HIGHLIGHTS: King Advises Washington to Step up Mideast Peace Efforts||Arafat to Announce New Cabinet Soon||9 Palestinian Resistance Activists Arrested in West Bank & Gaza||A Palestinian Collaborator Sentenced to Death in Gaza|| STORY: The top US envoy for the Middle East, William Burns, briefed Jordan's King Abdullah II on the outlines of a US-backed roadmap to end the two-year Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In the occupied territories, meanwhile, four Israeli soldiers were lightly hurt arresting Palestinians, even as Washington, with its eye on a war against Iraq, upped pressure on Israel over the deaths of Palestinian civilians.

Burns, the assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs, met with Abdullah in the Red Sea resort of Aqaba on the second leg of a regional tour aimed at making "concrete" progress in ending the conflict which has claimed more than 2,500 lives and complicated US policy in the region.

He kicked off the tour earlier in the day in Cairo with talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

KING ADVISES STEPPED UP PEACE EFFORTS

Abdullah advised the US envoy that peace efforts should be sped up "because of the difficult situation on the ground and must lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state within three years," a palace official told AFP.

The roadmap, initially drawn by a diplomatic quartet grouping the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, aims to secure an independent Palestinian state living side by side with Israel by 2005.

RAFAH MASSCRE SPARKS OUTRAGE OVER ISRAEL'S EXCESSIVE USE OF FORCE AGAINST PALESTINIANS

Shortly before the Mubarak talks, Washington leaned on Israel to rein in its military, joining a global outcry over the killing of six Palestinian civilians, including two elderly women and two children, in the Gaza Strip.

The deaths sparked outrage over Israel's repeated use of excessive use of force against Palestinians under occupation and pulled the rug from under Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon after a visit to Washington where he and President George W. Bush reviewed both a timeline for reviving the peace process and US plans for Iraq.

ARAFAT TO ANNOUNCE NEW CABINET SOON

Burns's 12-nation tour also comes as Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat prepared to unveil a new cabinet to meet demands from United States and Israel -- as well as his own people -- the Palestinian Authority clean up its act.

Acting Palestinian information minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said Saturday a Palestinian delegation would meet with Burns Thursday in the West Bank.

NINE PALESTINIANS ARRESTED IN THE WEST BANK & GAZA

Meanwhile, the Israeli military and Palestinian security sources said Saturday the occupation army had nabbed nine Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and four soldiers were lightly wounded in one of the operations.

The soldiers were hit when they blasted their way into the building where four wanted men from the Palestinian resistance group Hamas and Arafat's mainstream Fatah movement were hiding out in the West Bank town of Nablus, the army said.

Clashes also broke out Saturday night between Jewish settlers and Israeli occupation troops and police trying to clear a so-called rogue Jewish settlement near Nablus.

The security forces gathered to dismantle the Havat Gilad outpost, but were met by hundreds of settlers who sat on the ground to prevent bulldozers and other demolition equipment from reaching the outpost, public radio reported.

Seven police officers and two soldiers, one a woman, were reportedly hurt after settlers threw stones at them.

The outposts are often little more than a few caravans and tents on a hilltop, which are then developed into larger, fixed settlements.

The settlements -- all of which are considered illegal by the international community -- are the main source of the Palestinian rage that triggered the intifada, or uprising against Israeli occupation.

A COLLABORATOR SENTENCED TO DEATH IN GAZA

A Gaza state security court, meanwhile, condemned to death a Palestinian for collaborating with Israeli forces against Hamas, the prosecutor said.

PHOTO CAPTION

Jordan's King Abdullah, right, walks with Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for Near East Affairs William Burns, in the Red Sea Resort of Aqaba, Jordan, on Saturday Oct. 19, 2002. Burns is in Jordan on the second leg on his Middle East tour. (AP Photo/Pool/Yousef Allan)
- Oct 19 7:22 PM