Israel, Palestinians ‘Serious’ About Bid for Peace

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators assured President Clinton on Wednesday that they are serious about making peace, but neither side offered the sort of compromise that would be required to reach an agreement in the face of continuing violence, officials on all sides said.

As he entered the final month of his tenure, Clinton met in the White House Cabinet Room with the Israeli and Palestinian delegations, reviewing the talks that began Tuesday at an Air Force base in Washington.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who attended the meeting, told a news conference that Israel’s caretaker prime minister, Ehud Barak, and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat have signaled their intention to rekindle the peace process after 12 weeks of Israeli-Palestinian violence. The unrest has left more than 325 people dead, about 85% of them Palestinians.

But as they left the White House, the Israeli and Palestinian chief negotiators couldn’t even agree on whether there is much of a chance for agreement.

“I don’t want to raise anybody’s expectations,” Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told reporters in the White House driveway. “We are having very, very serious discussions. But at the same time, we’re facing major difficulties and serious differences.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami was far more upbeat. “I think that we are having very fruitful negotiations in a new and positive spirit with our Palestinian partners,” he said at a news conference. “The general feeling is that these were very, very serious negotiations with a spirit that may lead to the conclusion of an agreement if we maintain the same spirit throughout.”

Albright plans to meet with both sides again today. The round of negotiations is expected to end at sundown tonight, the start of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.

Despite the apparent failure to produce any sort of specific agreement, the Washington meeting has proceeded with far less acrimony than any Israeli-Palestinian talks since the violence began in late September.

Paralleling Clinton’s meetings, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak held separate talks Wednesday in Cairo with Arafat and Yossi Sarid, a former Israeli negotiator. Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said after the meetings that Israel and the Palestinians could reach an agreement if both parties have the political will.

Earlier this year, Clinton envisioned Middle East peace as the crowning achievement of his foreign policy. But since the Israeli-Palestinian violence began, the president has scaled back his goals; he now hopes to persuade both sides to stop the fighting.

“He is ready to do whatever he can do to help, but ultimately we’re on the parties’ timetable,” White House Press Secretary Jake Siewert said of the president. “It’s up to them to make the hard decisions.”

Albright said she detected “a sense that there are new opportunities.”

She said Barak’s decision to resign and call an early election has “changed calculations” on both sides. Barak wants to have some sort of agreement in his pocket to bolster his reelection chances.

Although the Palestinians have been sharply critical of Barak and have questioned his commitment to peace, they have made it clear to U.S. mediators that they prefer the caretaker premier to Ariel Sharon, the hard-line former defense minister who is expected to be Barak’s opponent in the February balloting.