Ben Wedeman: Continuing violence in Gaza and the West Bank

Ben Wedeman is CNN's bureau chief in Cairo. He filed this report after a visit to Jerusalem.

Q: What is the latest on the violence in the area?

Wedeman: It was a day much like other days. There were scattered clashes in Ramallah, clashes in Rafah on the southern end of the Gaza Strip. Also in Jerusalem itself, which was where we were today, there was some stone throwing. I believe upwards of 18 Palestinians were wounded today, as well as a correspondent for Abu Dhabi television who was hit by a live bullet in the thigh in Rafah, but as things go, this was not an extraordinarily violent day compared to some of the days we've seen over the last seven months.

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Q: Has there been any indication that Sharon or Arafat will announce a call to stop the violence?

Wedeman: Well, there are reports that Arafat, for instance, has ordered that no mortars be fired from Palestinian areas. Whether he is capable of controlling those militant Palestinian elements involved in that, is very much open to debate. Both sides, of course, are calling on the other side to stop the violence, but neither side has made any commitments for the unilateral end of violence on both sides

Q: The Israelis dismantled roadblocks in Gaza despite mortar attacks against them. Do these developments indicate any change in the policy or direction of the Israeli government?

Wedeman: After the reoccupation on Tuesday of parts of the Gaza Strip, and that's when the Israelis basically cut the Gaza strip into three areas, there was a very strong outcry from the United States on Tuesday, and as a result the Israelis did pull back. The roadblocks, however, and the de facto division of Gaza into three parts, remained until Thursday evening. This has happened before. It's very difficult to maintain that sort of closure for very long, because people in the Gaza strip do need to travel from one part to another of that relatively small area of land, and usually they don't stay in place for very long. Does the fact that those travel restrictions were lifted represent a major change in Israeli policy? I don't think you would find many people who would believe that. But things go in cycles, and certainly if there are more incidents of Palestinian mortar attacks, Israeli air raids, or bombardments, certainly they could be reimposed just as easily as they were lifted.

Q: How strong is the support of Palestinians for the way the Palestinian Authority is handling the situation?

Wedeman: We saw a Palestinian media outfit based in Jerusalem recently conducted an opinion poll that found that 60% of the Palestinians support the current Intifada, the methods that are being used. There is a good deal of resentment among the Palestinians at Israel's continued presence in the West Bank and Gaza, and the Palestinian Authority represents what amounts to a Palestinian government. People believe that even though they do have reservations -- you oftentimes hear criticism of the Palestinian Authority for its lack of transparency, for its corruption, for its inability to really direct the course of events on the ground, and also criticism of the Palestinian leader -- at the same time there seems to be a bedrock of support for the Authority because they don't have many other options.

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Palestinian National Authority

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