Ha'rretz - Israel - 09/19/1998
By David Makovsky, Ha'aretz Diplomatic Correspondent and Agencies
U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said yesterday that she would meet next week in New York with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat. The two leaders will be in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly session.
The format and venue of that meeting, or meetings, had yet to be decided, Albright told reporters.
Albright was speaking as U.S. Middle East special envoy Dennis Ross decided to extend his stay in the region by one day, until tomorrow. Although Palestinians have said Ross has had no success in bringing the sides closer together, Albright said he had made "some progress." She gave no details.
Ross was expected to hold talks late into last night with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators. U.S. sources said that if Ross succeeds in narrowing the gaps, this will set the stage for a three-way summit next week in the U.S. between Netanyahu, Arafat and President Bill Clinton.
If Ross fails, it is likely that bilateral talks will be held between Albright and each of the two leaders - separately.
Netanyahu's media adviser, Aviv Bushinsky, said that Netanyahu would be happy to meet Albright in an attempt to promote the peace process, and added that no other meetings have been scheduled for the prime
minister.
"We are very hopeful that we will be able to move toward an agreement," Albright said, answering questions after a speech at the Carnegie Endowment for Peace, a Washington think tank. However, she made no
prediction as to when she thought an accord providing for the second further West Bank pullback might be reached.
Ross spent much of yesterday in Gaza as the guest of Gaza security chief Mohammed Dahlan. In addition, he met with families of Palestinian prisoners and with Palestinian businessmen.
In her remarks, Albright stressed the role played in Middle East peace efforts by President Clinton.
"I just have to say that (the Middle East peace process) is a subject that I work on every day, and the president has been deeply involved in, and I think we all believe, especially the president and I, that we need to move this phase of it to a conclusion," she said.
"It has been long and not easy. Gaps, differences have existed between the parties but I believe that we're making steady progress," she added.
The peace process has been effectively deadlocked since March 1997, when Israel broke ground on a Jewish housing project in East Jerusalem's Har Homa.
Ben Zion Citrin adds: Meanwhile, in an interview published yesterday in Ha'lishka, the Jerusalem district bar association magazine, Cabinet Secretary Danny Naveh says that Israel will respond harshly if Yasser Arafat goes ahead with his plan to declare an independent Palestinian state on May 4, 1999.
"Israel is absolutely unwilling to accept unilateral steps on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. Of course we reserve the right to respond, if they do indeed take unilateral steps. Anyone who thinks he can take unilateral steps and Israel will remain quiet, is making a grave mistake.
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