Military

DATE=10/29/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ISRAEL/PALESTIANS (L-UPD)

NUMBER=2-268595

BYLINE=JENNY BADNER

DATELINE=JERUSALEM

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

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UPDATE CASUALTY TOLL FROM LATEST CN REPORT. //////

INTRO: At least four Palestinians were killed near the West Bank town of Nablus as heavy clashes erupted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Jenny Badner in Jerusalem reports the renewal of violence comes as Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Barak moves closer to forming an emergency government.

TEXT: Israeli soldiers and Palestinians clashed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in renewed violence.

The most intensive fighting broke out near the West Bank town of Nablus.

There were also fierce confrontations in the Gaza Strip. There, the Israeli army says it responded with live ammunition after Palestinian police fired at an Israeli outpost. Tanks were deployed to clear a road leading to the nearby Jewish settlement of Netzarim.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said in a speech read on his behalf that the Palestinians will continue their uprising (intifada) against Israeli forces.

He promised, in his words, that his - people will remain steadfast until a boy or a girl holds the flag of Palestine over Jerusalem, the capital of a Palestinian state.

The renewal of violence comes as Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, continues his efforts to form a national emergency government.

After another day of talks between Mr. Barak and opposition Likud party leader Ariel Sharon the two men were still reported in disagreement. According to reports in the Israeli media, Mr. Sharon is seeking veto power over future peace moves.

Many Palestinian leaders and members of Israel's peace camp are opposed to the inclusion of Mr. Sharon in the coalition.

/// OPT /// Several Israeli parliament members are scheduled to hold their own emergency meeting to resist a Barak-Sharon coalition and to call for a renewal of negotiations with the Palestinians. /// END OPT ///

Israel's parliament reconvenes on Monday, and Mr. Barak faces a no-confidence motion that could lead to early elections.

More than 135-people, almost all of them Palestinian, have been killed since the beginning of the violence.

The Israeli army said it pulled back its tanks from Gilo, a neighborhood on the edge of Jerusalem that has been a flash point in recent clashes. The army warned it would retaliate if Palestinians in the neighboring West Bank town of Bit Jala resumed firing at Jewish homes in Gilo.

/// REST OPT /// The Israeli police said a 25-year-old Israeli civilian who was found dead inside a burned car in the West Bank town of Ramallah, was killed because of political reasons. But Palestinians say the killing was criminal and unrelated to the Israeli-Palestinian clashes.

Meanwhile, the violence moved to an additional front. The Israeli army says its soldiers exchanged fire with Lebanese gunmen at the Israel-Lebanon border, but there were no reports of injuries. (SIGNED)

NEB/JB/DW/RAE