Jordan To Bush: Get Busy

The foreign minister of Jordan called on the Bush administration Wednesday to get involved immediately in Mideast peacemaking after Israel holds its election for prime minister next week.

The minister, Abdul-Illah Khatib, said even if Ariel Sharon succeeds Ehud Barak, the Bush administration should "not waste any time."

Khatib said the Arab nations need the "influence" of the United States. European and U.N. intermediaries are inadequate substitutes.

The foreign minister did not say what position he expects President Bush and his administration to take on peace terms. Taking a cue from Barak, former President Clinton offered a formula that absorbed the Israeli proposals, including statehood for the Palestinians. Mr. Clinton said two people were occupying the same land and they had to share it, including Jerusalem.

Khatib met Tuesday with Secretary of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, Mr. Bush's assistant for national security. Powell assured him the United States would remain actively engaged, the State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Wednesday.

Palestinian police sources said troops shot 50-year-old Ismail al-Telbani as he was driving near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim. Hospital sources said Telbani was hit in the chest.

The Israeli army had no immediate comment.

Telbani's death raised the toll to 376 killed since the Palestinian uprising began in September. At least 314 Palestinians, 49 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs have died in the fighting.

Hard-liner Sharon is virtually assured a victory in next week's Israeli election, according to the polls, but two events could still change the odds: a quick Mideast peace summit or a decision by Barak to step aside and let elder statesman Shimon Peres run in his place.

Barak, who has been unable to cut Sharon's 20-point lead, is reconsidering the "Peres option" he had dismissed in the past few weeks, news reports and political veterans said Wednesday.

The issue has been gaining momentum n public discourse and is being treated as a possibility — especially if polls to be released Thursday show Barak still far behind. The deadline for changing candidates is midnight Thursday, or four days before the vote.

"I think they are talking now quite seriously about the possibility of a switch," Yosef Lapid, leader of the centrist Shinui party, told The Associated Press. "All the common sense in the world requires Barak to step aside and allow Peres to try his luck. It's hard to say whether they'll act according to logic.

"What I can say for sure is that Barak has no chance to win."

Barak denied reports that aides advised him to drop out in favor of Peres. "No one dared to approach me, and for good reason," he told reporters at a campaign rally Wednesday.

Peres, a former prime minister who never won an election outright in half a century in politics, has consistently tied with Sharon in the polls.

The prime minister's aides, meanwhile, didn't rule out a last-minute Mideast summit, which would amount to a strong Arab endorsement of Barak before the vote.

One possibility being raised was a meeting between Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Sunday in Egypt. The Palestinians have already said they are ready to attend a meeting. Jordan's King Abdullah reportedly might also attend.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak are involved in the arrangements, said Gilead Sher, chief of the prime minister's office.

Such a meeting would most likely not produce a peace breakthrough, but could help Barak with his most problematic constituency — Israeli Arab voters who are angry at him for his harsh handling of anti-government protests in Arab communities in October. Thirteen Arab citizens were killed by police gunfire.

A Barak-Arafat meeting could help strengthen the prime minister's message that he is close to reaching a peace agreement with the Palestinians, a goal as important to many of the 1 million Israeli Arabs as their struggle for equality with Israel's 5 million Jews.

Israeli Arabs have in the past voted overwhelmingly for the candidate of the center-left Labor Party, and contributed to Barak's landslide victory in 1999. Their disenchantment with Barak is largely responsible for Sharon's strong lead in the polls.

Barak has vehemently rejected suggestions that he step aside for Peres, whom he deposed as Labor Party leader several years ago and then sidelined in his Cabinet. In recent weeks, Barak angrily cut off interviewers raising the subject.

However, the Haaretz daily said Wednesday there were faint signals Barak may be having a change of heart. Akiva Eldar, a senior political commentator, said Barak still opposes the idea, but that those who spoke with him in recent days believe he appears ready to reconsider it if his standing does not improve.

A Gallup poll published this week in the Maariv daily indicated that Shaon led Barak 52 to 32 percent. The poll also showed that 77 percent of the Israeli people believe Sharon will win.