Israeli leaders consider next step in Mideast crisis

Barak addressed Israel's parliament on Monday

Violence on Monday in West Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem

In this story: More Palestinian funerals Five killed in Sunday fighting Arafat: Palestinians 'will remain steadfast' RELATED STORIES, SITES

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Having failed so far to strike a deal on a unity government with the right-wing Likud, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak was considering other options Monday, aides said -- including pressing ahead with attempts to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians.

Barak addressed the opening of the fall session of the Israeli Knesset, or parliament.

VIDEO CNN's Jerrold Kessel reports on Ehud Barak's failure to form a coalition in order to keep his party in afloat Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     MESSAGE BOARD Mideast peace     RESOURCES Ariel Sharon: Peacemaker or peace breaker? Mideast struggle for peace Key Players     ALSO Washington protest in support of Palestinians Across a valley, suburban streets become a battleground

A two-hour meeting on Sunday between Barak and the opposition Likud leader Ariel Sharon failed to produce an emergency coalition government that would strengthen Barak's shaky hold on power and perhaps save the Mideast peace process.

Meanwhile, Israeli-Palestinian violence continued in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem. In east Jerusalem, one Israeli security guard was shot to death and another was seriously wounded at a national social security office. Israeli police said they believed the assailant was Palestinian.

Also, on Monday, the body of an Israeli man was found on the outskirts of Jerusalem, near the West Bank refugee camp of Aida. Israeli police said the man had been stabbed repeatedly.

Near the Gaza town of Rafa, an Israeli soldier was slightly wounded, the army said, when a roadside bomb exploded near a patrol. Five Palestinians were injured in Gaza.

More Palestinian funerals

Funerals were held Monday for five Palestinians killed in clashes Sunday in the West Bank and Gaza, and two others who died of wounds suffered earlier in the week.

The death toll since the clashes broke out September 28 has risen to at least 152 people, most of them Palestinians.

Although Barak speaks to the Knesset without a majority -- he has only 30 supporters in the 120-member parliament -- a no-confidence vote was not expected. Leaders of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party have promised Barak a so-called safety net, agreeing not to work against Barak as long as the Mideast crisis continues.

"I think it will be very difficult, but we are not going to have an emergency government in the coming few days," Israeli Cabinet Minister Amnon Lipkin-Shahak told CNN.

Barak is walking a thin line between political survival and restarting the peace process. A coalition with Likud is seen as a lifeline for Barak, but the Palestinians see an alliance with Sharon as an affront to any peace effort.

Palestinians accuse Sharon of sparking the fighting on September 28 when he visited an east Jerusalem shrine, holy to both Muslims and Jews. Palestinians said Sharon's visit defiled the shrine, while Sharon said his visit was being used as an excuse for Palestinians to attack Israeli soldiers.

Israeli political analyst Chemi Shalev told CNN that major issues continued to block the formation of a Barak-Sharon government.

"Mr. Barak does want an emergency government with Ariel Sharon, but he wants it on his terms, meaning that he will not have to give up on (gains made at) the Camp David (talks), on the Oslo process, and at this point he's finding that impossible so he's looking for other options."

Although last July's U.S.-brokered talks at Camp David, Maryland, failed to yield an agreement, many contentious issues were placed on the negotiating table, including the status of Jerusalem, which both Palestinians and Israelis claim as their traditional capital.

Sharon was said to be demanding conditions of his own before agreeing to join with Barak, including veto power over any future agreements with the Palestinians.

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat told CNN on Sunday that if Sharon joins Barak's proposed Israeli government, the peace process would essentially be dead.

Sharon has publicly stated his opposition to allowing Palestinians any sovereignty over any part of Jerusalem. He also favors the demilitarization of the West Bank and Gaza, while opposing the return of Palestinian refugees currently living in camps in Lebanon and Jordan. Sharon also opposes the removal of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories.

Five killed in Sunday fighting

On Sunday, two Palestinians were shot to death during clashes in the West Bank town of Nablus. Another Palestinian man was killed in Jenin, also in the West Bank.

A young Palestinian boy was killed in Sunday clashes in Rafa in Gaza.

And Palestinian hospital sources said one Palestinian was killed and more than a dozen others were wounded in clashes at a commercial crossing point, Karni, in Gaza on Sunday.

Volunteers carry the body of an Israeli man, found stabbed to death near a Palestinian refugee camp on Monday

Israel moved tanks into the area as military forces clashed with 200-300 Palestinian demonstrators. Using machine guns mounted on tanks, Israeli forces fired upon Palestinians, calling it a retaliatory action.

The Palestinians said they had only thrown stones.

Lipkin-Shahak said tanks were moved into Karni because Palestinian protesters had closed the road to Israeli civilians who had a right "to move freely." He said the only way to make sure Israelis could get to their homes "in a safe way" was to bring in tanks.

Two other Palestinians wounded in earlier clashes died overnight.

Arafat: Palestinians 'will remain steadfast'

Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat told reporters Sunday that his people "will remain steadfast until a boy or a girl holds the flag of Palestine over Jerusalem, the capital of our Palestinian state."

Like Barak, Arafat sought an alliance with hard-line groups. Palestinian officials said Saturday that Arafat has forged a political truce with the militant Islamic opposition group Hamas.

Ziad Abu Zayyad, a Palestinian Cabinet minister, said the alliance "was aimed to contain all the Palestinian factors and to guarantee harmony between their behavior and the behavior of the Palestinian Authority."

"Indirectly this will help prevent any operation by these people to sabotage and undermine our plans and our strategic interests," he said.

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October 21, 2000

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