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DATE=10/08/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS (L)

NUMBER=2-267631

BYLINE=MEREDITH BUEL

DATELINE=JERUSALEM

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has repeated his ultimatum to the Palestinians to end the recent wave of violence by late Monday or the Israeli military will respond to Palestinian gunmen and demonstrators with full force. Correspondent Meredith Buel reports from Jerusalem.

TEXT: Prime Minister Barak told reporters if the violence does not end, Israel will conclude that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has decided to abandon the peace process and is preferring deadlock and confrontation.

/// BARAK ACT ///

Under the right of self-defense, we will know what to do and how to act in order to make sure that our citizens and our soldiers are well protected.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Barak says if the violence does not stop, he will call off the peace process and order the Israeli military to respond with full force against Palestinian gunmen and rioters. The prime minister said peace with the Palestinians is still possible and the situation has reached the moment of truth.

/// BARAK ACT 2 ///

If they want to make peace, the opportunity is there. We have to seize it. If they prefer not to choose peace but to choose deadlock and confrontation, we cannot impose the peace upon them. But we will know how to respond, and that is exactly what we have said. They will have to bear responsibility for leading this region into this kind of deterioration and maybe confrontation.

/// END BARAK ACT 2 ///

Mr. Arafat says Mr. Barak's ultimatum is - a dangerous escalation.

Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo says the Palestinians will not bow to threats. Mr. Abed Rabbo says if the peace process is dead - it has been killed by Mr. Barak.

Violence is continuing in the Palestinian territories. In the West Bank, a Jewish settler shot and killed a Palestinian while an Israeli motorist died after a rock was hurled through his car window.

In the Gaza Strip, Israel closed down the Palestinian airport after gunmen in the area opened fire on an Israeli bus, wounding a number of passengers. Also in Gaza, Israeli Army demolition teams blew up three buildings being used by the Palestinians for attacking a nearby army post.

In over a week of conflict, more than 80 people, mostly Palestinians, have been killed.

Palestinians say Israel is to blame for the violence which began late last month when Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited a Jerusalem site that is sacred to Muslims and Jews. (SIGNED)

NEB/MB/ALW/RAE