Arafat urges 'work for peace' as five more Palestinians killed

JERUSALEM (AP) - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, using some of his most conciliatory language in weeks, said ''Why not?'' when asked Sunday about prospects for meeting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

Fresh violence, meanwhile, claimed the lives of five more Palestinians - including one who was apparently slain for allegedly collaborating with Israel and another in a mysterious explosion.

Despite the steadily increasing death toll - the latest violence, in its 12th week, has killed 329 people, nearly all Palestinians - both sides appeared to be positioning themselves for a new drive toward peace negotiations. Palestinians said consultations between the two sides were to begin Tuesday in Washington.

Two of Sunday's deaths occurred in Rafah, at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip, a frequent flashpoint for clashes. Palestinian officials said two men were killed and three other people injured when an Israeli tank fired on them as they crossed a road. The army said soldiers responded with gunfire when they were shot at in the area.

In the West Bank refugee camp of Kalandia, north of Jerusalem, angry shouts of ''Allahu Akbar!'', or God is great, rang out at the funeral procession for Sameh Malabee, a 28-year-old activist in Arafat's Fatah faction who died hours earlier in an explosion under murky circumstances.

Palestinian officials suggested Malabee might have been targeted by Israeli security forces, but an Israeli military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested the overnight blast might have been a ''work accident'' - a term used by both sides to describe a bomb going off prematurely while the bombers are preparing it. The army had no comment.

A Palestinian who once worked for the Israeli police was shot dead by a lone gunman in the West Bank village of Hares, witnesses said. Villagers said the dead man was considered a collaborator with Israel.

And near the West Bank city of Ramallah, an 18-year-old Palestinian was shot in the head by settlers and killed when he threw rocks against Israelis on his way home from school, the Palestinian news service, WAFA, reported. The youth's body was discovered by Israelis and transferred for an autopsy in Israel, Israeli media reported.

Also in the West Bank, an Israeli was shot in the head and seriously wounded while traveling near the settlement of Mevo Dotan, the army said.

On the negotiating front, Arafat aide Saeb Erekat said Palestinian and Israeli delegations would leave Monday night for consultations in Washington. Erekat said the Americans would likely meet separately with the two sides first, and then try to bring them together.

Arafat, speaking to reporters in the Gaza Strip, also left open the possibility of face-to-face talks with Barak. The Israeli leader is desperately trying to patch together a peace accord, with seven weeks remaining before an early election.

''If there is a need to, why not?'' Arafat said. And at a meeting with leftist Israeli lawmakers who traveled to Gaza to see him, he said: ''Let's work for peace.''

Arafat's conciliatory tone was a departure from his confrontational stance earlier in the crisis. In October, as stone-throwing clashes turned to bloody gun battles in the West Bank and Gaza, he said Barak could ''go to hell.''

Israel and the Palestinians are determined to reach a deal before Jan. 20, the last day in office of President Clinton, who has been the main driving force behind negotiations.

''If he (Clinton) won't be there, it will be hard to raise the subject of the Middle East high on the list of priorities of George Bush,'' Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beilin said.

Barak and President-elect Bush's choice for secretary of state, Colin Powell, spoke by telephone Sunday, Barak's office said. They ''exchanged opinions on the chances for the continuation of the peace process with the Palestinians'' and agreed to speak again in the coming days, the statement said.

Fighting broke out in late September after right-wing Israeli politician Ariel Sharon made a visit to the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's walled Old City, the third-holiest shrine in Islam.

Al-Aqsa is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian struggle for sovereignty over Jerusalem. Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami suggested Sunday that new talks could involve the fate of the disputed mosque compound, built on the ruins of the ancient Jewish Temple, Judaism's most sacred site.

Islamic religious authorities have day-to-day control of the compound, but Israel claims sovereignty over it.

''We need to find a solution for the Temple Mount that fits with the current situation,'' Ben-Ami told Israel's army radio, using the Jewish term for the hilltop enclosure. However, he did not say what concessions, if any, Israel might offer the Palestinians, who demand full control over the compound.

Arafat said the sensitive subject of al-Aqsa - which helped torpedo the summer's Camp David summit - hadn't yet come up.

Adding to the complexity, Arab leaders say the fate of Jerusalem and its holy sites was not only for the Palestinians to work out with Israel.

''Jerusalem is a matter that concerns all Muslim and Christian peoples,'' Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Sunday in a speech opening the new parliament. ''The issue of Jerusalem is a sensitive one ... and the Palestinian leadership is not free to determine (its future).''