Which Way, L.A.?

Fighting, then peace in Mid east?

It's been exactly a year since Ehud Barak was elected Prime Minister of Israel with the promise of making peace at last with Palestinian forces. But the past week has seen some of the worst violence in decades on the Palestinian West Bank, attributed by most observers to Yassir Arafat. In the past, such outbreaks have provoked retribution and led to suspension of diplomatic negotiations. But this time, not so. In the midst of the latest troubles, Barak engineered parliamentary approval for turning over three more towns to Arafat's Palestinian Authority. Scheduled guests include: Itamar Rabinovich, Israel's former Ambassador in Washington and a former chief negotiator with Syria; Akiva Eldar, a political columnist and editorial writer for Daily Ha'aretz in Israel; Ali Abunimar, a Palestinian with the Arab American Action Network; Shawqi Issa, Executive Director of the Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights & the Environment, based in Jerusalem. Today's Reporter's Notebook segment focuses on the work of Los Angeles Times reporter Virginia Ellis, who has broken numerous stories from Sacramento on Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush.