Gaza at night

deserted &

looking eerie

via It's hard to think of a more difficult place to

begin anything than Gaza.

01:25

Almost a byword for

poverty, neglect and

repression, Gaza's dark

side hasn't been limited to

Israeli occupation.

A few months ago, just after

midnight, the Palestinian

police came for Raji

Sourani.

Raji Sourani,

Human Rights

Lawyer

Sourani: It was 12.30 at night almost, and the door

was knocked and there was

an officer. He asked me to

come with him because they

want me at the police

station.

01:55

Gaza at night

via A human rights lawyer, arrested in the past by

Israelis, Sourani didn't

expect to be arrested by

Palestinians.

02:12

Sourani

Sourani: In the occupation I'd been used , I mean

quite many, many times. I I ve been arrested, prison

six times, but this, you

know was like an entire

shock for me. It's

extremely bitter.

02:22

Men in court

via The arrest was on

direct orders from Yasser

Arafat. The reason, Sourani

had been critical of Gaza's

new military courts.

Interior of

courthouse

(Court announcements)

via Chaotic by day, it's what happens in Gaza's legal

system at night time that's

worrying the lawyers.

02:54

Under enormous pressure to

keep Gaza quiet and secure,

the Palestinian authority

has recently been holding

some trials at three in the

morning. Trials that almost

invariably involve the

Authority's political

opponents.

Khalid al

Qidrah, Gaza's

new Attorney

General

Khalid: Some people want to deal against the

authority. Those who are on

the opposite side.

03:19

via Hand picked by Yasser

Arafat, Khalid al Quidrah

is Gaza's new AttorneyGeneral.

Khalid: First of all I

want to say that it is not

forbidden according to the

laws to work any time. This

is the main point.

Secondly, we didn't insist

to work, especially in the

night to prevent or to hide

anything.

Reporter's

question

But you must admit, 3 a.m is an unusual

time for a trial.

Khalid

Khalid: Somebody want us

to inform the people as if

we are making a party. We

are not making a party. To

invite anyone, come and

see, come and see. We can't

say that. We inform the

accused that your trial

will be on that day.

Children on

seesaw in

playground

via ane year on, Gaza does look better, at least if

you're a visitor. The

curfews and most of the

Israelis have gone. But in

their place, 20,000

Palestinian police. And

disturbing signs of

militarism. The novelty of

new playgrounds is already

wearing thin. What people

want now are jobs, decent

houses, and democracy.

104:20

Cultural

festival

via Gaza was first, but towns like Bir Zeit in the

West Bank may be the

future. Home to one of the

Middle East's best

universities, every year

since the peace talks

began, Bir Zeit has held a

festival of palestinian

culture.

05:16

singing

Woman in

audience

watching

singers

via For the last year, West Bank palestinians have been

watching their leadership

experiment in Gaza.

Relatively free, and

intensely political,

they're even less likely

than Gaza is to be

satisfied with new

playgrounds and a police

force.

05:44

singing

Busy office in

Radio Station

newsroom

via an the West Bank, Palestinians are talking

and listening to themselves

like never before. For the

first time, there's

palestinian Radio, the

Voice of Palestine. Its

most popular program --

'Good Morning Palestine.'

Two hours of talk back

radio, five days a week.

06:17

Daniella Khalaf entering radio studio

V / O Daniella Khalaf is about ot be a star.  She's the new voice and face of Palestinian broadcasting.

06:39

Khalaf: I can still

remember that moment when I

just went on-air and I was

just saying 'This is the

Voice of Palestine.' It was

very challenging.

06:54

Khalaf: You can express

yourself, you can say 'I'm

a human being' and I can

scream to the whole world"

'Yes I'm here, I am here. I'

exist and you better take

notice of me because I'm

coming up. I'm a newly born

state that's going to come

up and that's going to grow

and that's going to give to

the world community.'

Khalaf in

studio in

Arabic

Khalaf: Palestine, good

morning! The morning of

hope of freedom for all

prisoners of Palestine who

are on the 18th day of

their hunger strike. A good

day is dawning in the

homeland -- one of home for

freedom of the prisoners

via This morning most

calls are supporting the

thousands of palestinians

still held in Israeli

jails. It's a message to

the Palestinian leadership.

