U.S. Working to Salvage Mideast Peace Accord

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright plunged back into full-scale Middle East mediation Thursday, holding separate hastily scheduled meetings with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to rescue negotiations that stalled on the verge of success.

A senior State Department official said the intense diplomacy reduced differences between the two sides to a dwindling few. But he would not confirm reports from Egypt that an interim peace agreement will be signed today, a day later than originally planned.

Israeli officials reported this morning that the American intervention had not produced a breakthrough but they said efforts would continue. Barak continued to insist that Palestinians accede to Israeli terms on the release of prisoners and other outstanding issues.

For Albright, the reactivated U.S. role was a tacit admission of failure for a strategy of allowing the two sides to work out an agreement between themselves.

An impasse in the direct talks raised new doubts about an interim peace agreement that had seemed in easy reach--and about the fledgling relationship between Barak and Arafat, after three years of testy dealings between Palestinians and Barak’s hard-line predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Albright held a series of meetings with Arafat in Alexandria, Egypt, on Thursday, joined by Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa. Then she jetted to Jerusalem, where she held talks with Barak in the early morning hours today.

The senior State Department official said the U.S. role now amounts to classic shuttle diplomacy, with Albright asking each side where they can make concessions and where they must hold fast. The official said there were few disagreements left but “when you get to this phase of negotiations, issues that didn’t seem important before become so because there isn’t a lot left.”

Moussa, talking to reporters after Albright’s departure from Alexandria, said the agreement will be signed today at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheik. There was no confirmation from the Israelis or the Americans, and Moussa’s remarks came before Albright’s talks with Barak.

Arab leaders throughout the region, including Syrian President Hafez Assad, are attempting to size up Barak and evaluate him as a trustworthy negotiating partner. Barak, who took office in July, wants to prove that he represents change from past intransigence.

Speaking Thursday night to a gathering of his Labor Party, Barak hinted that an agreement was within reach.

“I am having a difficult time believing that a government led by us, which was formed to end the conflict, will not find a way to do so,” he said.

Still, senior Israeli officials insisted that no further negotiations were to be held with the Palestinians.

“It is time for a decision,” government Minister Haim Ramon said. “We are waiting for [the Palestinians] to understand that our position is final. There is no negotiation.”

Albright insisted that there is no crisis.

But the secretary of State and her aides made clear that the United States is unwilling to accept failure in the negotiations over a detailed plan to carry out the peace framework signed last fall after intense U.S.-guided talks at the Wye Plantation in Maryland.

“We clearly have an interest in seeing the peace process succeed,” a senior Clinton administration official said. “We intend to do what we can to make it succeed.”

Although the current round of talks is about issues that were thought to have been settled almost a year ago, the interim accord is necessary to clear the way for far more significant--and what are expected to be far more difficult--negotiations over a final peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. The so-called final-status talks will cover such emotional issues as borders, refugees, water rights and the status of Jerusalem.

The interim agreement also would have symbolic importance as the first Arab-Israeli accord of Barak’s administration.

U.S. officials grumbled that the impasse is the latest example of an exasperating Middle East bargaining tactic that often seems to torpedo deals at the last minute, only to have them eventually put back together.

The main point of disagreement in negotiating the interim accord is the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released from Israeli jails under a procedure originally adopted at Wye Plantation. Israel, which released 250 prisoners last year, says it is prepared to release 350 more. The Palestinians want 400 prisoners freed.

Also still under discussion is the timetable and framework for negotiations on a final peace settlement.

“Every negotiation I can remember on the Israeli-Palestinian track has had last-minute hang-ups,” a senior State Department official told reporters Thursday.

“As the parties get close to the end, both sides have to demonstrate to their respective publics: in Arafat’s case to show that he has held out for the best possible deal, and for the Israelis to show that security has been preserved,” the official said.

On Thursday, Egypt joined the United States in announcing the new effort to hasten an interim agreement. Albright conferred on the peace process with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Alexandria at the ornate, seaside Ras al-Tin Palace. Mubarak has substantial influence with the Palestinians.

At a joint news conference with Albright, Foreign Minister Moussa predicted that Israel and the Palestinians will reach an agreement that could be signed “within hours or within days.”

But Moussa made it clear that his government expects the United States to do most of the heavy lifting.

“We in Egypt believe that the involvement of the United States in the peace process is very important,” Moussa said. “We need and we emphasize the role of the United States. We don’t think that the United States will remain on the sidelines when the peace process is on the line.”

Albright telephoned Barak from Mubarak’s palace, then went to see Arafat, who had flown to Alexandria on Wednesday night to attend the Thursday signing ceremony that never took place.