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DATE=10-12-2000

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-267846

TITLE=CLINTON / MIDEAST (L-UPDATE)

BYLINE=DAVID GOLLUST

DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: President Clinton is urging Israel and the Palestinians to declare a cease-fire and condemn all acts of violence, in order to prevent years of work on Middle East peace from unraveling. Mr. Clinton spoke to reporters about the crisis in the West Bank, and the attack Thursday on a U-S Navy ship in Yemen, after an urgent meeting with his national-security advisers. More now from V-O-A's David Gollust at the White House.

TEXT: A grim-faced Mr. Clinton emerged from the national-security meeting to strongly condemn the killing of Israeli soldiers in Ramallah, and to appeal to both sides to stop bloodshed and return to dialogue.

While he said he can understand the anguish Palestinians feel for the losses they have suffered, he says there can be no possible justification for mob violence.

Mr. Clinton is urging a mutual cease-fire and repudiation of violence before it is too late to rescue hard-won progress from negotiations in recent years. He says that promises Israel peace with security, and the Palestinians a sovereign state recognized by the entire world.

/// 1st CLINTON ACT ///

Now is the time to stop the bloodshed, to restore calm,

to return to dialogue and, ultimately, to the negotiating

table. The alternative to the peace process is now no

longer merely hypothetical. It is unfolding today before

our very eyes.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Clinton said he has ordered Navy ships in the Middle East to leave port. He is calling for increased security at U-S land facilities in the area following the apparent terrorist attack on the Navy destroyer U-S-S Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden.

Calling the attack "despicable and cowardly," Mr. Clinton said officials from the Pentagon, State Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation are being sent to Yemen to begin trying to track down those responsible.

/// 2ND CLINTON ACT ///

We will find out who was responsible and hold them

accountable. If their intention was to deter us from

our mission of promoting peace and security in the

Middle East, they will fail utterly.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Clinton began the day at his private residence in New York but rushed back to Washington for consultations. He spoke by telephone during the day with world leaders including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat and U-N Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Mr. Annan, who called the president from Lebanon, said he would resume a crisis shuttle mission between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

U-S Central Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet is also in the area, trying to restart direct contacts between Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs. (Signed)

NEB/DAG/WTW