Clashes continue on holiday

JERUSALEM (AP) - Palestinians and Israelis exchanged gunfire yesterday, hours before the deadline on Israel's ultimatum to the Palestinians to end the violence or face "forceful" action.

World leaders stepped up their efforts to stem the crisis.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright held out the possibility of a leadership summit, and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov were due to arrive yesterday evening to confer with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Arafat, returning from a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, said he would limit his talks with Annan to Palestinian demands for an international inquiry of the events of the past 12 days that have left 88 people dead, most of them Palestinians.

The U.N. Security Council has called for an "objective inquiry," but stopped short of Arafat's demand for an international commission. Israel has rejected both calls.

Israeli officials were unavailable for comment, observing Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, until yesterday evening.

In his ultimatum Saturday, Barak said the deadline would be yesterday night but he did not give an exact time. He was to convene an emergency Cabinet meeting at 9:30 p.m. to assess Arafat's compliance.

Today, Barak is to meet Annan and Ivanov, who were also due to visit Gaza - Annan on yesterday night, Ivanov today. The visits were expected to have a calming influence, with Israelis and Palestinians perhaps interested in avoiding an escalation as long as Annan and Ivanov are in the region.

Israeli officials had threatened to go onto an offensive footing if Arafat did not announce a cease-fire. Palestinians dismissed the ultimatum as "insulting."

Fighting continued throughout Yom Kippur, and spread again to inside Israel, with Arab and Jewish youths throwing stones in Nazareth, the town of Jesus' boyhood.

Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to break up the riots. Two Arab youths died, apparently from rubber bullet wounds.

They were buried together in Nazareth on yesterday afternoon, borne by hundreds of mourners shouting, "With our blood and souls, we will redeem you, martyrs!"

The regional police commissioner ordered an investigation into the shootings while Arab leaders in Nazareth called for a general strike yesterday accompanied by three days of mourning.

In the West Bank overnight, one Palestinian was found shot dead, another was found beaten to death, and an Israeli settler was found shot dead in a cave near Nablus.

Yesterday morning, about 5,000 Palestinian youths set out from Nablus on a march into Israeli-held areas to protest the violence. Amal Katar said passing schoolboys persuaded her and her classmates not to go to school, and to join the march instead.

"I am here to speak for my country and give my voice to what's happening now," said Katar, 17.

Later, the marchers reached an Israeli checkpoint, and there was an exchange of live fire. Some Palestinian gunmen climbed into olive trees to better aim their weapons at the Israelis. The gunbattle ended quickly, and at least two Palestinians were injured in the fighting, including a television journalist.

A gunbattle also raged near the town of Ramallah, with at least one man injured.

Police and military in the West Bank were bracing for the possibility of retaliatory attacks from settlers after Yom Kippur ended yesterday evening.

The days of rage that have consumed Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since Sept. 28 have spread elsewhere. Israel was building up its forces on its northern border after Lebanese guerrillas seized three Israeli soldiers, shattering the calm that has prevailed there since Israel withdrew from Lebanon in May.

Barak said he would hold the Lebanese responsible for the attack.

A spokesman for the Russian embassy in Israel said Ivanov was negotiating the release of the three soldiers, as well as seeking a peaceful resolution.

AP PHOTO

A Palestinian youth covers himself from incoming Israeli fire, as other Palestinian youth pelt Israeli troops with stones during clashes on the outskirts of the West Bank town of Ramallah yesterday.