Angry Israelis demand end to conflict with Lebanese guerrillas

November 22, 1999
Web posted at: 11:54 p.m. EST (0454 GMT)

Israeli demonstrators take to the streets to protest continued rocket attacks by Shiite Muslim Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon

In this story: Kosovo story shifts from war to reconstruction, resettlement Kosovo Albanians in Turkey finally head home Polish nurses demand higher pay Joyful reunion ends years of separation Dutch fishing village, harbor find new life RELATED STORIES, SITES

By Scott Herron
CNN World Report

Israel's ongoing, tit-for-tat war with Shiite Muslim guerrillas based in southern Lebanon is one of the most intractable problems in the Middle East.

The guerrillas want Israeli occupation troops, and their Lebanese militia allies, out of southern Lebanon.

Israel wants guaranteed protection for its northern border towns.

Lebanon simply wants to regain sovereignty over the disputed territory.

That dispute flared again recently when guerrilla rockets slammed into northern Israel, and Israel responded with heavy airstrikes against bridges that link Beirut to the south and power stations outside the Lebanese capital.

The attacks left dead on both sides.

The English-language service of the Israel Broadcasting Authority focused on the conflict from an Israeli perspective on a recent segment of CNN World Report.

Reporter Steve Edwards told viewers: "The people of Kiryat Shemonah are angry and frustrated. They have been on the front line of border tensions for decades. After the latest bombardment many took to the streets in protest, demanding security, meaningful compensation and a resolution of the conflict between Israel and Shiite forces in southern Lebanon."

Kosovo story shifts from war to reconstruction, resettlement

Several contributors to CNN World Report provide regular coverage of the turmoil in Kosovo, offering different perspectives on the difficult problems that still haunt the Yugoslav province even now that the fighting has stopped.

As it has in the past, China Central Television recently spotlighted the problems of Serb civilians, rather than ethnic Albanians, and outlined Yugoslavia's difficult economic circumstances, and its political predicament due to the European allies' opposition to helping rebuild the country while President Slobodan Milosevic remains in power.

A tearful Serbian woman worries about her future, among ethnic Albanians seeking revenge for their expulsion from Kosovo

CCTV reporter Liu Changying surmised: "The future status of Kosovo, Milosevic's political future, plus the question of if peacekeeping forces will play an unbiased role, have all constituted uncertainties to the reconstruction process. Analysts point out that if the economy of Yugoslavia is kept on the verge of collapse, it will pose serious hurdles for the progress of all of Europe."

Recent coverage by Canada's CBC has focused on the work of Canadian soldiers who are part of the NATO peacekeeping force now in Kosovo. In one dispatch, reporter Paul Workman told viewers how the Canadians are trying to police the violence and looting in the capital Pristina, while in another, Don Murray spotlighted the hatred that splits Serbs and ethnic Albanians in the northern city of Kosovska Mitrovica.

Workman ended his report with this somber assessment: "... the danger seems real enough, with a population restless, vengeful and well-armed. There were 14 murders in a single day here, revenge killings mostly. The streets are volatile and the Canadians worried the situation could get even worse -- now that tens of thousands of Albanian refugees are being sent home."

Murray interviewed fearful civilians on both sides of the ethnic divide. "The Serbs say they are under siege," he reported. "They say their people are internal refugees."

And from the other side: "Ethnic Albanians have returned from terror and exile to rubble."

Kosovo Albanians in Turkey finally head home

Ethnic Albanian refugee children in Turkey celebrate their return home to Kosovo

Turkey's NTV provided coverage of ethnic Albanian refugees in northern Turkey and was on hand one night when some 250 of them were leaving for home. It was both a happy and sad occasion for many of the refugees, one filled with celebration and fearful reflection.

Reporter Fatih Turkmenoglu explained that many of the camp's 8,000 refugees can't leave for home until U.N. humanitarian officials help them secure proper documentation. Many refugees have said that when they were forced out of Kosovo, Serb forces confiscated their identity papers.

With video showing young children with toys in hand, Turkmenoglu told viewers: "They all will be leaving soon with their bags full of memories, or with his truck the little boy holds in his hands, not knowing where he will be able to play with it next."

Nurses in Poland's capital Warsaw protest low pay and government reforms that have cut hospital budgets

Polish Television, a long-time CNN World Report contributor, provides regular coverage of Poland's health industry, and the complaints of health care workers that they are underpaid. In its latest report, TVP told how 20,000 nurses recently tied up streets in central Warsaw to protest their low pay and government health reforms that have cut the budgets of many hospitals.

The nurses marched in pouring rain behind a caravan of some 100 ambulances to the parliament building and prime minister's office.

The demonstration was organized by the National Nurses and Midwives Trade Union. The union says nurses make the equivalent of $125 a month, and the average monthly industrial wage is about $500.

The nurses' march was the latest in a series of protests by the health care workers.

Mother and daughter finally meet after nearly 60 years of forced separation

In Australia, aboriginal groups are demanding a government apology for a policy no longer in force. It was the practice initiated earlier this century, and continued until the 1970s, of taking part-aboriginal children from their families and assimilating them into white culture.

The policy displaced thousands of children who call themselves "the stolen generation."

Australia's Network 10 recently provided coverage of one family's reunion. Its cameras were on hand when Shirley Stirling met with her biological mother, Hilda Stirling-Price in Barrow Creek, Northern Territory.

There were both tears and laughter. The two had been separated for nearly 60 years.

RELATED VIDEO
RNTV's Pier Wouda tells the story
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The Netherlands' RNTV recently spotlighted the tiny port of Laaksum.

The village lost much of its appeal after a 35-kilometer dike was built years ago and cut off access between Isel lake and the open sea.

Recent arrivals from Amsterdam mounted a campaign to preserve Laaksum's harbor, and that led to renovation funds from the European Union.