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DATE=10/02/2000

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS (L)

NUMBER=2-267353

BYLINE=MEREDITH BUEL

DATELINE=JERUSALEM

CONTENT=

VOICE AT:

INTRO: Violence between Israelis and Palestinians continues to rage for the fifth day in rioting and bloodshed that has killed at least 35 people. Correspondent Meredith Buel reports from Jerusalem.

TEXT: Fierce gun battles and rioting are continuing in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and inside Israel.

/// OPT /// Israeli police say a Jewish civilian was shot dead in the West Bank by a group of gunmen who opened fire on his car. Arab Israelis died in new fighting inside the Jewish state, and Palestinian protesters were killed in the Gaza Strip. /// END OPT ///

Gun fights and clashes are continuing between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces in the West Bank and Gaza.

Both sides are blaming each other for the fighting.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak is calling on the Palestinians to stop the rioting, saying the Palestinian Authority is responsible for the bloodshed.

/// BARAK ACT IN HEBREW THEN UNDER ENGLISH TRANSLATION ///

We see the Palestinian Authority as responsible for failing to stop policemen and others from firing on Israeli Army soldiers. Therefore, with all the sorrow about the loses in our forces and the Palestinians, we know this is a result of the positions and behavior of the Palestinian Authority. They should take the responsibility to put a stop to the riots and firing immediately.

/// END ACT ///

Palestinian officials are blaming Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon for igniting the violence, by visiting a sensitive site in Jerusalem's Old City that is holy to Muslims and Jews.

Faisal Husseini, who is the top Palestinian representative in Jerusalem, says Israel has gone overboard in using helicopter gun ships and anti-tank missiles during the clashes.

/// HUSSEINI ACT ///

Why all these injuries and why all this shooting? The majority of the shooting and the injuries were from the chest up to the head. Why to be like this if they want only to calm the situation and not to kill people?

/// END ACT ///

Wearing a large white bandage over his eye, Palestinian Omer Somere says he was shot after praying at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem's Old City. He spoke through a translator.

/// SOMERE TRANSLATOR ACT ///

After stepping out of the mosque, immediately less than 10-steps away from the mosque, from the Al-Aqsa mosque, he was hit with a rubber-coated metal bullet in his eye and he lost sight in his left eye.

/// END ACT ///

World leaders are expressing concern about how the violence will hurt the stalled Israeli/Palestinian peace talks.

Israel's Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh ruled out any resumption of the talks until the clashes end, underlining the damage to the effort to bring political leaders from both sides together to negotiate a final peace treaty. (SIGNED)

NEB/MB/GE/RAE