Releasing the prisoners has

become one of the most

difficult problems in

negotiations with Israel.

07:38

Female caller in

Arabic

Caller: Good morning to

you and to our beautiful

broadcasting station. A

special greeting to my

brother Mohammad Aneizat

who is in Asqalan prison.

My greeting to you, and to

all your brothers who are

with you in your struggle.

Ibrahim: Imam, how long is

you brother's sentence?

Caller: He's sentenced to

14 years.

Ibrahim: How old is he?

Caller: He's now 25 years

old.

Ibrahim: How long has he

been in prison?

Caller: About 6 years.

Khalaf

Khalaf: Every day the issue of the day is - you

can touch it from the

people's phone calls.

That's what they want to

talk about now. They decide

the agenda for the program,

because it's their program.

It's the program of the

people to the officials in

power.

08:21

Khalaf in

studio on air

via It's an agenda that moves -- from garbage

problems in Bethlehem, to

water and electricity

shortages in Nazareth. Set

up and funded by the

Palestinian Authority, so

far radio and television

are a state run monopoly.

But they're still

independent say .the

broadcasters ... and there

could be more stations if

Israel would release more

frequencies.

08:36

Khalaf

Khalaf: We're not just filtering the information

or the problem, we're

trying to solve those

problems, and making a

difference in the system by

facing officials with those

issues, by making them feel

that they have to be

accountable to a system.

They're not working on

their own. People are

watching them and they have

to watch out because it's

not just the radio,

everyone is looking up to;

them.

09:02

Television crew

with Dr Hanan

Ashrawi,

Citizens'

Rights

Commission

via An hour away in East Jerusalem, one of Yasser

Arafat's more heavyweight

critics is talking to

Israeli television.

Head of the palestinian

Commission for Citizens'

Rights, Hanan Ashrawi is

wary of the palestinian

leadership.

09:28

Ashrawi

Ashrawi: I don't think they scored too well. I'm

not going to allocate

numbers and figures, but I

would say that the

indications are not very

encouraging. In terms of

the rule of law, in terms

even of the legal system,

of safeguarding basic

rights and freedoms, I

think that you have the

beginning stages, let's

say, of institution

building. But it's mainly

public institution building

with a very high emphasis

on security systems, rather

than on civil society and

civilian institutions.

09:44

V/O Hanan Ashrawi has never

been satisfied that the

peace deal was a fair deal

for Palestinians. But she

believes in living with it,

and improving it, through

democracy.

10:19

Ashrawi: I think elections

are a must, because they

are not an end, even if

they are flawed and the

reality which is flawed.

But elections are a vehicle

for change, for the

transformation of reality.

10:29

Bisharat

drawing on

whiteboard,

Arabic

Bisharat: In this circle I

want everyone to

draw a symbol expressing his most

important need as a human

being.

10:40

via In the West Bank, it seems nearly everyone is

talking about democracy.

10:51

Ibrahim Bisharat is one of

the many. Training the

trainers to prepare for

palestinian elections. But

though promised in the peace

deal, the elections are

already more than a year

overdue. When, and if, they

are held, there's still no

agreement about how

palestinians will vote or

what they'll be voting for.

Soap factory

via But going against all the training there's

tradition. This soap

factory is in Nablus, one

of the next towns to be

handed to palestinian rule.

Little has changed here for

nearly a century. Each cake

of soap is wrapped up by

hand and sewn into bags.

Work handed down from

father to son. Just like

the factory, handed down

through one of the region's

most influential families.

11:28

SALAH MASRI

Masri: Of course, a family in Nablus that is strong

economically and

politically is in a

position to help the

community.

12:02

Soap factory

via Salah Masri's

was chairman of

Jordanian parliament.

father

the

12:17

Man stacking

soap

via The Masri family has built schools, factories

and hospitals. Now, Salah

Masri is thinking about

politics. He's popular}

influential, almost certain

to be elected and very

loyal to Yasser Arafat.

12:25

Masri

Masri: I believe this is a

transitional period. In the

coming period I believe

Yasser Arafat will go the

way of democracy which he's

committed to in the long

term future.

