Israel, Palestinians Signal Readiness to Renew Contacts

President Clinton’s envoy began a new effort Wednesday to restart Mideast peace talks, and Israeli and Palestinian leaders signaled that they were ready to renew contacts frozen since mid-March.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a proposal from U.S. mediator Dennis B. Ross to halt a controversial housing project for Jews in historically Arab East Jerusalem, Israel Army Radio reported.

Netanyahu said Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat must first prove that he is fighting terrorism seriously in order to revive the peace process, the radio said.

Ross met Arafat in the Gaza Strip and Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

After meeting Arafat, Ross said, “Obviously, we know that we are facing a difficult situation. We are going to do our best, working together, to find a way to move forward.”

Despite the diplomatic contacts, Israel reimposed a full closure of the West Bank amid fears of a new terror attack.

Before meeting with Ross, Netanyahu suggested that he was willing to make concessions to the Palestinians as the Clinton administration reportedly has urged.

Netanyahu said in an Israel Television interview that he was “willing to go on this path with all the risks that are involved.”

“If Arafat decides that he is ready to take on a similar responsibility, I think that this could lead to a welcome result for both peoples,” Netanyahu said.

Arafat met with Israel’s foreign minister, David Levy, at a business conference in Malta earlier Wednesday--the first high-level contact since the talks broke down last month.

The Palestinian leader said he was ready for more such encounters “to save the peace process.”

However, Arafat’s spokesman, Marwan Kanafani, said the Palestinians had not yet resumed direct security cooperation with Israel--a key Netanyahu demand.

In the West Bank village of Zurif, Israeli army officers blew up one of three homes of suspected Islamic militants slated for destruction.

Zurif has been under curfew since March 21, when a resident blew himself up in a Tel Aviv cafe and killed three Israeli women.

Meanwhile, the decision to again shut off the West Bank came Wednesday after warnings that Islamic militants were plotting new attacks in Israel.