As Pressure on Arafat Rises, Palestinians Wonder if He Can Do His Job
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The pressure on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat continues to grow. U.S. officials are calling on Arafat to curb violence in the region. But, as CNN's Rula Amin explains, Arafat's authority is not absolute.</s>RULA AMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Gaza, Palestinian police confronted Palestinian demonstrators, protesting Yasser Arafat's crackdown on Islamic militants. In Ramallah, in the West Bank, more pressure from the United States on the Palestinian Authority president to take more severe measures. Less than half a mile away from Yasser Arafat's office, even more pressure. Israeli tanks enforce a curfew on this Palestinian neighborhood. Lina, a mother of three, defied the curfew to get bread.</s>LINA (ph): They want him to put half of Palestinian in prison, and kill the other -- the other half.</s>AMIN: Israel says either Yasser Arafat is in charge and can stop attacks on Israelis, or he is not in control. Among Palestinians, it's a completely different perspective.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It's out of his hands. If I want to carry out a suicide attack, will I consult with Yasser Arafat? No. Arafat can't stop me. MUNTHER BARAKAT (ph),</s>PALESTINIAN PROFESSOR: Arafat doesn't control each and every Palestinian is this territory. The Israelis have been in this place for more than 35 years now, and they've never been able to control the situation.</s>AMIN: Munther Barakat (ph), an engineering professor, is just back from a conference in Holland, and for the third day in a row, he is unable to pass this checkpoint to go to his home in Ramallah.</s>BARAKAT: All this is foolish, because these checkpoints -- they are everywhere, first of all, you can't move between villages and towns, and they don't prevent any attacks, they just increase the madness in this region, the frustration of the Palestinians. The situation the Israelis are creating is not allowing him to do his job.</s>AMIN: On the other side of the checkpoint, workers unable to leave Ramallah to their work elsewhere in the West Bank. No one here would comply with a cease-fire, they say. "Only in one case, " says Bilal (ph). "When they believe that the other side, Israel, is serious about peace."</s>LINA (ph): We all believe that this is our country. They must leave. If you want to arrest everyone</s>AMIN: Israel says Yasser Arafat has not done enough, he has to do more. But on the Palestinian street, there is concern. Just how far will Mr. Arafat go to satisfy the Israeli demands? Rula Amin, CNN. Ramallah, on the West Bank.