Arafat, Barak a step closer to separate Clinton peace talks

Arafat

2 Palestinians killed in Sunday clashes

In this story: Proposed talks stem from Egypt summit What's at issue RELATED STORIES, SITES

CNN Correspondents Rula Amin and Fionnuala Sweeney contributed to this report.

GAZA CITY, Gaza (CNN) -- Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat formally accepted Sunday an invitation to discuss solutions to the Mideast crisis with U.S. President Bill Clinton in Washington this Thursday.

AUDIO Barak says the mass gathering on the anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin shows Israel wants peace 525K/47 sec. AIFF or WAV sound Erakat says both Palestinians and Israelis need peace more than ever 437K/40 sec. AIFF or WAV sound    VIDEO Barak speaks to CNN's Jerrold Kessel on the fifth anniversary of Rabin's death Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     ALSO 20,000 gather to remember Israeli peacemaker Rabin     MESSAGE BOARD Mideast peace     RESOURCES Ariel Sharon: Peacemaker or peace breaker?

The announcement came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said he would meet with Clinton if Arafat would do the same.

Both Israeli and Palestinian sources told CNN that face-to-face meetings between Barak and Arafat were unlikely.

Despite a truce agreement reached Wednesday night between Arafat and former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, two more Palestinians were shot and killed Sunday in Gaza.

The deaths raised the total number of people killed in five weeks of Israeli-Palestinian clashes to 185, most of them Palestinians, according to the International Red Cross.

Proposed talks stem from Egypt summit

Clinton has been trying to hold meetings with Arafat and Barak in the several weeks since an emergency summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, failed to end the fighting.

Arafat is scheduled to travel to Washington on Thursday, while Barak is scheduled to make his trip there on Saturday, Israeli Radio reported.

Although Barak has not yet announced his formal acceptance of Clinton's invitation, Israeli Radio reported that he was scheduled to meet with the president next Sunday.

CNN Correspondent Rula Amin, reporting from Gaza City, said there was general support in the streets for Arafat to travel to Washington.

But most Palestinians, Amin reports, said they were against Arafat making compromises with Israel.

"They said the Palestinians who have died in the five weeks of fighting have died for a reason," Amin reports. "They think there has to be a political achievement for the Palestinian side before they stop demonstrating."

What's at issue

Palestinians and Israelis accuse each other of failing to fulfill obligations agreed to Wednesday night in the truce forged by Peres and Arafat.

"(The Palestinians) want to end the Israeli occupation of parts of the West Bank and Gaza that the Israelis have not left yet, and they say that Arafat should not compromise on that," Amin says. "They say the truce that Arafat made with Peres is senseless because they say Israeli tanks were not in their current positions when the fighting broke out on September 28."

For their part, Israelis accuse Palestinians of failing to do enough to keep demonstrators away from Israeli positions.

Clashes between Palestinians and Israelis continue

But Palestinians say if the army would pull back its forces, there would be no army positions for the demonstrators to attack.

On Sunday, a 16-year-old boy was fatally shot during clashes at the border of Gaza's al-Bureij refugee camp. Palestinian hospital sources told CNN the teen-ager was shot in the head, but Israeli officials said the only casualty they knew about in that area was a youth who was shot in the leg.

At the Karni Crossing between Gaza and Israel, a 28-year-old Palestinian man was killed when he was shot in the heart, Palestinians hospital sources told CNN.

In the West Bank, Israeli-Palestinian clashes occurred in the towns of Bethlehem and Ramallah.

Earlier Sunday in Gaza, mourners held a funeral for a 21-year-old Palestinian man who was shot and killed two days ago in the West Bank. The funeral was delayed by one day because of bureaucratic difficulties transporting the body to Gaza.

Barak says he will participate in Washington peace talks if Arafat will
November 4, 2000
Clinton hopes for meetings with Arafat, Barak
November 3, 2000
Hope remains for Mideast truce deal despite fatal Jerusalem bombing
November 2, 2000
Agreement to implement cease-fire reached, Barak's office says
November 1, 2000
Peres, Arafat will meet, try to end Mideast violence
October 31, 2000
Barak outlines path to peace; Israeli helicopters open fire
October 30, 2000

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