The New York Times · 15 April 2002

CP-2002-105

Inside a Siege, Signs of Life and Loss

By TODD S. PURDUM

Scan 816 × 1308 pixels

Transcribed from the clipping

RAMALLAH, West Bank, April 14 — The one they call “old man” walks the halls of what is left of his once-proud compound here. In the wee hours, Yasir Arafat’s followers can hear him prowling past the makeshift quarters where they have been confined by Israeli tanks and snipers for 17 days now, sharing mattresses on the floor.

“Sometimes he comes down and looks around, and checks the rooms,” said Mohamed Masharqa, 42, a journalist who works for a Palestinian daily newspaper, Al Ayam, and has been living in the compound. “He talks to his guys: ‘How are you? Don’t worry. Take care of yourselves. Stay away from the windows,’ he says.

‘It’s not safe.’ We sleep in shifts. I hear his voice sometimes in the morning.” The Israeli siege has left Mr. Arafat and a few dozen aides, sympathizers and international peace protesters virtually isolated in a few rooms, often without electricity, water or working plumbing. Secretary of State Colin L.

Powell’s visit to the compound in a heavily armed and armored motorcade this morning gave outsiders a rare look inside, and it was fairly grim. “I am down to the last analgesics,” said Dr.

Zedi Abu Shawish, a surgeon and deputy director of hospitals for the West Bank who said he has been caring for a half dozen wounded Palestinian fighters inside with dwindling supplies left by the Red Cross, performing an amputation below the knee on one man with just local anesthetic. “I need first of all the water.

It’s the most important here for us, because if I have more diarrhea here, it will be messy.” As Israeli tanks pulled just far enough away to let Secretary Powell’s convoy pass, the 14 American journalists traveling with him got only the briefest glimpse inside the compound today, and a sanitized glimpse at that, people staying in the compound said.

How this transcription was made

Transcribed from the slide scan by a reader working off magnified crops, not by optical character recognition. The date and the newspaper are both printed on the page: the page line across the top reads “THE NEW YORK TIMES INTERNATIONAL MONDAY, APRIL 15, 2002” with the folio A10 at left. 15 April 2002 was a Monday. Nothing about the date or the paper rests on the slide label. The scan is a whole page, not a single clipping: besides the article transcribed here it carries the jump of “In a Meeting With Powell, Arafat Says No Cease-Fire Until Israel Withdraws”, headed “Continued From Page A1”, whose opening is not in this deck.

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