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DATE=10/09/2000

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS (L)

BYLINE=MEREDITH BUEL

DATELINE=JERUSALEM

CONTENT=

VOICE AT:

INTRO: United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan is arriving (has arrived) in Israel in an effort to end more than a week of violent protests that have left nearly 90 people dead, mostly Palestinians. VOA Correspondent Meredith Buel has details from Jerusalem.

TEXT: Mr. Annan is meeting separately with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in an effort to break the cycle of violence and bloodshed.

Mr. Barak set Monday night as the deadline for the violence to stop. If the clashes continue, the prime minister says he will conclude that Mr. Arafat has decided to abandon the peace process. Mr. Barak says the Israeli military will respond with full force against Palestinian gunmen and rioters.

The deadline coincides with the end of Yom Kippur, the most sacred holiday on the Jewish calendar.

Palestinian officials say they will not bow to what they are calling threats and blackmail.

There were intense clashes on the West Bank Monday between rock throwing demonstrators and Israeli soldiers. Exchanges of gunfire were reported near Ramallah.

Fighting between Jewish settlers and Palestinians appears to be escalating.

There were also clashes inside Israel. Arab and Jewish youths threw stones in Nazareth, the town of Jesus' boyhood. At least two Israeli Arabs were killed.

Thousands of Palestinian demonstrators marched in a number of West Bank towns to show support for those killed and injured in the clashes.

/// OPT /// Mr. Arafat traveled to Cairo Monday for urgent consultations with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov is also due to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. /// END OPT ///

President Clinton is considering holding an emergency summit in Egypt later this week, as urgent diplomatic efforts to end the violence intensify.

The Palestinians are calling for an international inquiry into the bloodshed, but the Israelis have rejected that idea.

The violence began late last month when Israeli opposition leader Ariel Sharon visited a sensitive site in Jerusalem's Old City that is scared to Muslims and Jews. (Signed)

NEB/MB/GE/KBK