Israeli Opposition Turns Dovish

Senior Palestinian officials on Wednesday welcomed a call by Israel's new opposition leader to restart peace talks, but held back outright endorsement — apparently fearing it would hurt the ex-general's chances in January elections.

Amram Mitzna, an ex-general and a newcomer to national politics, was easily elected leader of Israel's Labor Party, but he and his party will be underdogs against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Likud party in upcoming general elections.

Palestinian Parliament speaker Ahmed Qureia said Mitzna's easy victory in the Labor Party primary "renews the hope of reviving the peace process ... ending the violence and reaching a final solution based on two states living side by side in peace and security.

Palestinian Cabinet minister and chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said he hoped "the Israeli people elect a leadership that will take them on a path of peace, not a leadership that will lead them to more settlements and reoccupation."

The Jan. 28 ballot is expected to set the tone for the confrontational Israeli-Palestinian relationship. The more than two years of Mideast violence has turned Israeli voters to the right, and polls have consistently shown that Sharon's party is expected to gain seats and become the largest faction in parliament.

A survey published Wednesday by a Palestinian research group showed Palestinians divided over the effectiveness of the 26-month-old uprising.

Meanwhile, Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian teenager in a confrontation in Tulkarem on Wednesday, a day after clashes claimed five Palestinian lives in the West Bank town, and while Arab foreign ministers were discussing a U.S.-backed peace plan to calm Palestinian-Israeli violence.

Staff at Tulkarem's hospital said Amr Qudsi, 15, was fatally shot as he and other youngsters threw stones at Israeli army jeeps and tanks patrolling the town. The army said the boy was shot after he hurled a firebomb at troops.

Jewish settlers in the West Bank town of Hebron are calling it the "Berlin Wall," and saying it's just as ineffective. CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger reports the settlers and Israeli government disagree about security measures following a deadly Palestinian ambush last week that killed 12 Israelis.

The Israeli army has been erecting concrete pillars to protect settlers and soldiers in the Hebron area from Palestinian gunfire, and there is talk of putting up protective walls.

"If the terrorists see us building walls here and they see that people are hiding behind walls, then they'll feel that they're being victorious and the terror will only continue," said settlers spokesman David Wilder.

Wilder instead insisted the army needs to take tougher measures to disarm Palestinian terrorists, and then a wall won't be necessary.

The poll, carried out by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion, showed 39 percent of those believed the uprising, or intefadeh, was moving the Palestinians closer to their goal of ending Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and achieving Palestinian statehood. Another 36 percent believed it was not helping, and 25 percent had no opinion.

The poll of more than 1,000 Palestinians was conducted between Nov. 11-16 and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

The bearded Mitzna, 57, has been the mayor of the port city of Haifa since 1994. He swiftly became the party's most popular figure after entering the leadership race several months ago, his first foray into national politics.

In Tuesday's Labor Party balloting, Mitzna won 54 percent, incumbent party leader Binyamin Ben-Eliezer captured 37 percent, and Haim Ramon took about 7 percent of the vote, with a record 65 percent turnout among party members.

Mitzna told The Associated Press that if elected prime minister, he would order an evacuation of Jewish settlers and Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.

While Israeli-Palestinian peace talks broke down almost two years ago, Mitzna said he was prepared to resume negotiations without preconditions.

He said that if he became convinced that no deal could be reached, then Israel would withdraw from parts of the West Bank in the absence of an agreement.

Mitzna's positions are in sharp contrast to Sharon's. The current prime minister says he will not hold negotiations until all violence stops, and has made clear he is not prepared to deal with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Sharon says he believes there will eventually be a Palestinian state, but says it could be years, or even a generation before a state is established, along with a permanent Mideast peace treaty.

Mitzna's "chances are very small," said Efraim Inbar, head of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. "He represents the dovish branch of the (Labor) party and ... the dovish branch of the party does not speak to the Israeli center."

In Israel's fractious parliament, coalition governments are inevitable, and Sharon has said that if he becomes prime minister again, he would again invite Labor to be part of the government.

But Mitzna says that he would not allow Labor to join unless the government were to adopt his basic positions on negotiating with the Palestinians, something Sharon strongly opposes.

Asked about Mitzna, Arafat said: "We are not interfering in (Israel's) internal affairs, and we are ready to deal with anyone who is elected."

"Our hands will be extended" to any Israeli leader prepared to negotiate, Arafat said.