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Fresh Mideast Violence Batters Clinton Peace Bid
The killing of two Israelis in a roadside bombing and a blast on a Tel Aviv bus ended a brief lull in Israeli-Palestinian violence and undercut President Clinton's bid to revive peacemaking before he leaves office.
Two Israelis died and two were wounded on Thursday when a roadside bomb hidden near a fence dividing Israel from the Gaza Strip was detonated by Palestinians. Earlier in the day, two pipe bombs exploded on a Tel Aviv bus, wounding 14 people.
President Clinton told reporters at the White House the attacks were a sign militants would try to sabotage his efforts to mediate an end to decades of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed before he steps down on January 20.
At least 345 people have been killed in a three-month-old Palestinian Intifada (uprising) that erupted in the vacuum of deadlocked peace talks. Most of the dead were Palestinians and Israeli-Arabs. Forty-one other Israelis have also been killed.
Clinton said the sides were closer than ever to an agreement and he was awaiting a formal Palestinian response to his proposals on crucial issues such as the fate of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, Jewish settlements and borders.
"We are just waiting. The Israelis have said they will meet on these conditions within the parameters that I laid out if the Palestinians will, and the Palestinians are talking with the other Arabs and we will just see what happens," he said.
"I think that if it can resolved at all, it can be resolved in the next three weeks. It's not going to get any easier. This is by far the closest we have ever been."
A three-month-old wave of the worst Israeli-Palestinian violence in years appeared to be waning before Thursday's attacks, but the bombings, followed by a spate of shooting attacks in the West Bank, indicated the respite was over.
The Israeli army reported Palestinian gunmen seriously wounded an Israeli driver in the West Bank and that gunmen fired at an Israeli bus driving near Hebron.
It said Palestinian gunmen also shot at Israeli cars and army jeeps and positions in various areas in the northern West Bank and that troops returned fire in several instances.
Palestinian residents in the Nablus area said Palestinian gunmen shot at the Alon Moreh Jewish settlement and exchanged fire with Israeli troops near the Palestinian-ruled town. There were no reports of casualties.
Israel Imposes Tighter Closure On Palestinians
Israel tightened a closure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, preventing Palestinians from moving between West Bank cities and barring several thousand Palestinians from working in Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's office said the move was a security measure after the bomb attacks. But some officials have said in the past that such closures provide a breeding ground for militants by causing Palestinians economic hardship.
Barak ordered the army to step up ``initiated activities'' to prevent attacks on Israelis, a euphemism for shooting or arresting militants and gunmen before they carry out bombings or shootings.
Israel Radio reported that chances Barak and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat would meet soon were slim as according to Egyptian officials, Arafat was ``not about to provide a clear answer to President Clinton's proposals for the time being.''
Arafat met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on Thursday. He told reporters upon his return to Gaza the Palestinian leadership and an Arab summit follow-up committee would continue studying the U.S. proposals.
Barak and Arafat had been expected to hold a summit in Egypt on Thursday. But the meeting was canceled after the Palestinian Authority sent an ambiguous response to Washington raising numerous reservations on key elements of the U.S. plan.
Israel conditionally accepted Clinton's blueprint for peace after a late-night security cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
An Israeli diplomatic source said Israel would soon submit its own reservations to the U.S. on the peace proposals, including its objection to transferring to the Palestinians sovereignty over a Jerusalem shrine holy to Muslims and Jews.
Palestinians Pleased Arafat Rejected Clinton Plan
Marwan Barghouthi, a senior leader in Arafat's Fatah faction, said Palestinians were pleased that Clinton's plan was rejected.
He said Palestinians would use the ideas as a basis for future negotiations and that Clinton was not essential for peace talks. "Any (U.S.) administration that will come to office will deal with the Palestinian issue," he told Reuters.
Israeli police said the two pipe bombs were hidden in a duffel bag filled with bullets and shrapnel and left on a Tel Aviv inter-city bus. Fourteen people were wounded, including a female soldier who sustained serious shrapnel wounds and burns.
Police said casualties might have been higher as not all the one kilogram of explosives stuffed in the pipe bombs exploded.
The Israeli media reported police believed both the Gaza bomb and the Tel Aviv bus bombs were detonated by cellular telephones adapted for use as remote controls.
Barak told soldiers at a graduation ceremony he would seek peace despite Thursday's attacks, which he called ``another criminal attempt by extremists who feel we are at the verge of achieving an agreement that will bring an end to the conflict and are trying to make us stop and return to war.''
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