World

Lull In Mideast Clashes

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

October 8, 2000 / 10:59 AM EDT / CBS

As Israel moved toward early elections that may serve as a referendum on the peace process, Israeli-Palestinian fighting persisted Tuesday, but at a relatively low intensity.

A 17-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli fire in a clash at the Karni crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip, and earlier in the day, a 15-year-old Palestinian died of wounds suffered Saturday.

More than 280 people, most of them Palestinians, have been killed since fighting broke out Sept. 28, following a visit by conservative Likud party leader Ariel Sharon to a contested Jerusalem shrine.

The ferocity of the street clashes has swung wildly from day to day: On Monday, no Palestinians were killed; Sunday, five were shot dead by Israel troops.

There have been growing signals in recent days that Israel and the Palestinians are making a new effort to end the violence. Several days ago, both sides agreed to renew security coordination, and Israel has eased some of its travel and trade restrictions on the Palestinians.

Those efforts could be bolstered or broken by new Israeli elections that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak called for and the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, approved Tuesday.

Despite the tapering of violence, the Clinton administration has hinted it will not push any bold peace proposals in its final months, and Arab leaders are still asking for international monitors in the West Bank and Gaza — a move Israel has resisted.

However, while polls suggest the elections could topple Barak, a vote would give him time for a last-ditch effort to forge a peace agreement with the Palestinians and then use elections as a referendum on the agreement. The date of the elections has not yet been set.

Palestinian officials say privately that they believe it is still possible to negotiate a peace agreement with Barak, despite his tough stance toward them during the past two months, when Israel launched several air strikes against Palestinian targets, responding to Palestinian attacks.

That Barak has accepted an election does not automatically freeze the peace process in any event.

Even after the previous prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, accepted a call for elections in December 1998, the Clinton administration pursued active diplomacy in trying to make arrangements for an Israeli withdrawal on the West Bank.

Israel's army says its probe casts serious doubt that a 12-year-old Palestinian boy killed on camera was hit by Israeli army fire.

The September 30th shooting n Gaza has been one of the biggest flashpoints in the two months of violent clashes between Israelis and Palestinians.

Click here to read about the investigation.

But now — short on time, unsure of who Mr. Clinton's successor will be and with no hint of a break in an impasse over Jerusalem and other issues — the Clinton administration may step back from its leading role in talks toward a final settlement.

The U.S. intends instead to concentrate on easing the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The hope is to produce a dividend of helping find a way back to productive negotiations, U.S. officials said.

P. J. Crowley, spokesman for Mr. Clinton's National Security Council, said Barak's move was not really a surprise. "This has been conjectured in Israel for some time, so I don't know we were surprised by it," Crowley said. "It is an internal matter."

As for any impact on the peace process, Crowley said, "It is first and foremost for the parties to pursue. We are always prepared to help them move forward, and our focus will remain working with both parties to reduce the violence."

Mr. Clinton's peacemaking efforts hit a high last July when he brought Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains, and mediated actively between them.

Barak offered Arafat a Palestinian state in most of the West Bank and Gaza and control over parts of East Jerusalem. But Mr. Clinton's effort collapsed over Arafat's demand for sovereignty over all of East Jerusalem and the rights of millions of Palestinians who left Israel a half-century ago, and their descendants, to return.

Despite renewed efforts by the president, the two leaders never approached the level of accord they had at Camp David. In fact, widespread violence produced mounting distrust and gave the president and his senior mediators no opening to put a deal together.

Reiterating a demand that has been a key sticking point to restarting talks, the foreign ministers of Jordan and Egypt and top Palestinian officials agreed Tuesday that international observers should be stationed in the Palestinian territories.

There should also be an "immediate" investigation into the causes of the Israeli-Palestinian clashes, Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa told reporters.

Arabs leaders have been holding a spate of meetings aimed at curbing the violence in the Palestinian territories and bringing the parties back to the negotiating table.

On Saturday, Arafat held separate meetings with the leaders of Jordan and Egypt — the only two Arab nations at peace with Israel. On Sunday, Jordan's King Abdullah II held talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo.