WRAP Bethlehem/ Ramallah aftermath, Palestinian/ EU reax

(7 Mar 2002) Bethlehem, West Bank 1. Palestinian masked gunman shooting toward Gilo neighborhood 2. Close shot man firing heavy machine gun 3. Masked men running in the street 4. Masked man with automatic rifle 5. Gunmen in the street, putting weapons into car Ramallah, West Bank 6. Exterior shot of damage to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's headquarters 7. Shell damage to walls 8. Various damage to building 9. SOUNDBITE (English) Nabil Abu Rdeineh, adviser to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat "The statements of Colin Powell are very positive and we are in need of more American engagement and involvement. What we are in need of is the quick return of General Zini to start implementing the Tennet understandings and the Mitchell Report. This is the only way to safeguard the peace process, we are in need of American steps, though the statement is very important and very productive and we hope that this is a beginning of more American involvement and engagement for the sake of the peace in the region and the Middle East." (Rdeineh is reacting to criticism of Ariel Sharon's tactics by the US Secretary of State Colin Powell) 10. Set-up shot of Rdeineh Tel Aviv, Israel 13. Exterior building 14. European Union envoy to the Middle East Miguel Moratinos walking out of Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres's office 15. SOUNDBITE: (English) Miguel Moratinos, European Union envoy to the Middle East: "We've been discussing how to get out of the crisis, and we hope that we have a very good meeting, and I hope that this situation will end. That is most important." (Answering a question about the Israeli attack near his meeting with Arafat on Wednesday night) It has been a new experience in the Middle East in my work, it's like you say, a new experience, but important is not what happened last night, important is what can happen tonight and tomorrow in the peace camp. Thanks you. I'm optimistic" 16. Moratinos walking out to lift STORYLINE: Palestinian gunmen opened fire on the Jewish settlement of Gilo, on the southern edge of Jerusalem on Thursday morning, shortly after Israeli warplanes fired missiles at Palestinian headquarters in Bethlehem. No casualties were reported, but three apartments were damaged. The gunmen, Fatah activists, said that the firing on Gilo came in respond to repeated Israeli attacks on the city of Bethlehem. Thursday's rocket strike was the third Israeli attack on Bethlehem since a Palestinian suicide bomber from the city blew up himself in Jerusalem last week, killing ten Israelis. Late on Wednesday, Israeli fighter jets fired missiles at a security compound near Yasser Arafat's office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, as the Palestinian leader was speaking by telephone with the Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Israeli media reported. Arafat was meeting with European Union envoy Miguel Moratinos at the time, Moratinos' office said, and the attack broke windows in the rooms where the two men had met just moments earlier. The EU envoy, has been shuttling between the two sides in an effort to bring them back to the negotiating table and end the escalating violence. The Palestinians have welcomed criticism of Israel's militant policy against the Palestinians by the American Secretary of State Colin Powell. Powell on Wednesday told a US Congressional committee: "If you declare war on the Palestinians and think you can solve the problem by seeing how many Palestinians can be killed, I don't know that leads us anywhere." Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...