Dispatch From Ramallah

March 29, 2002 -- At first light this morning the streets of Ramallah rumbled with the sound of heavy armor moving into the city. Yesterday, the residents of the city filled the shops, stocking up on supplies. Everyone was expecting the invasion. Wednesday's suicide bombing in Netanya killed 22 Israelis and injured more than 100 as they were celebrating a Passover meal.

The scale of the losses and the timing of the attack guaranteed that there would be a very stern Israeli response. Late last night, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon signaled that Israel was about to embark on an unprecedented level of reprisal. He declared that Yasir Arafat was "an enemy of Israel" and that "Israel will isolate Arafat and pursue the Palestinian Authority on all its territories."

We scrambled into our armored vehicle and drove through the deserted streets toward Arafat's compound. It wasn't long before we encountered the first group of tanks blocking one of the approach roads to the compound. We tried another route and again encountered rows of tanks and armored personnel carriers. We got out and started to film them. There were occasional bursts of gunfire, sounding just a few blocks away. The Palestinian militias were putting up some resistance.

Eventually we got to the front of the compound. It was surrounded by tanks. We walked past them and up to the main entrance. The large metal gates had been smashed down. A jeep lay crushed next to them; the tank tracks visible in the flattened metal. This time the Israeli army had gone inside.