Mideast Envoys Talk Peace; Clashes Rage On

Dec. 22, 2000 -- Violence marked the final Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when a Palestinian, harnessed with explosives, walked into a roadside cafe full of Israeli soldiers and blew himself up, injuring three soldiers, one critically. Elsewhere, four Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The violence came as Palestinian and Israeli officials pressed ahead with U.S.-brokered talks in Washington today.

But the Clinton administration today avoided making any assessment, and an Israeli diplomat said his delegation reported Thursday night that the sessions were productive.

Both sides continue to make public pledges to push for a peace deal that would put an end to 52 years of bitter disputes between Israelis and Palestinians. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is meeting with negotiators today, a day after President Clinton offered the two sides a preliminary peace deal. Working-level discussions over the deal continue.

The envoys are racing against the clock to try to forge a final peace deal as Clinton prepares to leave office on January 20 and Israel heads toward a prime ministerial election on February 6.

Earlier, delegates from both sides said a possible compromise is emerging on the sensitive issue of Jerusalem, which Israel and the Palestinians both claim as their capital.

“The intent to make progress is there,” Arafat aide Nabil Shaath told reporters in Gaza. He said an assessment would be made when the Palestinian delegation returned.

Violence Mars Holy Day

But the violence on the streets has not stopped. The latest deaths have brought the toll in the 3-month-old spasm of violence to more than 340, nearly all Palestinians.

The cafe where today’s suicide bomb attack took place is near the remote Jewish settlement of Mehola, at the northern tip of the West Bank. Located on the main north-south highway through the Jordan Valley, it is frequented by troops stationed nearby.

It was not the first time the diner had been targeted. In 1993 a Palestinian parked a car bomb close to it and blew up the car with himself inside.

In other incidents today, a Palestinian man who worked as alaborer in a Jewish settlement in Gaza was killed today, apparently by Palestinian fire.

The army said Palestinian gunmen had opened fire at army positions in the settlement of Netzarim, killing the man,who was working in a greenhouse. Soldiers returned fire, the army said.

In the West Bank, the army said a Palestinian was shot andkilled by soldiers when he tried to stab an Israeli near the settlement of Beit Haggai.

Another Palestinian was killed in a clash between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian youths at the Kalandia refugee camp near the West Bank town of Ramallah, and Israeli soldiers shot and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian boy in clashes near the village of Sair outside the town of Hebron.

In Jerusalem, scuffles and stone-throwing broke out today as Palestinian worshippers were turned away from the walled Old City on the most important prayer day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. At least one Palestinian was hurt and another arrested.

Israeli police and soldiers clamped tight security on the city for the final Friday of Ramadan, with more than 3,000 police and soldiers on patrol in traditionally Arab east Jerusalem.

Tight restrictions on access to the Old City have been in effect on most Fridays during the 3-month-old Palestinian uprising, when the week’s main prayers have often boiled over into confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli troops.

Only Palestinians over the age of 45 — or over 35, if they live in Jerusalem — were allowed into the Old City. Other would-be worshippers were turned away at roadblocks outside Jerusalem.

Peres Bows Out

The fresh wave of violence came as the election picture in Israelwas clearing up. On Thursday, defeat-prone elder statesman Shimon Peres dropped out of Israel’s race for prime minister, leaving incumbent Ehud Barak and his hawkish rival Ariel Sharon to face each other in a Feb. 6 election.

Peres, 77, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 and is respected abroad, but he has been unable to translate his prestige into electoral power at home. His effort to challenge Barak as leader of the pro-peace camp’s campaign against Sharon failed when the dovish Meretz party refused to give him its nomination.

Looking sad and weary, Peres admitted defeat.

“I thought that in order to prevent the election of Sharon we need another step. They didn’t allow it, it’s a democratic country, and I accept the decision,” he said. “I will continue to work for peace.”

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.