown by the PLO and Israel's closure of Palestinian territories.

Israel locked down the West Bank and Gaza after a spate of suicide bombings in February and March that killed 58 people.

However, Israel's collective punishment may itself be fueling not only Hamas reaction, but an explosion of resentment against Israel itself.

The resentment is almost tangible in Borqah, a Palestinian village in the West Bank that was home to a suicide bomber and his family.

Like other West Bank villages, Borqah was closed by Israeli government order, and Israeli soldiers are enforcing the village's closure. But the soldiers' guns also hold prisoner the 6,300 people who live in Borqah, people who themselves had nothing to do with the bus bombings. They simply lived in the same town.

Support for Arafat, peace decline

A few months ago, the overwhelming majority of Palestinians here supported Yasser Arafat's peace. Not anymore.

"Before the actions, 70 percent OK with Arafat. Now there's maybe 20 percent," said one Palestinian.

Today, confined to their already poor villages, locked out of jobs in Israel, many Palestinians now see the peace process with Israel as a sham.

"Is this peace, true peace? Do you think that this is peace?" a Borqah resident asked.

Suicide bomber Raed Sharnobi and his parents rented a house in Borqah. After his attack, Israel exacted vengeance, dynamiting his home, leaving his parents homeless. (391K QuickTime movie)

The woman who lived next door to the Sharnobi family begged Israeli soldiers to bulldoze, not dynamite. They wouldn't listen, and her house got blown up too. Israel has promised compensation, but she hasn't seen any money yet.

Walking through the crater that was once her house, she told CNN all seven of her children, now homeless, are against peace with Israel.

Locking down Palestinian villages may have made Israelis feel more secure in the short run, but closure is a boomerang that breeds frustration and hatred. There's no feeling of autonomy here, just the renewed sense of humiliation from Israeli military occupation.

Complaints from many quarters

-- Ghathiyeh Abdul Rahim said the Israeli soldiers won't let her leave the village to go to a hospital for treatment of bloated legs.

-- Rashida Hamdan lies dying. After a stroke, Israeli soldiers allegedly would not let her family leave the village to take her to a hospital. An ambulance arrived hours later, but friends say it was too late to be of much help.

-- Around the town hall, men without jobs grumble. "We want to be like Israeli citizens. We want to move freely."

-- Store clerks keep ledgers of people who buy groceries on credit. Money in Palestinian villages has dried up.

Business is dead, and so may be the peace. Some who once supported the peace initiative now go so far as to say that "the Israelis are enemies."

And the younger generation of Palestinians, who once were growing under the hope of an end to fighting, is becoming disenchanted. A group of teen-agers told CNN they are sure that there are a lot of boys out there willing to become suicide bombers if the situation stays like this.

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With closure of territories, resentments fester on West Bank

Support for Arafat, peace decline

Complaints from many quarters

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