In new rock-throwing clashes and gun battles in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a Palestinian was killed and more than 50 were wounded.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Tuesday renewed a call for the deployment of a 2,000-strong U.N. protection force that would shield Palestinians against Israeli troops. Arafat said he would raise the demand when he meets with President Clinton at the White House on Thursday.
The U.N. Security Council was to discuss the Palestinian request on Wednesday. The United States and Israel oppose an international force. However, U.S. officials did not say whether they would veto the proposal, and diplomats, including some from the United States, noted that international observers were dispatched in the past to the tense West Bank town of Hebron.
Meanwhile, Clinton named former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell to lead an inquiry into the cause of the violence that has wracked the West Bank and Gaza for five weeks and imperiled already shaken peacemaking between Israel and the Palestinians.
White House press secretary Jake Siewert said Tuesday that the committee would work with the two sides to ``provide an independent and objective review of the current crisis with the goal of preventing its recurrence.''
Mitchell, a Maine Democrat who was Clinton's mediator for Northern Ireland, will be joined by another former senator, Warren Rudman, a New Hampshire Republican, and three Europeans. They are former Turkish President Suleyman Demirel, Foreign Minister Thorbjorn Jagland of Norway and Javier Solana, a Spanish diplomat who is the senior security official of the European Union.
Arafat had demanded the inquiry be conducted through the United Nations, which condemned Israel's response to Palestinian rioters. But at the emergency summit meeting three weeks ago at Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, the United States was given the primary role in assembling the commission.
In a gesture to Arafat, it was agreed that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan would be consulted. Tuesday's White House statement said Clinton devised the committee in consultation with Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Annan.
Barak, who is to meet with Clinton on Sunday, sent a letter to heads of government worldwide to explain Israel's position. Barak said Israel has acted with utmost restraint, while the Palestinian Authority has been trying to ``replace the peace process with an armed struggle.''
The Israeli leader said he made far-reaching concessions during a Mideast summit at Camp David in July. ``We could resume negotiations which - based on the ideas discussed at Camp David - will lead to the creation of a viable Palestinian state,'' Barak wrote, ``or we can succumb to the route of violence and unilateral Palestinian action.''
If the Palestinians choose violence, he warned, ``Israel will be forced to take measures to ensure the security of our citizens.''
In the past, Barak has said he would not rule out creation of a Palestinian state, but Tuesday's statement was his clearest promise yet of eventual Palestinian independence. Barak's letter appeared, in part, aimed at undercutting possible world support for a unilateral Palestinian proclamation of independence.
Arafat has said 2000 was the year of Palestinian statehood. However, senior Palestinian officials have said Arafat would not declare a state unilaterally in the near future, including on Nov. 15, the 12th anniversary of a symbolic independence declaration the Palestinian leader made in exile.
A senior Israeli official, meanwhile, said Barak did not expect Clinton's latest initiative to lead to a resumption of peace talks. At best, the meetings could help reduce violence, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
At Rachel's Tomb, an Israeli outpost in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, a 24-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli army snipers, military officials said. The man carried a gun and was about to open fire on soldiers, the officials said.
A gun battle erupted at the Karni crossing between Israel and Gaza, and more than 50 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire, Palestinian doctors said.
More than 170 people have been killed in fighting since Sept. 28, most of them Palestinians, including several dozen minors. Israel has accused the Palestinians of sending children into the front lines of the clashes in a ploy to win the world's sympathy.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Tuesday that such allegations were ``shameless'' and that Israel should instead bring to justice soldiers involved in the killing of children.
The Palestinian information minister, Yasser Abed Rabbo, wrote in a letter to the Israeli human rights group Betselem that the Palestinian Authority is trying to keep those 16 and younger away from clashes. He said teachers were making their students aware of the possible dangers.
Israeli government spokesman Nachman Shai said Israel welcomed the policy ``if it is applied.''
Israel's navy, meanwhile, said a suicide bomber apparently was aboard a fishing boat that exploded overnight near an Israeli patrol boat off the Gaza Strip. The Israeli vessel was not damaged. The fishing boat came from Egypt, but the assailant apparently was Palestinian, an Israeli security source said on condition of anonymity.
Also Tuesday, Israel permitted Gaza International Airport to reopen during daylight hours. Two flights landed, including a German military plane taking 23 Palestinians seriously wounded in recent clashes to Germany for treatment.
Israel had closed the airport shortly after Israeli-Palestinian fighting broke out and a bus carrying Israeli workers came under fire.
