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Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/14311/full/14311/can-clinton-push-peace-amid-fury/ <br /><br /> <b>Can Clinton push peace amid fury?</b> <br /> Friday, October 27, 2000 | by <p>GIL SEDAN </p> <br /><br /><p>JERUSALEM—As potent clashes continue on the streets of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza and the death toll nears 130, what chance does President Clinton have of restarting the now-sullied peace talks?<br /><br /> None, say many Israelis and Palestinians.<br /><br /> Hamas already warned the Palestinian leadership to continue the armed struggle. At the same time there were reports that terrorist groups were called in to help the Palestinians.<br /><br /> Nevertheless, Clinton offered to meet next week in the White House individually with Prime Minister Edud Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. But there's a condition. Barak and Arafat must first implement the Clinton-negotiated cease-fire that was abandoned before it took effect.<br /><br /> However, little optimism remains that events on the ground—including repeated Palestinian attacks on the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo—will subside enough to satisfy Clinton's conditions.<br /><br /> Clinton spoke by telephone with Barak and Arafat on Tuesday night to offer the meetings. And that led to a series of events that offered a small ray of hope.<br /><br /> That same night, Barak sent a security aide to meet with Arafat to ask the Palestinian leader to halt the ongoing violence, according to an Israeli official.<br /><br /> And on Wednesday, top security officials from the two sides were scheduled to meet to resume talks that were broken off nearly two weeks ago.<br /><br /> Despite these developments, there were grounds for believing that the violence that erupted late last month in the West Bank and Gaza Strip would continue.<br /><br /> Indeed, both Israeli and Palestinian officials said this week that they expect a long, drawn-out conflict.<br /><br /> "We are not talking about a short-lived adventure," Brig. Gen. Ron Kitrey told Israel's Army Radio on Tuesday.<br /><br /> That day, violence abated in the West Bank, but Israeli officials said it was largely because of rainy weather. In Gaza, where there was no rain, violent clashes between Palestinians and Israelis continued.<br /><br /> American officials are, likewise, far from hopeful that the worst of the violence is past.<br /><br /> While Clinton was offering to meet with Barak and Arafat—perhaps for the last time before his successor is elected—the U.S. State Department warned American citizens to avoid traveling to Israel and the Palestinian territories, citing a "heightened threat of terrorist incidents" in the region.<br /><br /> It said Americans already there should exercise caution and avoid shopping malls, buses and bus stops, as well as crowded public areas and any demonstrations.<br /><br /> Even if the violence is halted, it is not clear whether Clinton's proposed meetings in Washington would take place.<br /><br /> On Wednesday, Hamas warned Arafat against going to the meetings, "which our people consider a new conspiracy aimed at aborting" the month-long Palestinian uprising.<br /><br /> That same day, the Washington Post, citing a Hamas official, reported that Arafat has formed a working alliance with Palestinian terrorists.<br /><br /> Steering committees that include Arafat loyalists and terrorist groups have been directing the violence against Israel, Mahmoud Zahar told the paper.<br /><br /> Zahar's statement undermined Arafat's contention that the Palestinian violence of the past month has been spontaneous.<br /><br /> Meanwhile, Israel's major political parties have been talking about forming an emergency unity government.<br /><br /> Barak asked the Likud Party to join him in such a government, but met with resistance. Knesset Member Limor Livnat said the offer was not "serious."<br /><br /> Meanwhile, the leader of the fervently religious Shas Party, Eli Yishai, said his party would not join a unity government, but would consider joining "an emergency Cabinet for a limited time."<br /><br /> Barak was also facing strong criticism within his own party's ranks for his statement over the weekend that Israel was taking a "timeout" from the peace process.<br /><br /> Former Prime Minister Shimon Peres told Israel Radio on Monday that Israel cannot ignore the Oslo and Camp David agreements and could not detach itself from the peace process.<br /><br /> "When there is shooting, one must return the fire," said Peres, "but one must continue the peace process."<br /><br /> Arafat responded to Barak's call for a "timeout" in peace talks by saying that anyone blocking the Palestinians' path to a state can "go to hell."<br /><br /> For several nights this week, Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a Jerusalem neighborhood from a nearby Arab village, drawing Israeli tank fire in return.<br /><br /> Barak's security aide, Danny Yatom, warned Tuesday that Israel would "intensify" its response if Palestinian gunmen continue shooting. A day earlier, army officials threatened to surround the Arab village of Beit Jalla, from where the Palestinian gunmen have been firing on Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood.<br /><br /> The army warned it would hit back harder if provoked.<br /><br /> Brig. Gen. Ya'acov Zigdon, a senior officer at the Israel Defence Force's central command, warned Monday that the Palestinians intended to escalate the situation in Gilo even further.<br /><br /> Zigdon told Israeli President Moshe Katsav, who visited the neighborhood Monday, that the attackers in Beit Jalla were not local residents, but people from outside the neighborhood.</p> <p> </p>

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