The New York Times · 14 April 2002

CP-2002-115

With Powell Coming, Israel Eases Grip in Ramallah

By JOEL BRINKLEY

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Transcribed from the clipping

RAMALLAH, West Bank, April 13 — The commander of Israeli forces in central Ramallah said today that he is trying to relax the siege on Yasir Arafat’s compound here, “at least for the time being.” During a quick tour of the site with a military escort this afternoon, the atmosphere appeared calm, although an armored cordon remained.

“It has been so sensitive and tense that we have stepped back a little bit,” said Col. Uzi Moskowitz, who commands Israeli forces in the most important parts of this city. “There was just too much friction, and shooting.” … Palestinians say the Israelis are ransacking their houses. Colonel Moskowitz is unapologetic.

“This is a city of war,” he declared. “This is a city of occupation, by us.” He described some of the recent suicide bombings — 132 Israelis have been killed in these attacks since March 1 — and said, “Enough is enough; that is our feeling.”

How this transcription was made

Transcribed from a scan of the printed page. The page carries no masthead, running head or folio, so the date is not fixed from a printed date line; it rests on the slide label, corroborated by a dateline of 'RAMALLAH, West Bank, April 13', by a caption reading 'yesterday', by the siege being 'two weeks' old (it began on 29 March 2002) and by Colin Powell's meeting with Arafat, which took place on Sunday 14 April 2002. The newspaper is identified from the printed photograph credit 'Joel Brinkley/The New York Times'. A separate check against all three records the archive already holds for this date established that this is a fourth article, not a duplicate. 'ARAFAT'S COMPOUND' above the headline is a department flag and the large italic block in the middle of the page is a pull quote; neither is a deck. THE EXCERPT CONTAINS AN ELISION, marked with an ellipsis. The report was made on a tour conducted under Israeli military escort, and the article states that 'not a Palestinian was seen on the street'; the only Palestinian voice in it is the unattributed 'Palestinians say the Israelis are ransacking their houses'. Read from crops magnified to between eleven and fourteen times page scale.

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