Military

DATE=10/23/2000

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ISRAEL / PALESTINIANS (L / 2ND UPDATE)

NUMBER=2-268344

BYLINE=JENNY BADNER

DATELINE=JERUSALEM

CONTENT=

VOICE AT:

/// EDS: THIS REPORT UPDATES CR 2-268326, BY MEREDITH BUEL ///

INTRO: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak is trying form a national emergency government, after nearly one month of clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians. Jenny Badner reports from Jerusalem.

TEXT: In an attempt to expand his government, Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Barak is scheduled to hold a second day of talks Tuesday with the head of the opposition Likud party, Ariel Sharon. Mr. Barak is trying to form a national emergency government, one day after calling for a "time out" in the Middle East peace process.

Some Israeli and Palestinian leaders says that a new government with Mr. Sharon will eliminate any chance of returning to peace negotiations.

Israeli-Palestinian violence broke out late last month after Mr. Sharon visited a sensitive site in Jerusalem that is holy to both Muslims and Jews.

/// OPT /// When Mr. Sharon was defense minister in the 1980s, hundreds of Palestinians were massacred in Lebanon by an Israeli-backed Christian militia. An Israeli government report later found Mr. Sharon "indirectly responsible" for the killings, which took place in the Sabra and Shatilla refugees camps controlled by the Israeli army. /// END OPT ///

The head of Palestinian security forces in the West Bank, Jibril Rajjoub, says the inclusion of Mr. Sharon in the Israeli government would be a catastrophe for the Israelis and a disaster for the Palestinian people.

/// RAJJOUB ACT ///

Mr. Barak knows that he cannot dictate the terms of the Israeli government on the Palestinian people or on the Arab world. It is up to him to decide whether his partner is Sharon or the Palestinian people. It is an Israeli problem. Mr. Sharon will be a disaster, a catastrophe for the Israelis before being a disaster for the Palestinian people.

/// END ACT ///

/// OPT /// Mr. Barak is trying to expand his coalition before parliament reconvenes next week. He currently controls a parliamentary minority and faces legislation calling for early elections. /// END OPT ///

Nearly one month of Israeli-Palestinian clashes continued on Monday.

For the second night in a row, Israeli forces fired machine-guns and at least one shell at the Palestinian town of Beit Jalla. The Israeli army said the attack was in retaliation for continued shooting by Palestinian gunmen at Gilo, a nearby Jerusalem neighborhood.

On Sunday night, Israeli helicopters fired rockets into Beit Jalla and the West Bank town was later blockaded. Israel called the moves a warning to Palestinians to stop shooting at the Jewish neighborhood.

Israeli army spokesman, (Reserve Colonel) Ra'anan Gissin:

/// GISSIN ACT ///

If they choose the path to war, we have the means to stop it. We don't want to use them and therefore we tell them in very very simple terms as we said on day one, enough is enough. Don't mess with us.

/// END ACT ///

At least one Palestinian was killed Monday in a shootout in the West Bank town of Hebron. About 125 people, most of them Palestinian, have been killed since the beginning of the clashes. (Signed)

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