Barak tries to sustain government

JERUSALEM (AP) - Palestinians opened fire on the Jewish neighborhood of Gilo in east Jerusalem after nightfall yesterday, shattering what had been a relatively quiet day, while Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak scrambled to rescue his government from collapse.

Barak made a last-minute appeal to the hard-line opposition to join him in a national emergency government, but his rivals appeared determined to bring down his minority government and force elections.

For the first time in three weeks, no one was killed yesterday in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as Palestinian Muslims marked the start of the holy month of Ramadan. Israeli soldiers fired machine guns at the Palestinian town of Beit Jalla, source of the gunfire at Gilo. No casualties were reported.

Israeli soldiers killed five armed Palestinians late Sunday as they set out from the West Bank city of Qalqilya into an area under Israeli control. The Israeli army said the Palestinians had opened fire earlier on an Israeli car.

Palestinian spokesman Marwan Kanafani said the five were innocent people who were not on their way to attack Israelis.

On Tuesday, the Knesset, Israel's parliament, was to vote on a bill to call elections. Barak's coalition government commands only 30 of the 120 members of parliament, but an election bill requires an absolute majority of 61 to pass. Tuesday's vote is on the first of three readings.

Barak has had on-again, off-again contacts with hard-line Likud leader Ariel Sharon about forming an emergency coalition, but Sharon has demanded that Barak first abandon major points of his peace efforts, including concessions offered to the Palestinians in July at a failed Camp David summit.

Barak hinted yesterday that he may be willing to accept Sharon's demands. Barak told his Labor party that a Cabinet including the Likud could "re-examine" government proposals, including those raised at Camp David.

Also, Barak proposed "a long-term interim agreement" with the Palestinians instead of a peace treaty.

The Palestinians rejected that. "What we are looking for is reaching a final agreement that will solve all the issues," said Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qureia. "We don't want partial agreements."

Despite Barak's efforts to save his government, Likud members said they had the support of more than 61 lawmakers for today's vote.

The Likud appealed a ruling by Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg requiring a 61-vote majority on preliminary readings, but the Supreme Court did not give an immediate decision.

In a last-minute maneuver, Barak's party was considering turning the vote into a no-confidence motion, which might trap some of his opponents into voting with him. Elections are slated for 2003, but most analysts believe Barak will be forced to call elections next year.