Clinton Delays Trip to Push for Mideast Deal

President Clinton will skip the first day of his long-scheduled trip to Japan to stay at the Camp David peace talks, the White House announced early today. It was a clear indication that Israeli and Palestinian leaders are tantalizingly close to a deal.

White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart said Clinton will delay his departure for the summit of industrialized nations until Thursday to give him one more day at the Middle East conference table.

“The president believes that this is in the best interest of the Middle East peace process,” Lockhart said in a written statement issued to reporters at this village near the presidential retreat in the Maryland mountains.

Despite the clear signal that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat are drawing close to agreement, there was no official word of what the deal might contain.

The first indication of Clinton’s change in plans came from the Japanese Foreign Ministry, which said, “It is impossible for Clinton to come to Tokyo on the 20th. He will go directly to Okinawa on the 21st.”

The meeting of the world’s seven leading industrialized nations plus Russia, known as the Group of 8, will be held on Okinawa from Friday through Sunday. Clinton had planned a stop in Tokyo on Thursday to talk to Japanese leaders. Because of the time difference, Clinton must leave the United States on the morning of the day before his scheduled arrival in Japan.

Clinton’s decision to stay at the Camp David talks for another day came as he, his staff and the Israeli and Palestinian delegations were working through the night for the third night in a row.

U.S. officials had said earlier that Clinton planned to hold fast to his scheduled departure today for Tokyo. But they hinted that he might remain at the talks if an agreement was in sight.

The White House said Lockhart will issue a fuller explanation of the president’s decision at midmorning today. Earlier, the press secretary had promised a statement on Clinton’s travel plans at 7 a.m. [4 a.m. PDT] today. But his post-midnight announcement preempted that.

On Tuesday, as the leaders struggled to meet Clinton’s original travel plan, there were competing rumors of progress or pending deadlock.

The Hebrew daily newspaper Haaretz reported in today’s editions that Barak had offered Arafat a plan that would create a Palestinian state and give the Palestinians broad autonomy--but not sovereignty--in predominantly Arab East Jerusalem. The newspaper said a few Palestinian refugees would be allowed to move to Israel for family reunification but that most of those who fled during Israel’s 1948 war of independence and their offspring--a total of more than 3 million people now--would be offered monetary compensation and be required to give up any claim on their ancestral homes.

The newspaper’s version was very close to what Israeli officials said before the summit would be Barak’s opening offer. The report, filed Tuesday, correctly predicted that Clinton would delay his trip to Japan.

Nevertheless, Palestinian sources said Tuesday that the talks were close to collapse over Barak’s rejection of Arafat’s demand for political sovereignty over East Jerusalem. Barak is known to have offered a measure of autonomy to the Palestinians but will not budge on the Israeli credo of maintaining Jerusalem as the “eternal and undivided capital” of Israel.

Israeli radio, quoting Israeli sources in Washington, said a deal on Jerusalem appeared to be in the works after talks that lasted through the night into early Tuesday.

It has been an emotional roller coaster throughout the summit that was completing its eighth day Tuesday.

Asked to characterize Clinton’s mood, Lockhart said: “You know, he has spent eight days--with the exception of one day out--working nearly ‘round the clock on this. So I think the single word I’d use is ‘determined.’ But I think, like all of them, you go through various emotions, ranging from moments where you see promise to moments where the only thing you see is frustration. So I think not only the president [but] the leaders and all the delegations have run the entire range over the last eight days.”

While the leaders talked down to the wire, political opponents of Barak and Arafat sought to undermine a deal even without knowing in detail what it contained.

Former Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon, the leader of the opposition Likud Party, complained on Israeli radio Tuesday that Barak was making dangerous concessions to Arafat over the future of Jerusalem.

In Damascus, Arafat’s radical Palestinian opponents complained that he has made unacceptable concessions to Israel. The Syrian-based radical alliance vowed to wreck any deal emerging from Camp David.

“We affirm our determination to continue the struggle and jihad [holy war] until we wreck the deals of capitulation and restore the Palestinian rights,” said Khaled Meshaal, a member of the Hamas Politburo, Agence France-Presse reported from the Syrian capital.

On Capitol Hill, key lawmakers from both parties complained that Clinton has failed to keep them informed about the progress of the talks, especially about what a deal might cost taxpayers.

Tom DeLay (R-Texas), majority whip in the House of Representatives, said he had “grave concerns” about the peace talks.

“Congress must be regularly consulted when the administration is negotiating a major new international agreement,” DeLay said in a statement. “In the long run, the president will not be able to fulfill any commitments he makes at Camp David if he does not work closely to build support with members on both sides of the aisle.”

Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), one of the most senior members of Congress and the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, aired his concerns in a speech on the Senate floor.

“I fear we are being led down the path of ‘sign now, pay later’ without even knowing what we will be asked to pay later or why,” Byrd complained. He added that he was open to “legitimate” requests for funding but that “no one should assume that the check is in the mail” if commitments are made without consulting Congress.

Meanwhile, Israel’s acting president, Avraham Burg, told reporters in Jerusalem that any agreement will be put off until the last moment because of the complexity and emotional trauma of the decisions being made.

Burg, who is also speaker of the Knesset, or parliament, described the final phase of negotiations as the “eye of the storm”--eerily quiet as the “moment of truth” descends but with whirlwinds all around it.

Times staff writers Tracy Wilkinson in Jerusalem and Nick Anderson in Washington contributed to this report.

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* PREPARING FOR AFTERMATH

Israeli and Palestinian leaders expect violence at home with or without an accord. A10