Christopher Hopes to Set Mideast Talks Date Soon

Secretary of State Warren Christopher completed his first Middle East negotiating trip Wednesday, saying he hopes to announce a new date for Arab-Israeli peace talks soon. But he acknowledged that he still has some bargaining to do before the talks can resume.

“I have a very real sense that all the parties (to the talks) want the negotiations to succeed,” Christopher said after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. He said he hopes to clear away the last obstacles to the talks “over the next days and weeks.”

Aides said Christopher will send emissaries to the region and that he will talk with Arab and Israeli leaders by telephone to try to conclude a deal. Israeli officials said the talks might restart in mid-April after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish holiday of Passover are over.

The only significant obstacle to resuming the talks is the impasse over 396 Palestinian militants deported by Israel to neighboring Lebanon in December. But there are signs of progress on the issue.

Christopher told Palestinian leaders that the Clinton Administration is willing to help them win better human rights treatment from Israel if they return to the peace talks--an incentive for them to accept a compromise on the issue of the deportees.

But Christopher also warned that the Administration will not be much help if Palestinians stay out of the talks.

Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi said the Arabs consider Christopher’s proposals “worth pursuing.”

Christopher’s two-hour meeting with the Palestinians, led by Jerusalem businessman Faisal Husseini, had a frosty moment when the Arabs reminded the American that they consider Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat their leader. Christopher said bluntly that the United States will not deal directly with Arafat or the PLO, the U.S. official said, adding that the Clinton Administration believes the PLO still harbors “terrorist tendencies.”

The members of the Palestinian delegation to the talks are not formally PLO members, but they have all declared their allegiance to the organization.

Times staff writer Michael Parks contributed to this report.