Despite Bush’s Prodding, Stalled Mideast Talks May End Today

President Bush prodded the Israelis and Palestinians to get down to business in Middle East peace negotiations Tuesday, but their stalemate continued, signaling that the long-awaited talks will end today with nothing to show for five days of “couch diplomacy.”

An Israeli spokesman said his delegation will leave no later than midnight tonight, even if no agreement is reached on when or where to continue the talks that were launched in Madrid in late October.

“It’s not fast peace. . . . We have time and we have patience,” said Benjamin Netanyahu, an Israeli spokesman. “We’ll meet again after the holidays and take up where we left off.”

Palestinian and Jordanian officials, accusing Israel of inflexibility, indicated that they would appeal for American intervention to arrange the next round in the peace process, if the deadlock is not broken. “If they (Israelis) leave, they will have decided to terminate the nonexistent negotiations before they began,” complained Hanan Ashrawi, spokeswoman for the Palestinians.

The chiefs of the Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian delegations have met for five days, sitting on a sofa in a State Department hall, to discuss the conditions under which the talks could be moved to an adjacent conference room. While this “couch diplomacy” has not erupted into personal acrimony among the participants, it also has not achieved any progress since it started a week ago.

Bush, who met Tuesday morning with Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy, reportedly delivered a strong message, urging the Israelis to move from procedural wrangling to substantive talks. Similar sentiments were expressed to the Arabs by Assistant Secretary of State Edward P. Djerejian at a meeting with members of Jordan’s delegation.

While Israeli diplomats have met across the table from their Lebanese and Syrian counterparts, those talks also have failed to achieve even minor breakthroughs. Some observers regard the fact that their dialogue has continued as a triumph, in view of their bitter antagonism in the past.

There were greater hopes for direct Israeli talks with a more moderate Palestinian delegation, meeting jointly with representatives of Jordan. But they have been unable to move from the State Department sofa into the conference room because of the procedural dispute.

In essence, Israel believes that meeting alone with a Palestinian delegation would enhance the Palestinians’ bid to be viewed as an independent state. The Palestinians hope to achieve that status as a result of the talks.

Both the Israelis and the Palestinians accused each other of trying to change the ground rules before substantial discussions begin on self-governing arrangements for the occupied territories.