12:40

Police training

V/O Talking about democracy

is one thing. Making it

work is another. Throughout

the Middle East, it's

almost impossible to find a

government prepared to put

all its faith in the ballot

box. When it comes to

power, there's a tried and

true formula -- uniforms

and guns.

13:00

Police training

with guns

V/O In Jericho, at the I 13:20

palestinian Police College,

hundreds of West Bankers

are learning to be

policemen. Learning to be

ready for anything.

Gunfire

V/O It's the same training,

down to the live ammunition

and the somewhat bizarre

exercises that were used by

the PLO to train its special

forces in the refugee camps

of Lebanon. Back then they

were guerilla fighters,

revolutionaries. These days

there have been a few

changes.

V/O It's a sign of the new

awareness, or of old fears,

that the palestinian

Authority is designing a

whole program to educate

policemen.

13:59

Man talking to

policemen

Man:

Before an arrest what

a policeman have to do?

Policeman: First of all,

he has to have a warrant ...

14:09

Via It's a huge job. Many

of the recruits have spent

years in prison. Now

lectures from human rights

lawyers are compulsory.

14:21

Ashwari

Ashwari: It's better than nothing to have a sort of

in-service training, or to

have some courses on legal

awareness and civil rights

and so on. But the

indicators so far are not

very encouraging because

people are assuming that

the first prerequisite for

the transfer of authority

is the take over by the

security. And I remember

last year when the PNA came

here and leadership

returned to Palestine, I

said that it is ironic that

the one aspect, the one

expression of return was in

terms of the police itself

rather than of political or

civil difference.

14:31

V/o It's the same training,

down to the live ammunition

and the somewhat bizarre

exercises that were used by

the PLa to train its special

forces in the refugee camps

of Lebanon. Back then they

were guerilla fighters,

revolutionaries. These days

there have been a few

changes.

Via It's a sign of the new

awareness, or of old fears,

that the palestinian

Authority is designing a

whole program to educate

policemen.

13:59

Man talking to

policemen

Man:

does

do?

Before an arrest what

a policeman have to

Policeman: First of all,

he has to have a warrant ...

14:09

Via It's a huge job. Many

of the recruits have spent

years in prison. Now

lectures from human rights

lawyers are compulsory.

14:21

Ashwari

Ashwari: It's better than nothing to have a sort of

in-service training, or to

have some courses on legal

awareness and civil rights

and so on. But the

indicators so far are not

very encouraging because

people are assuming that

the first prerequisite for

the transfer of authority

is the take over by the

security. And I remember

last year when the PNA came

here and leadership

returned to Palestine, I

said that it is ironic that

the one aspect, the one

expression of return was in

terms of the police itself

rather than of political or

civil difference.

14:31

Khalaf in car

V/O On the other side of Jericho, Daniella Khalaf is

leaving palestinian radio

for her afternoon job on

palestinian television.

15:28

Drives through

checkpoint

It's an hour's drive through the checkpoint to

the West Bank town of

Ramallah. Like many

Palestinians, Daniella was

surprised when Yasser

Arafat signed a peace deal

with Israel. But now she's

determined to be

optimistic.

15:40

Car driving

through

countryside

Khalaf: There were moments I was thinking, when they

were signing and I was

looking on the TV, and I go

oh my god, then why did all

those people die if it was

so easy just to sign and

shake hands.

16:01

Khalaf

There were moments that were shocked and just you

wake up. Okay, do I want

everyone else to suffer as

I suffered? Having my

father being killed and

have a car bomb accident

and being home arrested and

town arrested and not

allowing him to continue

his medical treatment, so

he passes away in his own

home. And not allowing us

to have the right funeral,

and have a curfew. I don I t

think I want someone else

to go through all of those

things.

18:29:18

TV control room

V/0 At Palestinian

television, the broadcast

is still experimental.

Daniella Khalaf is just one

of the many for whom the

real thing can't come soon

enough.

16:38

Khalaf in TV

studio

delivering news

bulletin in

Arabic

Khalaf: Following is a

brief bulletin of the most

important news of the day.

President Yasser Arafat

will speak ...

16:50

(News theme music till end)

ENDS

17:18