Israeli Official Expresses Optimism About Peace Talks : Mideast: Guerrilla attacks on nation’s forces in southern Lebanon underscore difficulty of moving beyond words.

Despite the two-month interruption in the Arab-Israeli peace talks and the likelihood they will not resume for two months more, Israel expressed optimism Wednesday that a full set of peace agreements could be reached this year with all of its Arab neighbors, including the Palestinians.

Deputy Foreign Minister Yossi Beilin, speaking on the eve of Secretary of State Warren Christopher’s visit to the Middle East, stressed what he called the “solvability” of the 45-year-old Arab-Israeli conflict but said that active American involvement would be needed at each stage.

The main task of the Christopher trip--which the secretary begins today in Cairo and concludes here next week after talks in Jordan, Kuwait, Syria and Saudi Arabia--should be resumption of the Washington-based peace negotiations, Beilin said.

With that accomplished, Jerusalem would “do whatever is possible within the framework of the security of Israel to accelerate the peace process and sign peace treaties this year,” he pledged, expressing hope that “new ideas” for a settlement will emerge in the Christopher mission.

Beilin’s upbeat assessment reflected the optimism of many in the 7-month-old government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who views the Washington talks as the best chance Israel and the Arabs have had for peace in many years.

But Beilin was also carefully positioning Jerusalem as the positive-thinking and flexible partner in a dialogue that remains very difficult.

“We will not be the naysayers, the side that raises preconditions, that sets limits,” another senior Israeli official commented.

The difficulty of moving beyond words, however, was underscored by a seven-hour artillery battle Wednesday in southern Lebanon between guerrillas belonging to the pro-Iranian Party of God, or Hezbollah, and Israeli forces and their local allies in the South Lebanese Army in Israel’s self-proclaimed “security zone.”

Lt. Gen. Ehud Barak, the Israeli chief of staff, said the Hezbollah guerrillas launched an artillery, rocket and mortar barrage at dawn Wednesday across the 20-mile arc forming the northern limit of the Israeli-controlled zone and followed up with a series of ground assaults on Israeli and South Lebanese Army positions in the zone.

Barak said the assault--marking the anniversary of the killing of Sheik Abbas Moussawi, the Hezbollah leader, in an Israeli helicopter attack last year on the border village of Jibsheet--was repulsed by a bombardment and helicopter assaults on the guerrillas’ rear positions.

Four Hezbollah guerrillas and two Lebanese villagers were reported killed, and more than 45 people were wounded, according to the Israeli news agency Itim.

In Nabitiyeh, Lebanon, residents, particularly the victims of Wednesday’s retaliation, saw the battle as a prelude to the American peace offensive in the Middle East.

Ahmed Akhdar, a 22-year-old mechanic, was among those wounded in the Israeli assault on Jibsheet. As his sister, Siham, 28, stood beside his bed at the government hospital in Nabitiyeh, holding the large chunk of shrapnel that had been removed from her brother’s leg, she concluded, “This is a reception for Christopher.”

As the fighting flared Wednesday, Palestinians deported to southern Lebanon as suspected Islamic militants marched from their tent camp at Marj Zohour toward Israeli-held territory to mark their two months in exile. Many of the nearly 400 men released helium-filled balloons to carry messages to Israel.

In the occupied West Bank, an 18-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed when Israeli troops opened fire to disperse stone-throwing youths at a refugee camp near Nablus, according to an Israeli military spokesman. Three other youths were reported wounded.

Beilin said the upsurge in fighting along the Israeli-Lebanese border, greater unrest in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and increased terrorist attacks in Israel itself all stemmed from a renewed effort to disrupt the peace negotiations and even to prevent resumption of the talks in mid-April.

Times special correspondent Marilyn Raschka in Nabatiyeh, Lebanon, contributed to this report.