On the scene with Ben Wedeman in Bethlehem

Ben Wedeman

CNN.com talked Tuesday with Correspondent Ben Wedeman who is in Bethlehem covering developments following the Mideast summit.

Q: What was the atmosphere during the funeral for the 15-year-old Palestinian boy killed yesterday in a clash with Israeli troops?

WEDEMAN: Several thousand people attended the funeral that was held in a mosque in Manger Square next to the Church of the Nativity. It was a very tumultuous, angry funeral. There was a strong presence of supporters of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad who carried large banners above the crowd, calling for the continuation of the "intifada al-Aquasa," which refers to the al-Aquasa mosque where the first clashes broke out for the current round of violence. The body was carried to the graveyard where both Palestinian Authority policemen and men with black masks who are assumed to have affiliations with Hamas or the Islamic Jihad shot scores of rounds from their automatic weapons into the sky as the body was buried.

Q: What happened immediately after the funeral?

WEDEMAN: Some of the mourners made their way to Rachel's Tomb, which is a biblical site under the control of the Israelis. Clashes broke out. They started with a few boys lighting fires, throwing rocks with slingshots and Molotov cocktails. The Israelis responded with tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. Several people were wounded, including a journalist who got hit in the hand.

Q: What happens when you're hit with a rubber-coated steel bullet?

WEDEMAN: It depends how close you are. If you're very close, it might as well be a regular bullet. If you're far enough away, it's just very painful. In this case (of the journalist), he was about 75 meters away and he had a very large bruise.

Q: How did the Palestinian police react to the demonstrations?

WEDEMAN: They watched. They kept their distance. As far as I could see, no effort was made to stop the stone throwers. The clash began with boys rolling a dozen or so tires down the street with the obvious intention of lighting them. There was no effort made to stop them.

Q: What is the attitude of the Palestinian people on the street toward the news that an agreement had been reached at the emergency summit?

WEDEMAN: I spoke to lots of them. They said that (the agreement) didn't concern them. They said that they didn't think it was a good idea for (Palestinian leader Yasser) Arafat to attend the summit. They considered this (street) revolt a national duty and to hell with whatever Arafat agreed to with the Americans, Israelis and Egyptians.

Q: How do the Palestinians react to the presence of a journalist?

WEDEMAN: They like to engage journalists. They feel it's important to speak to journalists and get their message out. They often accuse journalists, especially from a well-known network like CNN, of being pro-Israeli, that we don't cover the Palestinian side of things as much as the Israeli side. We get into some interesting discussions, but no one has ever been threatening to me. I speak Arabic so we can communicate well, and they do like to talk. Everybody likes to be interviewed.

Q: As Cairo bureau chief, what are your observations in regard to the impact of the Palestinian situation on the Arab world at large?

WEDEMAN: It has a very big impact. During (the three weeks) of violence, the protests we've seen in almost every Arab capital have been the biggest since the Gulf War and, before that, since the 1960s. In Cairo, there have been almost daily demonstrations in support of the Palestinians and in condemnation of the Israelis. The demonstrations have become more and more strident.

One of the things that's worrying theses Arab countries is they're afraid that the anger directed toward Israel may in fact be directed against them because they have a relationship with the United States, which is seen as biased toward Israel. In the case of Egypt and Jordan, they're especially concerned because they also have diplomatic relations with Israel.

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