Arafat Softens Tone in Address; Israeli Shot Dead in West Bank

Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat reversed his angry rhetoric to send a message of peace to Israel, but it was quickly undermined by the killing of an Israeli motorist Monday in the West Bank.

The motorist was shot and killed in the afternoon on a road between Jerusalem and the Palestinian city of Ramallah. The army said Arieh Hershkovitz, 55, a father of four, was shot from a passing car.

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli soldiers on Monday repeatedly traded gunfire with Palestinians. Soldiers shot dead a Palestinian who Palestinian officials said was working on his home. Israeli military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the man was aiming a gun at the soldier who shot him.

On Sunday in Davos, Switzerland, Arafat enraged the Israelis in a speech in which he accused Israel of waging “fascist military aggression” during the four months of Israeli-Palestinian violence. He also claimed that Israel used depleted uranium in its weapons, a claim the military denied.

Caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who has ruled out any contacts with Arafat before Israel’s Feb. 6 election, charged him with unleashing an “attack of lies.”

Arafat changed his tone in an interview that was recorded in Davos hours after his speech and broadcast in Israel on Monday.

“I’m with the peace process,” Arafat said.

About 375 people have been killed, mostly Palestinians, since the fighting began in late September.