Crisis in the Middle East: Tensions Drop Considerably, but Sporadic Violence Continues
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: In Israel, Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza, Israelis and Palestinians are trying to stop the violence and restore calm during a 48-hour period ending at 10:00 Eastern tomorrow morning. Now that point in time is being described as a goal, not as a firm deadline, but steps are being taken to lower the tensions. In a significant step, Israel reopened a border crossing with Gaza to commercial traffic and pulled back some tanks on the West Bank. CNN's Jerrold Kessel is in Jerusalem. Let's go to him now for the very latest and see how things are shaping up today -- Jerrold.</s>JERROLD KESSEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon. And tensions do seem to have dropped considerably and basically it has been remarkably quiet on the West Bank, other than, we're just hearing over the last half-hour, a gun fight developing near the town of Nablus between a group of Jewish settlers, perhaps on a hike there we heard, and with Palestinian gunmen from within that Palestinian- controlled town, and not yet clear exactly the shape of this event, this incident that has broken out. But it has been against the grain of the events this morning which have been very much a different lowering of the tension and a different spirit, very much in the keeping of the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, the atmosphere at the end of it, and the attempts of both sides to implement what they committed themselves to undertake at that Sharm el-Sheikh summit.</s>KESSEL (voice-over): A quiet change in tone to the bitter Palestinian-Israeli relationship early in the day. Palestinian traffic flows past now sidelined checkpoints. Israel had also overnight lifted some of the concrete barriers, which cut Palestinian towns in the West Bank off from each other for the past week. Israel also reopened a border crossing that allows goods in and out of Gaza, though Palestinians, including tens of thousands of day workers, are still not permitted to enter Israel. The border crossing from the West Bank to Jordan and Gaza's International Airport are also again open after being closed for a week. And with the Palestinian leadership recommitting itself to controlling violence, signs that three weeks after the eruption, the two sides could be hauling themselves back from the brink. Possibly, but not all potential friction points have been eliminated. For instance, this Palestinian village north of Jerusalem continues to be cordoned off by Israeli troops. Israel says two shots were fired at two tanks stationed on the southern outskirts of Jerusalem, the fire was not returned, Israel says. And on Wednesday evening, a bus with Jewish settler families in the Gaza Strip was hit by a powerful roadside bomb. The bus was protected and there were no casualties. Still, after that incident and amid declarations from grassroots Palestinian leaders that protests within their cities will go on, there are residual Israeli doubts that Yasser Arafat can totally reign in the kind of angry demonstrations that have precipitated the clashes with Israeli troops. "We may still see days of fire ahead, it is an emergency situation yet," said Israel's prime minister, Ehud Barak in a speech Wednesday night. Mr. Barak again appealed strongly to the right wing opposition, under Ariel Sharon, to join an emergency unity government.</s>KESSEL: Whether there is that emergency government could depend very much on the shape of events in the West Bank and Gaza, whether they become more violent or whether the relative calm continues to hold. But it does seem as if it is still too early to say whether a corner has been turned in this confrontational mode that has enveloped the Palestinian-Israeli relationship over the last three weeks. Jerrold Kessel, CNN, reporting live from Jerusalem.</s>HARRIS: All right, thanks, Jerrold.