Israeli leaders tussle for power

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon, the hawk blamed by Palestinians for sparking violence that has devastated peacemaking, failed to agree terms yesterday for an emergency unity government.

Spokesmen for both men, who met for about two hours in the Prime Minister's office, said further talks would be held early today (NZ time).

"If he [Barak] wants us in the Government, we must be able to have a real influence on the diplomatic process," said Silvan Shalom, a leader of Sharon's right-wing Likud party.

"The paper [Barak presented] was unacceptable but we are going to hold another meeting in 30 hours," Shalom said.

Barak met Sharon a day after announcing a pause in peace talks with the Palestinians in the wake of an Arab summit that condemned Israeli "barbarism" in a deadly wave of violence sweeping the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The latest incidents of violence included an Israeli-Palestinian shootout at a Jewish settlement near Jerusalem and a roadside bomb in Gaza.

Palestinians and left-wing Israelis say a Barak-Sharon partnership could eliminate any chance of returning to peace negotiations after bloodshed in which at least 127 people have been killed.

"He is meeting Sharon's condition. The man is exiting from the peace process," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told CNN television.

"If you want to join a national unity government ... please, the price does not have to be Palestinians and Palestinian blood," Erekat said.

Palestinians say Sharon's visit on September 28 to a Jerusalem shrine that is holy to both Muslims and Jews was the spark that set off the wave of clashes.

Sharon, reviled by Arabs as the Israeli defence minister who led the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, denies the allegation.

He was forced to resign in 1983 when an Israeli inquiry found him indirectly responsible for a massacre of Palestinians by Israel's Christian allies at two refugee camps outside Beirut.

The Israeli Army said no one was wounded when the roadside bomb exploded in the Gaza strip, but security forces have been warning that Islamic militants were planning bomb attacks against Israeli targets in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and in Israeli cities.

Palestinian gunmen also opened fire on the Gilo Jewish settlement on the outskirts of Jerusalem overnight on Monday, despite a warning by Israel that it would scale up its response if gunmen continued firing at Israeli apartment buildings.

In response, an Israeli tank fired a shell at a building used by the gunmen in the West Bank town of Beit Jala, across the valley from Gilo.

Machineguns mounted on Israeli tanks returned fire also.

Before the latest shooting, the Israeli Army warned that if the shooting attacks continued it would surround the town.

Attacks on Gilo, regarded by Israel as a neighbourhood of Jerusalem, have unsettled Israelis' sense of security after television pictures showed apartments hit by bullets.

Israel last night reopened the international airport in the Gaza Strip, restoring air links with the outside world.

The airport was earlier closed after Palestinian police entered the facility and Israeli security personnel who were examining luggage said they had left because they were afraid the police were going to shoot them.



Morocco said yesterday it had severed diplomatic ties with Israel in protest at Israeli violence against civilians in the Palestinian territories.

Since the 1970s, Morocco has been a discreet broker of rapprochement between Israel and Arab countries and established low-level diplomatic relations with the Jewish state in 1994.

Shalom said Likud wanted assurances from Barak that "two, three months from now" he would not resume peace talks based on what they regard as dangerous concessions the Prime Minister made at July's inconclusive Camp David summit.

Barak lost his parliamentary majority on the eve of the Camp David meeting.

A partnership with Sharon could save Barak from an early election the which the Knesset could call when it convenes next week after a summer recess.

It would also delay a possible showdown for the Likud leadership between Sharon and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who polls have shown stands a better chance of beating Barak if new elections are held. Barak has spoken of a separation from the Palestinians, widely expected to include a unilateral setting of borders, should peace fail.

Israel's battered peace camp said Barak had no right to set up "a non-peace-oriented coalition" with its arch-nemesis Sharon.

- REUTERS

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