Israel's Barak says he welcomes early elections

Polish Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, gives a thumbs up sign to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak during their meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem

In this story: New calls for protection United Nations activity U.S. offers muted reaction to Barak election announcement RELATED STORIES, SITES

CNN Correspondent Jerrold Kessell, CNN State Department Correspondent Andrea Koppel and White House Correspondent Major Garrett contributed to this report

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak told parliament on Tuesday he would welcome early national elections in response to an almost certain defeat in a move to dissolve his government.

"You want elections -- I'm prepared for elections," Barak told the Knesset in response to apparent parliamentary support from all sides for new elections. "I'm not afraid of elections ... I'm proud of what I've done and what my government has done."

GALLERY Tears, tension and diplomacy (November 27)    VIDEO CNN's Jerrold Kessel reports on the talks and funerals (November 27) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Arafat's Fatah party calls for more violence as Ramadan starts. CNN's Tom Mintier reports (November 27) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Kelly Wallace reports an international committee has met to discuss the causes of the violence in the Mideast (November 27) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   MESSAGE BOARD Mideast peace

The date of the new elections is planned to be set in negotiations with the opposition, which recommended May. That would give Barak time before the election for a last-ditch effort to forge a peace agreement with the Palestinians.

New calls for protection

On Monday, delegates from four Islamic nations -- Iran, Morocco, Senegal and Malaysia -- called on the U.N. Security Council to dispatch an international protection force for Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank.

"We urge them not to spend a lot of time on this because every minute we are talking people are killed or wounded," Qatar's foreign minister, Sheikh Hamad al-Thani, told reporters after the meeting.

Israel has firmly resisted any suggestion of an armed international protection force.

United Nations activity

But Israel's ambassador to the United Nations hinted Monday his government might consider permitting international observers in the occupied territories, but only as part of a broader peace and security agreement with the Palestinians.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has been trying to bridge the differences between Israel and the Palestinians over an observer mission.

Annan met on Monday with former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell and four other members of a fact-finding commission on violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

The commission, which was formed through an agreement between Barak and Arafat at their summit in October in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, will travel to the Middle East "in the near future" and complete its report by March 2001, Mitchell said.

Also Monday, U.N. human rights chief Mary Robinson released a report detailing her recent visit to the region. The report said Robinson was "shocked and dismayed and even devastated" at the plight of Palestinians in the occupied territories.

She urged establishment of an international monitoring body.

Israel said her report lacked balance.

U.S. offers muted reaction to Barak election announcement

The White House reacted cautiously to Barak's announcement Tuesday that he would call for early elections rather than form a national unity government.

"We knew this was one of the options available and it was not be hard to see this coming," said a senior administration official directly involved in peace efforts with the Israelis and Palestinians.

Other officials said the White House has done very little game-planning in advance of Barak's move because they had no idea how it would affect Barak's approach to coping with Palestinian violence or trying to rebuild the peace process. A bigger wild card, they say, will be Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's reaction.

"It remains their peace process," said one senior official. "It's up the prime minister and the Palestinians to tell us what to do in the time we have left. Both sides have to live up to the obligations of the Sharm El-Shiekh agreement and reduce the violence."

The White House will have no official reaction to Barak's move, said Press Secretary Jake Siewert. One official described Barak's move as a matter of "internal Israeli politics."

White House and State Department officials said violent clashes must subside before any semblance of a peace process can be constructed.

"The focus has to be ending the violence no matter what political process is taking place ...the focus has to be finding a path back to peace," said a senior State Department official.

"Our belief is that Israel is committed to the peace process," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.

Earlier Tuesday, another senior U.S. official intimately involved in Mideast peace talks sounded a cautious, mildly optimistic note that both sides "may have reached a point where they see it's in their interests to pull back." The official cited the fact that after almost two months of non-stop bloodshed, no one appeared to have died Monday in Israel or the Palestinian territories.

"It was a little quieter," the official said. "But there have been numerous false starts before ...We need to see if that represents a new code of behavior."

Numerous U.S. officials have expressed concern that violence in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank -- as well as throughout the Middle East -- could escalate during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month which began Monday.

Officials said that according to the Muslim faith, if someone is killed during Ramadan it is believed that person will go directly to heaven.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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