Israel says ready to give peace a chance

quot;If we find ourselves in a long, painful, difficultconfrontation of many long months, there8217;ll be no importance to our having held on for another 72 or 96 hours,quot; Barak told Israel8217;s Army Radio, extending a previous 48-hour deadline.

His office said in a statement that appeals by world leadershad prompted the government to allow more time to end the violence quot;with the feeling that this is, indeed, the last chance.quot;

quot;If there should be a summit, its purpose must be a completehalt to the violence8230;Should there be an attempt such as this, there8217;s no logic from the standpoint of Israel not to come and realise it,quot; he told Israel Radio.

U.S. President Bill Clinton has been trying to arrange asummit between Barak and Arafat. Barak said any summit must also set in motion a U.S.-Led inquiry into clashes, and schedule a swift resumption of peace negotiations.

quot;If there won8217;T be a halt to violence, it will mean thePalestinian Authority and Arafat in fact chose to cease the negotiations and we will know how to act in this situation,quot; Barak said.

The Palestinians say it is up to Israel, deemed by the U.N.Security Council to have used excessive force, to end the violence. At least 90 people have been killed in the clashes, mostly Palestinians and Israeli Arabs.

Barak said the 48-hour deadline he had set on Satuday to endthe violence had brought world statesmen to the region, including U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and European Union envoy Javier Solana.

At the end of the cabinet meeting, an official statementsaid Israeli security forces had been ordered to quot;step up and widen the scope of their activities to protect Israel8217;s citizens and its soldiers using all the appropriate measuresquot;.

But the statement also Left the door open for mediation onstopping the violence.

Issuing his ultimatum on Saturday, Barak had said Israelwould respond to Palestinian violence with quot;all meansquot; and consider peacemaking at an end if violence did not end by Monday evening, after the Yom Kippur holiday on Monday.

Clinton holds off on summit decision

Clinton on Monday held off a decision on whether to convenean emergency summit to quell the violence.

U.S. Officials said Washington had failed so far to get thenecessary assurances that a visit to the region by Clinton or Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders would yield a deal to stop the bloodshed.

quot;Time is short and the stakes are high and the price offailure is more than any of us wants to pay,quot; Annan told a news conference after meeting Arafat in Gaza late on Monday. Annan was to see Barak on Tuesday.

Israeli soldiers and Palestinians clashed on Monday inseveral towns across the West Bank, including Hebron 8212; where helicopter gunships went into action 8212; and in Ramallah and Nablus. At least 14 people were hurt, witnesses said.

Each side accused the other of firing live rounds on the12th day of clashes that have Left peacemaking in tatters.

Among the recent victims was Jewish settler HillelLieberman, whose body was found near the Palestinian-ruled city of Nablus, the Army confirmed.

Closure extended

Stepping up the pressure on the Palestinians, the IsraeliArmy announced late on Monday the closure it imposed on the West Bank and Gaza Strip before the Yom Kippur holiday would continue, a move Palestinian officials had predicted.

The fighting erupted after Israeli right-wing politicianAriel Sharon visited a bitterly contested Jerusalem shrine on September 28 that is holy to Moslems and Jews.

Palestinians say Israel is to blame for the bloodshed anddemand an international inquiry.

Late on Monday, violence raged in the Israeli Arab town ofUmm el-Fahm and in Nazareth, where two Israeli Arabs were killed in clashes with Israeli Jewish crowds during Yom Kippur.

Several Arab-owned homes were torched in Tel Aviv asIsrael8217;s national mood darkened.

On the Israel-Lebanon frontier, Israeli and Lebanesesoldiers were on alert after Hizbollah guerrillas seized three Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on Saturday.

The Israeli Army said on Monday bloodstains found at thescene showed the soldiers had been wounded in the incident.

Tensions have been high with Syria and Lebanon since thethree soldiers were captured and Hizbollah rained mortar bombs across the border on Saturday. It was the most serious violence on the Israel-Lebanon frontier since Israel pulled its Army out of South Lebanon in May, ending 22 years of occupation.

Diplomatic efforts are under way to resolve the soldiers8217;fate. Hizbollah wants to exchange them for scores of Lebanese and Arab prisoners in Israeli detention.