Sense of Urgency Gripping Mideast Negotiators : Diplomacy: Baker will be missed as talks resume. U.S., Israeli and Arab political calculations are also involved.

If the path to peace in the Middle East could be plotted on a road map, then former Secretary of State James A. Baker III might be compared to the motorist who, stopping for directions at a remote farmhouse, is told: “You can’t get there from here.”

Now, just when it appeared that the goal of an Arab-Israeli peace settlement might finally be in sight, Baker and his top Mideast man, Dennis Ross, have been diverted to the White House to take charge of President Bush’s struggling reelection campaign.

Although the State Department stresses that Baker will still be available to offer advice, his departure, compounded by the manifold uncertainties of a closely fought election campaign, weighs heavily on the minds of the negotiators convening in Washington today for what could be a pivotal round of Middle East peace diplomacy.

After more than 40 years of conflict and stalemate, everyone “is suddenly in such a rush to make peace,” said one Israeli diplomat.

Three new sets of political calculations--Israeli, Arab and American--have contributed to the sense of urgency driving the new monthlong round of talks being held at the State Department in an effort to negotiate a formula for Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Having put an end to 15 years of hard-line Likud Party rule with a pledge to make peace with the Palestinians, the new Labor-led Israeli government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is eager to cement its slim electoral majority in the Knesset (Parliament) by demonstrating progress early and quickly in the talks.

As confidence-building measures on the eve of the talks, Rabin announced several concessions to the Palestinians, including the early release of 800 Palestinians from prison. Other measures will include loosening restrictions on Palestinians entering Israel and reopening Palestinian homes and streets sealed by the army.

A statement from Rabin’s office after Sunday’s weekly Cabinet meeting said that the steps were being taken “to improve the atmosphere among the Arab population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.”

Israeli delegation leader Elyakim Rubenstein affirmed upon his arrival in Washington on Sunday that “it’s a time of opportunity . . . (and) we desire to move ahead quickly.” Confirming that Rubenstein is bringing “several new proposals” to the table, another Israeli official said that Rabin hopes to have the broad outlines of an autonomy agreement laid out by December--in time to organize elections for a Palestinian administrative council by next spring.

Asserting that the “historic window of opportunity” that currently exists may not remain open for long, the official added that the Palestinians would be making a “tragic mistake” if they failed to accept Rabin’s offer to negotiate an “authentic” autonomy agreement.

While they suspect that this take-it-or-leave-it tone is pre-negotiation posturing on Israel’s part, the Palestinians also have cause to keep at least one nervous eye fixed on the clock, according to sources close to their delegation. By the end of this current round of talks, the negotiations that began in Madrid will be one year old, and the patience of the Palestinians “in the occupied territories can be expected to wear thin if there is no visible progress by then,” one Arab official said.

With Rabin’s election, the sudden reflowering of the U.S.-Israeli relationship--evidenced by Bush’s decision to approve $10 billion in long-delayed loan guarantees to Israel--also has the Palestinians worried that the Bush Administration will show less sympathy toward their side than it has in the past, other Arab officials acknowledged.

The possibility that Democratic presidential nominee Bill Clinton may unseat Bush in November also is the cause of some angst in Palestinian ranks because of the even more solidly pro-Israeli position he has taken over the past few months.

For its part, the Bush Administration clearly hopes to quicken the momentum of the talks--not only because of the danger that things could begin to drift apart in Baker’s absence but because of the boost that a peace agreement before Election Day could give to Bush’s campaign. Originally scheduled to be held in Rome, the current round of talks was moved to Washington at Bush’s request, Israeli sources confirmed.

But despite the pressures felt by all sides to reach an agreement on Palestinian autonomy, the obstacles remain high.

A senior Israeli official said Rubenstein was bringing “detailed” proposals for the election of an administrative council that would run Palestinian municipal affairs in the West Bank and Gaza Strip during a five-year interim period of self-rule. The council would have no say over defense or foreign policy matters but could conceivably exercise joint administrative control with Israel over land and water use in the territories--a degree of domestic power-sharing that the Likud government of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir refused to even contemplate.

The Palestinian negotiators will insist on something broader than that, however. While the Israelis envision a 15- to 20-member administrative council, the Palestinians want to form a much larger national assembly that would have legislative, as well as administrative, functions in the West Bank.

But that much autonomy, an Israeli official made clear, is too much for Israel. “We can talk about joint administration of water and land, but we are not going to talk about anything that would imply or indicate the possibility of an eventual Palestinian state,” the official said. “If the Palestinians understand this, then we can be generous. . . . But if they insist on a legislative body, then it’s a no-go.”

While the Israeli negotiators headed to Washington, 40 members of the Palestinian delegation crossed the Allenby Bridge from the Israeli-occupied West Bank and boarded a waiting charter flight in Jordan after U.S. officials helped broker resolution of a dispute over bridge-crossing procedures. The delegation had delayed its journey when Israeli border guards Friday challenged the travel documents of several team members.

Delegation spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi said that the Palestinian team had debated until the early morning hours Sunday whether to boycott the talks altogether. She said it finally agreed to attend after it won what she called significant concessions from the Israelis, whose exit procedures have delayed the delegation in the past.

“I think our people went to Washington with a lot of bitterness in their hearts and minds that might reflect on the peace talks themselves,” said Elias Freij, the Palestinian mayor of Bethlehem and a member of the official negotiating team. “For us, this whole incident is like a red light.”

Ross reported from Washington and Fineman from Jerusalem.