GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - In a bid to give faltering peace talks a chance - and perhaps a final one - a Palestinian ruling body honored Yasser Arafat's wishes Sunday and delayed yet again the long-postponed declaration of Palestinian statehood.
The move gave a new lease on life to the delicate and troubled peace process with Israel, but it might be a short one. All sides reported there was still no breakthrough in sight over the heart-wrenching issue of Jerusalem, and specifically of sovereignty over sites holy to both Muslims and Jews.
The Palestinian Central Council's decision came after two days of long-awaited debate, although it had been clear throughout that they would put off a Sept. 13 date set for the declaration. Arafat had been under intense international pressure not to make a unilateral move that could damage peace talks and possibly provoke violent conflict with Israel.
Israel immediately hailed the decision. In New York, where Prime Minister Ehud Barak is traveling, his spokesman, Gadi Baltiansky, called the move ''a positive step.''
Barak, speaking from New York just before the vote in an interview with ABC, said the likely delay was ''a positive sign, but we still have to have no illusions. We still have a lot of work to do.''
Saying that ''in a way, it's now or never,'' Barak hinted at new leeway over the issue at the center of the deadlock. He suggested he was ready to accept less than full Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount - known to Muslims as the Haram as-Sharif - the holy site in Jerusalem's Old City revered by Muslims and Jews.
The terms of the Palestinian decision to delay a statehood declaration were deliberately vague. Officials didn't want to fall again into the trap of naming a date, then having to pull back from it. But it appeared statehood had been put off by at least two months, until Nov. 15, and perhaps longer.
The council will reconvene by Nov. 15 - the anniversary of the 1988 declaration of statehood made by Arafat from exile in Algiers, Algeria - to discuss when to declare statehood, said Salim Zanoun, chairman of the 129-member council.
In the meantime, Palestinians will work on state-building measures, such as preparing a constitution, setting up legislative and presidential elections, and working on applying for Palestinian membership in the United Nations, he said.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the PLO Executive Committee, an 18-member body led by Arafat, would recommend the proper date to declare statehood, and the council would then consider it.
''This decision gives the peace process a brilliant chance,'' Erekat said. ''I hope now that the intensive negotiations will take their due course.''
Arafat has said second-tier negotiations due to begin soon in the region would go into high gear for the next five weeks.
But both sides acknowledged the task remained daunting.
''The main problem remains, and that is sovereignty over Jerusalem,'' said Cabinet Minister Nabil Shaath. ''No Palestinian leader can sacrifice sovereignty over Jerusalem.''
Barak, who has said only for or five weeks remained to forge a treaty, told ABC This Week that Arafat ''has to move'' in negotiations.
The Sept. 13 date was set last year by Arafat and Barak as the deadline for a final peace accord between their peoples.
Arafat dearly wants to realize his lifelong dream of declaring statehood for his people. But he knows that a state without Israeli approval would encounter huge if not insurmountable obstacles.
World leaders have warned Arafat that a state declared unilaterally would receive little support. And Israel had threatened ''countermeasures'' in such an event, which could have included annexing parts of the West Bank.
However, if Arafat were to delay statehood too long, he could suffer huge damage to his credibility among ordinary Palestinians, who share his dream.
On the sun-baked streets of Gaza Sunday, Palestinians seemed frustrated at the constant delays, yet resigned to the need for another one. They said they knew that a state declared unilaterally would be cut off from Israel, Gaza's economic lifeline.
''It's beautiful to have an independent state,'' mused Rana Muhammed, a 20-year-old pharmacology student, gazing at sequined evening gowns in a shop window during an afternoon stroll. ''But the question is what kind of state - can we live with it? Our economy is totally dependent on Israel.''
In a nearby cafe, security agent Mohammed Sa'afin paused from an afternoon card game. ''This is a bid to win some more time,'' he said. But he added: ''If they delay it after this one ... the Palestinian people will not wait forever. They will snatch these rights with their own hands.''
A retiree, Elsoh Kamil, interrupted angrily. ''It's nothing but talk,'' he said. ''We've never gotten anything from the Jews. Statehood by the end of the year? I don't believe it. In 100 years, things will be the same for us.''
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