U.N. Official Sees New Hope on Hostages : Bush Reported ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ but Long Wait is Expected

A senior U.N. official said today after meeting with Muslim leaders that “circumstances might be more conducive” to resolve the problem of Western hostages held in Lebanon.

In Washington, President Bush’s chief spokesman said Bush is “cautiously optimistic” that American hostages will gain their freedom but added, “It’s probably going to be a longer period of time rather than shorter.”

Press secretary Marlin Fitzwater said proposals to free hostages have come from countries that include Iran, Syria, Algeria, and Israel in addition to the United States.

U.N. Undersecretary General Marrack Goulding said a solution could come about only “through a long process of quiet and patient diplomacy” in which many governments and organizations would have to take part.

Officials in Israel, which July 28 seized a Muslim cleric, Sheik Abdul Karim Obeid, reiterated today that there will be no exchange of captives unless three Israeli servicemen are part of the swap.

“If we don’t get the Israelis, there won’t be a deal,” said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Alon Liel in Jerusalem. Right-wing legislators also called for retaliation if any Israelis were harmed.

Kidnapers holding U.S. hostage Joseph Cicippio on Sunday offered to release him immediately if Israel frees Obeid and 450 Arab prisoners and allows 55 Palestinian deportees to return home.

Goulding spoke after two meetings he held in West Beirut with acting Muslim Prime Minister Salim Hoss and Sheik Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, spiritual guide of Hezbollah, or Party of God.

The Shiite Muslim fundamentalist party is believed to be the umbrella group for pro-Iranian extremist factions holding most of the Western hostages in Lebanon.

Hezbollah leader Hussein Mousawi said an Israeli soldier his group holds could be killed if Obeid is not released.

Goulding, who heads U.N. peacekeeping operations, said he will fly back to New York “fairly soon” to report to Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar.

“I would say without claiming to be optimistic, this is something that many people have said to me, that there are certain tendencies, certain trends in the international climate which suggest that circumstances may be more conducive to a settlement to the hostages problem now than they have been sometime in the past,” he said without elaborating.