No Breakthrough, No Breakdown in Mideast Talks

President Clinton’s hope of restarting the stalled Middle East peace process fell far short of the mark Wednesday when his separate meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat failed to resolve any of the festering disputes.

“We did not have a breakthrough,” White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart told reporters after almost three hours of meetings. “On the other hand, we did not have a breakdown.”

Lockhart said the peace process will continue, although he did not know what the next step will be or when it will be taken.

While some White House officials had suggested in advance that Wednesday’s meetings constituted a last chance during the Clinton administration to invigorate the negotiations, Lockhart insisted that there was still a possibility of agreement within the next few weeks.

Clinton apparently succeeded in persuading Arafat to postpone his threat to issue a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood next week.

Although there was no official announcement from the Palestinians, Lockhart expressed confidence that the long-pending Sept. 13 deadline will pass without any action that might disrupt the future of the peace process.

“The parties, we believe, are focused on getting an agreement and not on any particular calendar date,” Lockhart said.

Earlier in a speech to the U.N.’s Millennium Summit, Arafat seemed to signal that the deadline would be allowed to pass--although he stopped short of saying so flatly.

He told world leaders that he would be justified in declaring a state, but he acknowledged that “some of our friends and brothers consider that reaching a final settlement requires allowing an additional chance for these efforts to succeed.

“The Palestinian Central Council will decide on this matter in the next few days,” he added.

In separate speeches to the U.N. meeting, Barak and Arafat talked of their willingness to share the disputed city of Jerusalem but then outlined apparently incompatible conditions for doing so.

The two leaders summed up the political and religious disputes over Jerusalem that torpedoed their Camp David talks in July.

Although U.S. officials said gaps remained between the Israelis and the Palestinians on virtually every issue when the Camp David talks broke up, they said the most difficult dispute was over Jerusalem, the city that each side claims as the site of its capital.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have indicated that they may be flexible in deciding the future of neighborhoods predominantly populated by members of the other side. But they have dug in their heels concerning sovereignty over the walled Old City, which contains some of the most cherished shrines of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

In his U.N. speech, Barak said Israel and the Palestinians “are at the Rubicon, and no one of us can cross it alone. . . . We envision a peace that will preserve the vital interests and the dignity of all sides. But no side can achieve 100% of its dreams if we are to succeed.”

He said that his government is prepared to work out a formula for sharing Jerusalem but that Israel will never relinquish the heart of the city that has been sacred to Jews for 3,000 years.

“Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Israel, now calls for a peace of honor, of courage and of brotherhood,” Barak said. “We recognize that Jerusalem is also sacred to Muslims and Christians the world over and cherished by our Palestinian neighbors. A true peace will reflect all these bonds. Jerusalem will remain united and open to all who love her.”

Shorn of the poetic language, that means Barak is ready to give the Palestinians control over some Arab neighborhoods, but not the Old City.

Arafat made it clear that such a compromise remains unacceptable to him and the Palestinians. He said the Palestinians will never acquiesce in the “Judaization of Jerusalem.”

The city “should be accessible to all and open on to its western side,” he said, referring to the portion of the city that is predominantly Jewish.

“As for Holy Jerusalem, the cradle of Christ and the site of prophet Muhammad’s ascension to heaven, we have agreed to share the city, eliminate barriers and borders therein.

“At the same time, we remain committed to our national rights over East Jerusalem, capital of our state and shelter of our sacred sites, as well as our rights on the Christian and Islamic holy sites,” Arafat said. He failed to acknowledge that the Western Wall, the most holy site in Judaism, is also in the Old City.

Talking to reporters before his meetings with Barak and Arafat, Clinton emphasized that time for negotiations is growing short.

“The main thing they have to decide is whether there is going to be an agreement within what is the real calendar, which is the calendar that is ticking in the Middle East against the political realities in Israel, as well as for the Palestinians,” Clinton said. “There’s a limit to how long they have, and it’s not very much longer.”

Although Clinton tactfully did not spell out the imperatives of the calendar, Barak’s ruling coalition is now in the minority in parliament and could face a government crisis as early as next month when lawmakers return from summer recess. Barak’s domestic opponents accuse him of having made far too many concessions to the Palestinians already. But the prime minister has said he is sure that he can survive if he is able to come up with a comprehensive peace plan.

The looming end of Clinton’s presidency also increases the pressure on all sides. U.S., Israeli and Palestinian officials agree that if a deal is not cut on Clinton’s watch, the whole process will stall until his successor develops his own Middle East policy. This could take months.

In his U.N. speech, Clinton asked that world leaders join him in urging Barak and Arafat to compromise.

“To those who have supported the right of Israel to live in security and peace, to those who have championed the Palestinian cause these many years, let me say to all of you: They need your support more than ever to take the hard risks for peace,” he said. “There is not a moment to lose.”

After his talks with Arafat and Barak, Clinton met separately with King Abdullah II of Jordan and Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, two Arab leaders whose support is considered critical to Washington’s efforts to persuade Arafat to compromise.

Lockhart provided no information about those meetings except to say they focused on the peace process.