Netanyahu, Arafat Hold Lengthy Talks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat met for long talks here Tuesday but emerged without agreement on an Israeli troop withdrawal from the West Bank city of Hebron.

U.S. special envoy Dennis Ross, who mediated the 3 1/2-hour negotiation at this border crossing between Israel and the Palestinian-ruled Gaza Strip, said the two leaders made “real progress” on a Hebron accord. “They have dealt with many of the issues [but] we’re not there yet,” he said.

In almost three months of discussions, the two sides have been unable to agree on specifics of the redeployment of Israeli troops from Hebron, the last major Arab community on the West Bank remaining under occupation.

As they left the meeting place minutes apart, Netanyahu and Arafat smiled but did not speak to reporters. Israeli, Palestinian and U.S. officials who participated in the talks described a positive interaction between the two men, who met for more than an hour with only a translator present, then with Ross, and finally with the negotiating teams.

Still, Arafat on two occasions grew angry at Netanyahu, reportedly when the two discussed joint Israeli-Palestinian patrols near Hebron’s Cave of the Patriarchs, a site holy to Muslims and Jews alike. The Palestinian leader had to be persuaded to continue, several of those involved in the discussions said.

But Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that, although the talks grew “difficult” at times, the overall mood was good and aimed at reestablishing trust.

Ross, who returned to the Middle East last weekend to try to push the leaders to wrap up a Hebron deal, said he would remain in the region for now, in light of the talks’ progress. He had been expected to return to Washington on Monday night to brief President Clinton but has twice delayed his departure.

Tuesday’s meeting succeeded in enhancing the trust between the two sides, Ross said. “No one meeting is going to resolve all problems or change the entire character of relations, but this has been . . . very productive,” he said.

The talks narrowed remaining differences on such issues as the kinds of weapons that Palestinian security forces can carry in areas Israel hands over to their control, and where the Palestinian troops will be deployed, a senior American diplomat said.

Negotiators focusing on security arrangements will meet today to try to resolve remaining details, the diplomat said. If those discussions succeed, he said, Netanyahu and Arafat may meet again as early as Thursday. “We’re very close to an agreement,” he said.

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But in Hebron, the city at the heart of the debate, Jewish and Arab residents waited with a mixture of impatience and dread for the overdue redeployment.

Moshe ben Zimra, a spokesman for Hebron’s Jewish settlers, warned that the emerging agreement would “create the most horrible conditions” for settlers. About 500 Jewish settlers and seminary students live among the Arab residents of Hebron, who number about 130,000.

“If this is a peace agreement, why are [Israeli soldiers] taking up more and more military positions?” Ben Zimra asked. “Why are they bringing in sandbags and so many more soldiers? It doesn’t look like we are heading toward peace, does it?”

Under terms of a 1995 Israeli-Palestinian agreement, Israel was due to withdraw from 80% of Hebron in March, turning control over to the Palestinian Authority.

Samih abu Sneineh, 21, a Palestinian student in Hebron, predicted that instability would follow any accord. “The agreement will not be acceptable to the Arab residents or the settlers,” he said. “So there will definitely be friction between the Arabs and settlers.”

Sami Bakri, 30, who works as a firefighter for the city, added: “As long as there are Israeli soldiers and settlers in Hebron, you can’t consider this peace.”

Meanwhile, in southern Lebanon, two Israeli soldiers were killed and two severely wounded by a roadside bomb, bringing to 27 the number of Israeli soldiers slain in the area this year. The pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s deaths.

Muhammed el-Hasan of The Times’ Jerusalem Bureau contributed to this report.