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Violence in Mid-east: More Palestinians killed

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November 4, 2000 

JERUSALEM (AP) - After several failed ceasefires, Israeli and Palestinian leaders abandoned their inflammatory rhetoric and called for restraint Friday in the most concerted effort yet to halt five weeks of fighting.

Still, two Palestinians were shot and killed and dozens injured in clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, hospital doctors said. Four Israeli soldiers were also hurt, the army said.

"We will persevere in our efforts for peace," said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. "We are strong enough to stand on both fronts: the battle for peace and the struggle against violence and terror."

Palestinian leaders, who have designated the past several Fridays a "day of rage," also took on a more subdued tone, saying events Friday and Saturday would determine whether the latest truce agreement was taking hold.

On the diplomatic front, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is planning to meet with U.S. President Bill Clinton in Washington, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said after meeting Secretary of State Madeleine Albright there. No date was announced.

CNN quoted Arafat as saying he was invited for Thursday, but was trying to work out a scheduling problem. Shlomo Ben-Ami, Israel's foreign minister, told Israel television from the United States that Arafat was expected in Washington on Wednesday, the day after the U.S. presidential election.

Clinton has also invited Barak, and Ben-Ami said the Israeli leader may travel to Washington after the planned Clinton-Arafat talks.

"What will start after the elections, with Arafat's visit and after that, apparently, the visit of the (Israeli) prime minister will be a U.S. attempt to check how the peace process can move forward," Ben-Ami said.

"I don't think they will talk at the moment about some defined peace package. ... The sides will check with the Americans what is the best way to advance the process after this harsh breakdown," he added.

The latest ceasefire agreement, based on a deal that Clinton brokered last month in Egypt, was reached early Thursday after overnight talks between Arafat and former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres.

On Friday, the momentum generated by more than a month of daily clashes proved hard to stop. After midday prayers at mosques, clashes began. One Palestinian was killed in Tulkarem and another in Hizme, both in the West Bank.

The half-dozen rock-throwing confrontations in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip weren't as intense as the clashes the previous few days, but showed that many young Palestinians were still prepared to take to the streets.

One Palestinian official said an end to the violence would not mean an end to the protests.

"We've said clearly that the agreement does not mean we shall stop the intefadeh (uprising)," Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo told Israel television. "That is because the intefadeh is not something that begins and stops by orders."

Several ceasefires have collapsed without ever going into effect.

On Thursday, a car bomb near a Jerusalem marketplace and firefights in Palestinian territories threatened to destroy the latest agreement. Throughout the conflict, such attacks have often touched off retaliatory violence.

But over the past two days, both sides have taken steps to implement the truce. Israel has pulled back tanks from Palestinian cities, and Palestinian police have restrained rock-throwing youths.

"We're doing our best," Nabil Shaath, a senior Palestinian negotiator, told CNN. "It's much calmer today (in the Gaza Strip) than any day before."

Two Israeli civilians died in Thursday's bombing and three Israeli soldiers were killed in fighting Wednesday, events that normally prompt a swift and powerful Israeli military response.

"It's true that the gunfire continues and it's true that there are still clashes," Danny Yatom, Barak's top adviser, said on Israel radio. "At the same time, I believe, from what I know, that the Palestinians are trying to calm the situation."

David Kimche, president of the Israel Council on Foreign Relations, said the Israeli public wanted the government to respond with force, but praised the decision to give the truce a chance to take effect.

"The Israeli public is angry, they want a strong response," said Kimche. "They fear Israel is being seen as too weak."

But a military response "would be playing into the hands of those who want to see an end to the peace process," he said. "The government is acting with a great deal of responsibility."

Almost 170 people have been killed in the fighting, the worst violence since the sides began peace negotiations in 1993. The vast majority of those killed were Palestinians.