Middle East hostilities at peace table and frontline

By MARY DEJEVSKY and ERIC SILVER

WASHINGTON - President Clinton's ambition of mediating a Middle East peace agreement looked set to be thwarted once again, after Palestinian negotiators walked out of late-night talks near Washington, accusing the Israeli side of bad faith.

The US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, rushed to Bolling air force base near the city yesterday to try to cool tempers and restart the talks, while a crisis meeting with Mr Clinton at the White House was also being considered.

In the West Bank and Gaza, the bloodletting continued yesterday, though the emphasis has shifted from mass confrontations to isolated shootings and bombings.

A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in a roadside cafe full of off-duty Israeli soldiers near the northern Jordan valley settlement of Mehola.

The explosives were strapped to his body. The devastating blast wounded three Israelis. One of them, a woman soldier, was in critical condition in a Haifa hospital last night.

The Mehola bomber was one of four Palestinians killed yesterday. An Israeli military spokesman said the second, a labourer working in the Gazan settlement of Netzarim, was killed by Palestinian gunmen firing into the Jewish village.

On the West Bank, a Palestinian was shot dead by soldiers near the Beit Haggai settlement when he tried to stab an Israeli.

The fourth Palestinian died in a clash between soldiers and Palestinian youths at the Kalandia refugee camp between Jerusalem and Ramallah.

In Jerusalem and Gaza, Israeli and Palestinian officials were still hoping for a breakthrough. But a Palestinian official in Washington said a "crisis" had erupted when the Israeli foreign minister, Shlomo Ben-Ami, "returned to talking about annexing 10 per cent of the Palestinian territories when they had earlier offered 5 per cent".

He said: "There was almost a fistfight between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators" over what the Palestinian side believed was backtracking by the Israelis.

US officials, however, were less inclined to write off the latest peace effort, saying: "We never said this was going to be easy, but we remain encouraged by the commitment shown by the parties and their openness to try to find a solution."

Saeb Erekat, seen as a more pessimistic Palestinian negotiator, insisted – as he had done earlier in the week – that the differences were still far from being bridged.

"The gaps are wide. Yesterday we walked out of the meeting because of these gaps and we sat after that for long hours with [chief US negotiator, Dennis] Ross and his team, but we did not solve the problem."

The sticking points are the same as ever: the status of East Jerusalem – over which the Palestinians insist they must have full sovereignty; access to holy sites shared by Jews and Muslims, and the return of Palestinian refugees to what is now Israeli territory. Progress appeared to have been made on the sovereignty issue, fuelling speculation that an outline agreement could be ready by today.

There was also talk of a top US official going to the Middle East to arrange a summit meeting for Mr Clinton's last days in office. But those plans were on hold yesterday.

An Israeli spokesman indicated that if Israel was to give way on Jerusalem, it wanted something in return on the refugee question.

"If we reach progress on the Jerusalem issue," he said, "they should return something on the refugees. Each issue is connected to another."

Israel has in the past indicated that it would be open to the return of refugees for reunification with families already in Israel, but not to a mass return.

Some US analysts believe that current circumstances are especially conducive to an agreement. Mr Clinton has just one month left in the White House; the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Barak, has called an election and could benefit by being seen as a peace-maker, and the Palestinians fear that a right-wing victory in Israel could destroy – or defer – the most realistic chance of peace for years.

But the same circumstances – the imminent change of power in the United States and the questions surrounding Mr Barak's mandate – also fuel doubts about the capacity of either the US or the Israeli prime minister to carry through on whatever undertakings they give.

Herald Online feature: Middle East

Backgrounder: Holy city in grip of past

Map

Middle East Daily

Arabic News

Arabic Media Internet Network

Jerusalem Post

Israel Wire

US Department of State - Middle East Peace Process