Israelis Head Home After Peace Talks End in Acrimony

The latest round of Middle East peace talks ended in acrimony and apparent stalemate Thursday, with the Arabs complaining that Israel had brought about a premature end to the negotiations because it was not ready for serious bargaining.

The Israeli delegation headed for home at midday after only four days of meetings and without a final press conference. The Israelis’ uncharacteristic reticence left the media all to the Arabs.

“You can bring the Israelis to the negotiating table, but you can’t make them negotiate,” said Palestinian leader Hanan Ashrawi.

The Israelis originally had planned to leave Wednesday night but extended their stay by half a day. Israeli officials protested that they came to Washington last week, ready to start the talks Jan. 7 but that the Arabs delayed the start until last Monday to protest Israel’s ordered expulsion of 12 West Bank and Gaza Palestinians. If the talks had begun last week, the Israelis maintained, there would have been plenty of time.

Participants on both sides said that the talks will resume next month, although there is no agreement yet on where they will take place. The Arabs want to come back to Washington, but the Israelis want to move to a site closer to the Middle East.

The U.S. sponsors of the talks insisted that the meetings were worthwhile despite the lack of significant progress.

“We think that this round of talks was important and that significant procedural issues were resolved and all of the parties were engaged,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

“As we’ve said before, the issues to be negotiated are complex and thus the negotiations are expected to be tough. The key is to remain on course toward achieving a comprehensive settlement of the Arab-Israeli dispute.”

Although Israeli negotiators insisted that they were not deterred by a political crisis back home, officials conceded that Israel did not go beyond suggesting an agenda for future talks.