Israel Territories And Possessions

Israeli officials, responding to growing unease in the army over the military's role in suppressing the Arab uprising in the occupied territories, are trying to define the purpose of the action and prospects for ending the unrest. But the effort is proving difficult, leaving the military, increasingly under public criticism, to justify its actions on mainly technical grounds.

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir on Wednesday volunteered to go to Moscow for a ceremonial opening to Middle East peace talks, reviving a previously discarded plan as an alternative to an American proposal he firmly opposes. Shamir suggested that President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S.

A Palestinian Muslim activist wounded four times by army gunfire during the 28-month-old anti-Israeli uprising was shot to death Wednesday by troops in the Gaza Strip. Jazi abu Mustafa, 18, was the first person to be killed by the army in the occupied territories in 13 days--believed to be the longest lull since the revolt began in December, 1987.

Ronen Zexer, a manager at an Israeli high-tech firm, sent an e-mail to 20 of his computer buddies. Each of them sent out more e-mails. Soon, hundreds of people were being recruited to join nightly demonstrations in support of this week's Camp David peace summit. Zexer felt that many Israelis, out of apathy or fatigue or inertia, were talking a lot about peace but not doing much about it. It was time to go beyond the animated Friday night dinner table talks and into the streets.

With the Clinton administration describing the mood at Camp David as "tense," Israeli and Palestinian negotiators split into subcommittees Friday as they struggled to resolve the specific issues standing in the way of a peace agreement. White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart's disclosure that the negotiators were meeting in small groups was the first firm indication that the talks have progressed beyond generalities. On Friday night, the U.S.

Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat on Tuesday gave the strongest signal yet that he will bow to appeals from the United States and put off a promised declaration of statehood. Launching a crucial debate here by the Palestinian Central Council, the Palestine Liberation Organization's mini-parliament, Arafat said the Palestinians have a right to establish an independent state but indicated that the timing is not right.

Fulfilling a commitment under a new interim peace accord, Israel transferred 7% of the West Bank to Palestinian civil control Friday, three days ahead of schedule. The hand-over of more than a dozen slivers of land dotting the ear-shaped territory marked the first transfer of territory to the Palestinians by the new government of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and the first change in the status of any West Bank parcels in 10 months.

With a self-imposed one-year deadline for ending decades of conflict, Israel and the Palestinian Authority on Monday opened negotiations on the last and most difficult issues blocking a definitive peace.

Embarking on a confrontation course with the influential Jewish settler movement, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak told settlement leaders Tuesday that more than a dozen outposts that have sprouted on the West Bank in the past year will be dismantled. The decision to uproot 15 of 42 new settlements, some of which consist only of a trailer home or two on an isolated hilltop, had been broadly hinted at this week in comments by Barak and other top officials.

Settlers backed down from threats of confrontation Wednesday and agreed not to stand in the way of the evacuation of 12 West Bank outposts the government has deemed illegal. It was a victory for Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who can now proceed unhampered with the first major evacuation of settlements since 1995. Clearing out the outposts sets the stage for rolling back settlements in the disputed West Bank, where Palestinians hope to establish a future state.