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No sign of violence abating in Mideast

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November 9, 2000 

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak made the learest offer yet of an independent state for the Palestinians but said it must be the result of negotiations and that the negotiations can only resume once the violence abates.

But the violence did not abate. An attack on Israeli customs officials early Wednesday killed one, and Barak said it called into question Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's intentions on the eve of meetings with U.S. President Bill Clinton aimed at reviving peace talks. Israeli soldiers shot and killed two Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Three Palestinian gunmen opened fire on an Israeli vehicle heading to an Israeli-controlled crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, killing a woman customs agent and lightly injuring her male colleague. Army rescuers came under fire as they evacuated the two.

In a statement, Barak said he viewed the attack "with great severity, especially on the eve of ... Arafat's trip to Washington. It calls into question the seriousness of Arafat's intentions to implement ... understandings and decrease violence in the region."

A group allied with the militant Islamic Jihad, a small organization opposed to the peace process, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement faxed to The Associated Press in Damascus, Syria.

In retaliation, Israel shut down the crossing and Gaza's airport, which it jointly controls with the Palestinians.

Officials said they believed the gunmen came from the direction of the air field. The army has accused Arafat of smuggling in arms on his presidential jet - a charge Palestinians have dismissed as absurd.

Barak's pledge of a "viable Palestinian state" came in a long letter to the heads of all the world's governments, meant to explain Israel's policy in its weeks of conflict with the Palestinians.

The Israeli leader said he made far-reaching concessions during a Mideast summit at the U.S. presidential retreat of Camp David in July. "We could resume negotiations which - based on the ideas discussed at Camp David - will lead to the creation of a viable Palestinian state," Barak wrote in his letter Tuesday to world leaders, "or we can succumb to the route of violence and unilateral Palestinian action."

If the Palestinians choos-11-00 1234GMT