Arafat Hopes for Deal Under Clinton

After receiving qualified backing from Arab foreign ministers Thursday for his peacemaking efforts, Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat said he hopes to conclude an agreement with Israel before President Clinton leaves office later this month.

Upon his return to the Gaza Strip from the Arab League meeting in Cairo, reporters asked Arafat whether an accord is possible before Clinton steps down Jan. 20. “We hope so,” he said. “We hope for that, according to the promise by President Clinton to make every possible effort before the period ends.”

The Arab ministers supported continued negotiations, Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said after the three-hour meeting. But they reaffirmed what they said was the “sacred” right of Palestinian refugees who lost their homes when Israel was created in 1948 to return to their properties.

“The committee unanimously affirmed the right of the Palestinian refugees to return to their homes,” Moussa said.

There is a virtual consensus among Israelis that a return of the more than 3.5 million refugees would spell the end of the Jewish state.

“There are no restrictions for negotiations as long as they fall within the framework of international legitimacy,” Moussa said, but he noted that “there are conditions and questions put forth by the Palestinians to the United States, and they have not all been answered yet.”

Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmud Hammud said his country will reject any settlement that would leave about 360,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Moussa said. Sources at the meeting said Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Shareh objected to any discussion of Clinton’s proposals, arguing that the committee should instead discuss ways to support the Palestinian revolt in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

There were few clashes or shooting incidents in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Thursday, but neither side seemed cheered as the Clinton administration worked to restart intensive talks in Washington.

Caretaker Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak dispatched his chief negotiator, Gilead Sher, to Washington on Thursday to follow up on Arafat’s talks in Washington this week with Clinton.

Sher arrived in Washington at midafternoon for evening meetings at the State Department with Clinton’s peace envoy, Dennis B. Ross, and his deputy, Aaron Miller. A State Department official said no information about the talks will be made public, at least not right away.

A Palestinian negotiator is expected later this week for similar talks with Ross and Miller. But U.S. officials said no face-to-face talks between Israelis and Palestinians are scheduled, although that clearly is Washington’s objective.

The Israelis said Sher would discuss ways to stop the violence that has raged in the West Bank and Gaza since late September. Administration officials said he also would discuss the ground rules for negotiations with the Palestinians that may get underway sometime next week.

The prime minister’s office expressed doubt Thursday that there is enough time to conclude a deal before Clinton steps down and said Israel won’t negotiate unless Arafat makes good on his promise to Clinton to work with Israel to halt the violence in the region.

Israeli negotiator and Cabinet minister Amnon Lipkin-Shahak is expected to meet Sunday in Cairo with CIA Director George J. Tenet and Mohammed Dahlan, the top security official in the Gaza Strip, to discuss ways to quell the violence, U.S., Israeli and Palestinian officials said.

In Berlin, Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami told reporters that he thinks it is still possible for Israel and the Palestinians to achieve a declaration of principles on a final settlement.

“I believe we can reach, if not an agreement, some fundamental declaration of principles which can form the basis of an agreement,” he said after meeting with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer.

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Times staff writer Norman Kempster in Washington and researcher Aline Kazandjian in Cairo contributed to this report.

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Mideast Peace Framework

Despite serious concerns about some of the main points of a U.S.-authored framework for Mideast peace, the Palestinians and Israel are trying to restart their negotiations. Among other complaints, the Palestinians say that the U.S. plan does not include maps detailing proposed borders. Here are the main proposals according to Israeli and Palestinian sources:

TERRITORY

1. Palestinians get 95% of the West Bank for their state.

2. For 20 years, Israel rents an additional 3% of the West Bank and 1% of the Gaza Strip.

3. Israel gives Palestinians some land just outside the southeastern Gaza Strip.

4. Israel keeps major Jewish settlements around Jerusalem and a block in the center of the West Bank.

5. The West Bank is bisected by an Israeli-controlled corridor six to 10 miles wide, stretching from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea.

REFUGEES

1. The plan calls for Palestinians to largely relinquish the “right of return” for refugees to homes in what is now Israel.

2. Aided by a large international compensation package, some of the more than 3.5 million refugees in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan resettle in the new Palestinian state.

JERUSALEM

1. Palestinians gain sovereignty over the Old Citys Al Aqsa mosque compound, the third-holiest shrine in Islam, built over the ruins of the biblical Jewish temples, Judaisms holiest site. Israel would control the archeological sites under the area, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as Haram al Sharif.

2. Israeli sovereignty over the Western Wall is uncontested.

3. Palestinians gain control of traditionally Arab neighborhoods.

SECURITY 1. Israeli troops stay in the Jordan Valley for three to six years, controlling the borders.

2. After that, an international force patrols the area.