Clinton, Barak discuss Mideast violence, U.S.-Israel relations

In this story: No breakthrough was expected Israel to Palestinians: 'Lower the violence' Gunfire exchanged Sunday Islamic Conference starts RELATED STORIES, SITES

CNN State Department Producer Elise Labott and Correspondent Fionnuala Sweeney contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said he held "extensive" talks Sunday evening with U.S. President Bill Clinton about ending ongoing violence in the Middle East and strengthening relations with the United States.

The prime minister, however, gave no hint on departing the White House about 9:40 p.m. that the two leaders had reached any significant agreements.

"Israel strives for the peace that will be reached on the negotiating table, rather than imposing the will of one side on the other," Barak told reporters.

VIDEO Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak gives a statement at the White House (in English) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak gives a statement at the White House (in Hebrew) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Kelly Wallace looks at the visits of Barak and Arafat to the U.S. (November 12) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Brian Palmer reports on Yasser Arafat's bid for U.N. intervention Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Palestinians say the street is calling the shots, putting pressure on leaders. CNN's Christiane Amanpour explains (November 10) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     AUDIO Barak responds to calls made at the summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference for severing ties with Israel 3000K/35 sec. AIFF or WAV sound     MESSAGE BOARD Mideast peace

Referring to the recent Camp David peace summit, Barak reiterated that Israel was ready to "contemplate far-reaching ideas in order to bring about peace. Unfortunately, we do hear different signals from the Arab side. I can just say that this is not the way."

Barak traveled to Washington at Clinton's behest with the aim of discussing ways to end the Middle East violence and restarting the stalled peace process.

Arriving about 6 p.m. at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, Barak went directly to the White House for the talks.

Clinton had held similar talks at the White House on Thursday with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.

In the Mideast, meanwhile, Sunday's clashes claimed the life of one Palestinian in Gaza, who was hit during a cross-fire between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers. That brought the death toll to 207 in more than six weeks of Israeli-Palestinian fighting.

According to the International Red Cross, the dead include 175 Palestinians and 32 Israelis, of whom at least 13 were Israeli Arabs.

Referring to Sunday's talks between Clinton and Barak, a senior Barak aide said earlier that they were "critical to peacemaking" and described them as "very, very important."

Arafat had repeated to Clinton his commitment to the Middle East peace process, but blamed Israel for the past seven weeks of violence.

He also called for an international protection force to serve as a buffer between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli soldiers. But U.S. officials rejected the idea, citing Barak's refusal to consider such a force.

No breakthrough was expected

Before departing Israel for Washington, Barak had told reporters not to expect a breakthrough.

"I think that it's a little bit too farfetched ... to predict right now a resumption of negotiations," he said, "but basically our intention is to bring about an end to the violence."

Barak's flight to the United States was interrupted when he turned his plane back toward Israel to deal with a hijacked Russian airliner that had been forced to land in the Jewish state.

But a quick and peaceful resolution of the hijacking allowed Barak to turn around again and resume his trip to Washington.

Clinton's senior advisers said the president was assessing how he could help Israelis and Palestinians take steps toward implementing last month's cease-fire agreement in the remaining weeks of his presidency.

Arafat departed Washington on Friday, heading to New York, where he took his proposal for a 2,000-member protection force to the U.N. Security Council.

Israeli officials see Arafat's attempt to expand the players in the peace process to include the United Nations and the European Union as "writing new rules of the game." This, said one U.S. official, "questions American legitimacy in the process and basically says what has been done over the past seven years (of Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking) is no good."

Israel to Palestinians: 'Lower the violence'

Israeli officials also say that they have not seen an attempt by the Palestinians to "lower the violence" and that Arafat has been sending "conflicting messages" to his security service, Palestinian militants and the public about his desire to see the current conflict end.

"He hasn't done enough to tone it down," said one Israeli official.

Arafat told the Council on Foreign Relations that his people were "besieged" by Israeli gunfire. He again blamed the Palestinian uprising on the visit of Israeli opposition Likud party leader Ariel Sharon to a shrine holy to both Muslims and Jews on September 28.

Sharon has said Palestinians were using his visit to the holy site in Jerusalem as an excuse to attack Israeli soldiers.

Jews call the site the Temple Mount; Arabs call it Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary. The site is home to the sole remaining segment of the Jews' ancient Temple of King Solomon as well as two Islamic mosques -- Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa -- marking the spot from which the Prophet Mohammed is believed to have ascended to heaven.

Arafat said Thursday he was willing to attend another summit with President Clinton, but only if it were well-prepared "to ensure its success."

Gunfire exchanged Sunday

During other violence Sunday, Israeli troops and Palestinians traded fire outside Jerusalem, wounding several Palestinians.

In one incident, a bullet hit a car in a convoy carrying U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson in the West Bank. It was unclear who fired the shot; Robinson was uninjured.

"It came very close to two of our colleagues," Robinson said, "so we got into our cars, drove a little bit further, and rang the [Israeli Defense Forces] and they came and escorted us out."

Islamic Conference starts

As the violence continued, leaders of most of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims arrived in Qatar for the summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Heads of government from the 56 member nations were expected to call on Muslim countries to cut ties with Israel, but Jordan, Egypt and Turkey objected to that call before the summit opened.

Iranian President Mohammed Khatami opened the summit by calling for the return of all Palestinians to "an independent Palestinian state, built by the Palestinian people on all the land of Palestine, which had Jerusalem as its capital."

"This independent Palestinian state is to decide about those who now live on this land," Khatami said.

Arafat said his people would not end their fight to evict Israeli forces from the Palestinian territories.

"Our people are determined, more than at any other time, to continue their holy struggle in the Al-Aqsa uprising with the help of our brothers and friends," Arafat said.

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