U.S. Boosts Efforts to End Mideast Deadlock

The United States is intensifying efforts to break the deadlock in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking despite political turmoil threatening to tear apart Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

Netanyahu’s office said Saturday that the prime minister had spoken by telephone with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and that they had decided envoy Dennis B. Ross will go ahead with a visit to Israel on Tuesday, a day later than planned.

In a show of optimism that Netanyahu will survive yet another political crisis--this time a dispute with Foreign Minister David Levy over the 1998 budget--the statement said the Israeli leader will visit the White House on Jan. 20.

Ross’ trip, scheduled to include talks with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat on Tuesday, will follow Albright’s unsuccessful bid last month to break a nine-month impasse that started when Israel began work on a Jewish housing project in traditionally Arab East Jerusalem.

After talks in Europe with Netanyahu and Arafat, Albright decided that the two leaders should come to Washington for separate meetings with President Clinton.

Albright has tried to make Netanyahu produce a blueprint for a new Israeli troop withdrawal in the West Bank and to make Arafat come up with a written document on better security cooperation with Israel.

Israel’s Cabinet has failed to agree on the scope of a troop pullback or on the extent of “security zones” it wants to establish in the West Bank in a final peace pact. Netanyahu is also reported to be refusing to endorse Arafat’s security plan.