Military

DATE=10/22/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS OVERNIGHTER(L)

BYLINE=SONJA PACE

DATELINE=JERUSALEM

INTERNET=YES

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Israel's Prime Minister Sunday called for a "time-out" in the peace process, as Arab leaders strongly condemned Israel for the latest violence. As we hear from VOA's Sonja Pace reports from Jerusalem clashes continued on the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and in the outskirts of Jerusalem, with at least four Palestinians killed.

(**Eds. Update/change intro with fresh details as warranted**)

TEXT: Both sides stepped up the rhetoric as gunfire echoed through Palestinian controlled areas and the outskirts of Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Ehud Barak said Israel needs a "time-out" from the peace process to reassess the situation and weigh future options. He did not specify when that "time-out" would begin and again called on the Palestinians to halt the violence. The Prime Minister's statement came in response to the Arab League Summit in Cairo, which ended Sunday with a strong condemnation of Israel for the past weeks of unrest and called for an international war crimes tribunal to investigate Israel's handling of the situation. Mr. Barak said Israel rejects the threatening tone of the summit.

Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat returned to Gaza from the Cairo summit and vowed to press ahead on the road to Jerusalem, which Palestinians claim as the capital of their future state. He said anyone who could not accept that, could in his words "go to hell."

Clashes erupted once again throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Israeli helicopter gunships and tanks firing machine guns also took aim at the Palestinian village of Beit Jalla near Jerusalem. Israeli military sources said the action was in response to gunfire coming from Beit Jalla, into the Jerusalem suburb of Gilo.

Clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli security forces are now entering their fourth week. Around 120 people have died so far, almost all of them Palestinians or Israeli Arabs.

NEB/SP/FC