Israelis, Palestinians ignore compromise II

　　The president, who was emotional at times, said "it 's been a heartbreaking time for me" to prod Israel and the Palestinians to the brink of an accord and not reac h the goal, even as violence gripped the region. "But w e have done our best," he said in a speech delivered at the Israel Policy Forum gala in New York.

　　Clinton has proposed that Israel withdraw from 95 p ercent of the West Bank and all of Gaza. Israel would c ede control over a key Jerusalem shrine revered (崇敬) by Muslims and Jews, and in exchange the Palestinians woul d drop a demand that nearly 4 million Palestinian refug ees and their descendants be granted the right to retur n.

　　But the Palestinians said they would resist attempt s to produce a joint Israeli-Palestinian "declaration o f principles" based on those proposals. UN resolutions that call on Israel to withdraw from war-won land and g rant Palestinian refugees the right to return to former homes must remain the basis for negotiations.

　　In the Gaza Strip, a 34-year-old Palestinian man wa s killed by Israeli fire close to the Netzarim junction . The army said soldiers opened fire because the man ca rried a "suspicious" bag and came too close to the sold iers.

　　In separate West Bank incidents, a 20-year-old Pale stinian woman was killed and a 10-year-old Palestinian boy was critically injured.

　　Fox News AP