Barak seeks to save his government before Knesset reconvenes

Sharon, left, and Barak

In this story: Violence continues Death toll reaches 139 RELATED STORIES, SITES

CNN Correspondents Jerrold Kessel and Fionnuala Sweeney contributed to this report.

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- With no prospects in sight for a Middle East peace accord, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak turned his attention Tuesday to saving his government from collapse.

VIDEO CNN's Fionnuala Sweeney reports on Monday's developments (October 24) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN interviewed Gilead Sher, senior Barak adviser, and Saeb Erakat, chief Palestinian negotiator back-to-back Tuesday evening (October 24) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     MESSAGE BOARD Mideast peace     RESOURCES Mideast struggle for peace

Barak met with several political parties, including the right-wing Likud, in hopes of forming a coalition by next week, when the Israeli Knesset reconvenes to consider a bill calling for early elections.

Barak currently controls only 30 seats in the 120-seat Knesset.

"Friends, this is a time of emergency, and in an emergency, brothers walk together," Barak told Israeli radio, appealing to Israel's diverse spectrum of political groups to support him in an emergency government.

Barak's team met for a second straight day with Likud leader Ariel Sharon, but the talks were inconclusive. Sharon believes Barak went too far in offering concessions to the Palestinians during talks at Camp David, Maryland, in July.

Sharon and his fellow Likud leaders are holding out for the right to veto any new direction Barak might seek either on the battleground or at the negotiating table.

"There has to be total agreement between the prime minister and me," Sharon said on Israel radio. If the two can't bridge their differences, Sharon said he would work to bring down Barak's government.

Palestinians -- who revile Sharon for his failure to prevent a massacre of Palestinian refugees by Lebanese Christians during Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon -- say bringing Sharon into the government would destroy the peace process. Some of Barak's current ministers also said they would resign rather than serve in a government with Sharon.

Speaking to CNN on Tuesday, senior Barak adviser Gilead Sher defended negotiations with Sharon, saying Israel needed a united leadership.

"Barak understands he has to do whatever it takes in order to defend ourselves the best way we can, meaning we have to unify, to unite ourselves and get to wherever we can in order to create a larger platform for going ahead," Sher said. "It doesn't mean this government won't pursue the track of peace, which is its ... primary consideration."

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said Sharon, who opposes ceding land to the Palestinians, stands in the way of peace.

"Does Mr. Sher want me to believe that with Mr. Sharon in the government, I will agree with him to solve the question of Jerusalem, borders, territory, settlements? Who the hell are they trying to fool?" Erakat said. "We know that if they get Sharon into their government, they have put the mercy bullet in the head of the peace process."

Violence continues

As the political talks continued, in Gaza there were new clashes between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli troops.

A Palestinian teen-ager was killed in the fighting and another died of wounds he sustained three days ago. Another teen-ager was killed in Jenin.

A 60-year-old Palestinian died in a clash at Hebron on the West Bank during fighting Monday night. Israelis said the man was a member of the Tanzim militia. Palestinians said he was a bystander.

Overnight, Israeli tanks responded to gunfire hitting Gilo, a Jewish enclave on the outskirts of Jerusalem, by firing machine rounds into the Palestinian town of Beit Jalla. Three people were reported hurt in the exchanges.

Gilo overlooks the valley where Beit Jalla lies. The Palestinians claim that Gilo, built on land seized by Israel during the 1967 war, sits on land belonging to Beit Jalla. Israelis consider it part of Jerusalem.

Death toll reaches 139

In nearly a month of bitter fighting, at least 139 people have been killed, most of them Palestinians or Israeli Arabs. The already tenuous peace process, begun in 1991 and which became public with the signing of accords in Olso, Norway in 1993, appeared to be seriously damaged.

The violence began on September 28 following Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount, the Jewish shrine on the same site as the al-Aqsa mosque and another Muslim holy site, the Dome of the Rock.

The Arabs call the site al-Haram al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary.

Palestinians viewed Sharon's visit to the site as a provocation while Sharon defended it as his right.

Barak and Sharon at odds on coalition government
October 23, 2000
More Middle East killings as Arab nations confer on crisis
October 21, 2000
Israel considers 'timeout' as Mideast clashes intensify
October 20, 2000
Israelis, Palestinians trade charges at U.N. session
October 18, 2000
Clashes in West Bank, Gaza blaze on despite agreement
October 17, 2000
Barak offers Sharon a role in Israeli government
October 13, 2000

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