Israeli and Palestinian leaders announced their readiness to meet with US President Bill Clinton in Washington for crucial negotiations aimed at breaking the vicious circle of violence that has shattered hopes for peace in the Middle East.
The Palestinian areas were far from quiet over the weekend, meanwhile, despite calls for restraint issued by both sides in an attempt to implement their latest cease-fire and stop five weeks of bloodshed.
A Palestinian girl passing stone-throwing youths on her way home from her school near Hebron, in the southern West Bank, was shot in the head. Doctors said 14-year-old Kazala Jaradat, who was in critical condition, was wounded with live fire; the Israeli army said its troops only used rubber-coated steel bullets in the clash.
By midday yesterday, over 60 Palestinians had received light to moderate wounds in similar clashes throughout the West Bank and Gaza.
On Friday, three Palestinians were shot dead and hundreds injured in a series of clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, hospital doctors said. Four Israeli soldiers were also hurt, according to the army. Numerous firefights, some involving machine-guns, were reported late Friday.
Still, Israeli leader Ehud Barak pledged to ``persevere in our efforts for peace.''
``We are strong enough to stand on both fronts: the battle for peace and the struggle against violence and terror,'' the prime minister said.
Palestinian leaders, who have designated the past several Fridays a ``day of rage,'' also took on a more subdued tone, saying events Friday and yesterday would determine whether the truce agreement reached earlier in the week was taking hold.
On the political front, aides to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said he was ready to meet with US President Bill Clinton in Washington. No definite date was set, said Arafat's spokesman Marwan Kanafani.
He said Arafat would arrive after the American presidential elections ``to discuss the situation in the Palestinian areas and the future of the peace process'' with Clinton and US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
Shlomo Ben-Ami, Israel's Foreign Minister, told Israel Television from the US that Arafat was expected in Washington on Wednesday, Nov. 8.
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