Israelis, Palestinians take steps toward renewing peace talks

JERUSALEM - For the first time in 11 weeks of violence, Israelis and Palestinians are talking seriously about relaunching peace negotiations, and the coming week is expected to bring high-level contacts largely abandoned during the fighting.

Negotiations were suspended after clashes broke out at the end of September, and infrequent meetings between senior leaders since then have focused on halting the current violence, not the larger goal of a Mideast political settlement.

But now, after 325 deaths, most of them on the Palestinian side, Israelis and Palestinians both say a resumption of negotiations is a possibility - though by no means a certainty.

Palestinian negotiator Yasser Abed Rabbo confirmed an announcement by the U.S. State Department that the sides may meet next week in Washington. However, Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian negotiator, said no format had been worked out and the Palestinians had not received an invitation to go to Washington.

He also said that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak were not expected to take part at this stage.

Arafat met Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami into the early hours of Friday, the highest-level talks in more than a month.

Ben-Ami met senior Palestinian figures including Abed Rabbo Saturday evening in an undisclosed location, said a spokesman for Ben-Ami, Moshe Debi. Israel radio said the meeting lasted three hours. Abed Rabbo denied a meeting took place Saturday.

Barak alluded to Saturday's talks in a speech in Tel Aviv, saying they were meant ''to see if it's possible to renew the negotiations, not at any price ... but with determination.''

Gilead Sher, a top Israeli negotiator, told CNN that ''exploratory and preparatory talks'' were ongoing with the goal of restarting negotiations.

However, Erekat tempered expectations and sharply criticized the Israelis for the latest violence, which included Friday's deaths of six Palestinians shot by Israeli troops.

''Hours after the meeting between president Arafat and Ben-Ami, we saw an escalation in attacks,'' Erekat said. ''Those who say they want to create a peace process that will take us forward must create the right atmosphere for it.''

Two Palestinians shot dead by Israeli troops Friday were buried Saturday in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Palestinian areas remained tense but no major clashes were reported.

A pair of looming deadlines appears to have contributed to the renewed talks.

President Clinton, who has been a leading mediator in Mideast peace efforts, leaves office Jan. 20. Also, Barak is facing a tough re-election campaign, and would like a peace deal before the Feb. 6 ballot.

''It is in the interests of all parties involved to get something done before Jan. 20,'' said Sher, the Israeli negotiator.

Barak hopes to work out a final peace agreement with the Palestinians in time to make it the focus of his campaign. But he will be hard-pressed to make concessions since public support for his peace policies has dropped since the violence began.

Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a probable contender in the race, has promised to get tough with the Palestinians, insisting that all he could offer Israelis at this point is a ''cold peace,'' in light of the bloodshed. He has been leading Barak in the polls by double digits.

In order to join the race, Netanyahu must get around a law preventing those who are not members of parliament from running for prime minister. A bill meant to allow him to run passed an initial reading this week.

Clinton called Arafat Saturday while the Palestinian leader was meeting American officials to discuss the efforts to resume the negotiations, Arafat spokesman Nabil Aburdeneh said.

The London-based Al Hayat newspaper reported Saturday that Arafat and Ben-Ami discussed in their meeting a proposal made by Clinton for the resumption of peace talks. According to the proposal, Israel would grant full sovereignty over Jerusalem's Al Aqsa mosque compound to the Palestinians.

In exchange, the Palestinians would abandon their demand that Palestinian refugees from wars be allowed to return to Israel, the daily reported. Abed Rabbo denied any such proposal had been made and said the Palestinians would reject such an idea in any case.

Officials close to Barak insisted that he would not grant the Palestinians partial or full sovereignty over the mosque area, Israel radio reported. The mosques sit on the ruins of ancient Jewish temples central to the religion.

Barak would be willing in negotiations to give the Palestinians more territory than he offered before the violence broke out, Israeli media reported Saturday.

The history of Mideast peacemaking is littered with missed deadlines, and it was not clear how much progress the two sides could make in the current climate of violence.