Difficulties remain but Israel-Palestinian talks continue

quot;We count on US President Clinton and on Ambassador Ross to get out of the present crisis,quot; he said. Ross cautioned earlier on Tuesday that much needed to be done to drag the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks back on track as relations between the two sides sank to their lowest ebb in months. quot;We need to resolve some of the remaining problems with regard to the interim issues, we have to get on with the final status negotiations,quot; he said.

Peace talks ground to a halt two weeks ago after a dispute over a long-delayed Israeli troop withdrawal from the West Bank called for under interim accords, causing the two sides to miss a February 13 target for a draft peace pact. Both sides have been reduced to hurling accusations at the other, with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat even going so far as to claim that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak was trying to get him killed, according to press reports.

Frustration at the deadlock spilled over into sporadic violence in the West Bank, where demonstrators burned US flags and threw stones at Israeli soldiers at various protests on Tuesday, amid warnings by Israeli intelligence of a new intifada or popular uprising. In Ramallah, four Palestinian students were lightly wounded by rubber bullets fired by Israeli border guards when they tried to march on an Israeli checkpoint.

Ross, who met Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy before meeting Arafat in Ramallah, said he did not believe there had been a breakdown in communications between the two sides. quot;We will be discussing all the areas where there are difficulties and how best to move forward.

What I am quite certain of is that both sides are determined to find a way to move ahead,quot; he said. Levy said any delays were quot;not the fault of Israel,quot; telling the Palestinians that they should accept that they too must make compromises.

Barak said on Monday Israel was preparing a new quot;packagequot; which press reports said covered the inclusion of so-called quot;qualityquot; areas for transfer to the Palestinians, but still did not meet Arafat8217;s demands for land near Jerusalem. Israel and the Palestinians have pledged to reach a final accord by September but deep divisions remain on the most contentious issues, including the borders of a future Palestinian state, the fate of Palestinian refugees, Jewish settlements and the status of Jerusalem.

The city was at the centre of a diplomatic spat after visiting EU parliamentary speaker Nicole Fontaine refused to meet a top Palestinian official at the PLO8217;s unofficial headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of a future state. The Palestinians, in a statement, condemned the quot;lack of any clear EU position on Jerusalem and the persistent failure of the international community to end Israeli violations of international law.quot;

The top-selling Hebrew newspaper Yediot Aharonot meanwhile, quoted Arafat as telling the EU Middle East envoy, Miguel Angel Moratinos, that Barak was trying to get him killed by Palestinian extremists by forcing him to make concessions in the peace process. quot;Barak tried to liquidate me three times in the past, while he served in the Israeli Army, and failed. Now he is trying to kill me by my own people,quot; Arafat was quoted as saying. Israel8217;s intelligence agencies have also warned that the crisis may lead to an uprising against the Jewish state after Pope John Paul II8217;s visit next month, when Palestinians are expected to push their demands for independence, the Haaretz newspaper said.

If they are to return to the negotiating table, the Palestinians want Ross to secure from Israel answers to concerns about a long-delayed transfer of 6.1 percent of the West Bank, a further withdrawal outlined under the original Oslo accords and a commitment to move into intensive negotiations.