U.S. Envoy Delays Departure as Stalled Mideast Talks Resume

In a sudden turnaround, a U.S. envoy who had planned to leave the Middle East delayed his departure instead and resumed brokering peace talks into the early hours Tuesday.

Both Israeli and Palestinian officials said progress in the delicate discussions over an Israeli redeployment from the West Bank city of Hebron brought U.S. peace envoy Dennis Ross back from the airport to the negotiating table.

But there were conflicting reports late Tuesday on whether the two sides were close to reaching an accord on Hebron, the last and most controversial of seven West Bank cities due to be turned over to Palestinian control under a 1995 agreement.

“It’s close to an end. It’s not yet finished,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday. “I hope it will end quickly.”

A top Palestinian official, however, described Tuesday’s progress as limited.

“I would agree there’s been some movement, but I think there’s also some exaggeration there,” said Marwan Kanafani, an advisor to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.

U.S. officials said Ross was en route to the airport shortly before midnight Monday when he took a call on his cellular telephone and learned that progress had been made by the joint committee discussing civilian issues, including the planning and zoning rules to be put in place after a partial Israeli withdrawal from Hebron.

“We delayed our departure last night because we were in the middle of the most promising discussions to date on the issue of civil affairs,” Ross said in a statement. He was sent to the region by President Clinton after a recent surge in violence claimed at least 75 lives and left hundreds injured.

Israeli and U.S. officials said the negotiations had produced a draft agreement on the civil issues, which the two leaders and their aides were said to be examining Tuesday night.

A parallel round of discussions on security issues, however, appeared to be on rockier terrain. Palestinian negotiators walked out at one point, with one official reportedly describing the attitude of Israeli delegates as that of “occupiers toward the occupied.”

Israeli officials said the Palestinians seemed to be stalling, hoping to put off an overall agreement on Hebron until after the U.S. presidential election, apparently in the belief that more pressure might then be brought to bear on Israel.

The security talks resumed late Tuesday, and initial reports indicated progress was being made.

Kanafani said the Palestinians appreciated the efforts of Ross and other U.S. mediators but the matters that had been resolved represented only a few of the outstanding issues.

“The civilian side, it’s maybe 10% of the whole agreement,” Kanafani said. “And we’re maybe 50% of the way on that 10%.”

Other issues, Palestinian officials have said, include expansion of Jewish settlements, the release of Palestinian prisoners and the question of safe passage between Palestinian-ruled areas in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The need for progress in the peace talks was underscored in the West Bank with reports of violence Tuesday. Witnesses said Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian teenager as he stoned them in a village near the city of Ramallah. The army said it was investigating the incident but added that initial reports indicated the soldiers had fired into the air.

Earlier, a Palestinian man was killed near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank. Witnesses said his car was struck by a rocket. But Israeli security officials said it was hit by a stone.

Also Tuesday, French President Jacques Chirac, partway through a strained, three-day visit to Israel, complained after zealous security guards kept journalists, Palestinian merchants and residents from approaching him during a visit to Jerusalem’s Old City.

“What do you want--me to go back to my plane and go back to France?” an angry Chirac shouted at the Israeli guards at one point.

Netanyahu later apologized to Chirac at a lunch. The French president--who had hopes of playing a peacemaker role here--accepted, saying he viewed the incident as closed.