JERUSALEM. Aug 7. Yasser Aratat is telling his people to prepare for battle." saying the worst is yet to come In crippling Israeli sanctions. Newly trained Palestinian fighters have declared themselves ready to meet a feared Israeli invasion, reports AP.

Alarmed Jordanian leaders urged both sides Wednesday to tone down the tough talk in the Israeli Palestinian crisis.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has suspended peace talks, ordered mass arrests, clamped a travel ban on the West Bank and Gaza and halted the transfer of vital tax rev enues to Arafat's self-rule government in the week since suicide bombers killed themselves and 13 others in a crowded Jerusalem market.

"Prepare for battle that Netanyahu is forcing on us. be-

cause what is coming is worse than what has already been." Arafat said in Gaza, at a meeting with leaders of his Fatah faction of the Palestine Libera tfon Organisation.

In the West Bank city of Ra mallah. members of Fatah bunted Israeli and US flags during a graduation ceremony for a course in weapons handling and street combat

The 50 graduates were trained to confront Israeli forces if they try to enter the Palest inian-controlled cities. Palestinian officials said. Hardliners within Netanyahu's government reportedly have urged him to take that step.

Netanyahu said that he was ready to ease up if Aratat clamps down on terror.

"If 1 had to say what is the indispensable step to saving peace, it is for the Palestinian

Authority to take firm and decisive and immediate steps against the Infrastructure of terrorism." Netanyahu said after meeting with Jordan s Crown Prince Hassan and Prime Minister Abdel-Salam Majali in Jerusalem.

Hassan countered that militants should not be allowed to sabotage the peace process.

AFP adds King Hussein of Jordan issued a fresh appeal Wednesday on behalf of the collapsing Middle East peace process after his brother the Crown Prince failed to persuade Israel to lift tough sanctions on the Palestinians

The king quoted by the official news agency Petra, told a visiting delegation of Israeli trade unionists tn Amman that "the supporters of peace must revive and push forward the peace process