WATCH NETANYAHU -- DANGEROUS GROUND AHEAD
Ha'aretz - Israel - 09/21/98
U.S. special Middle East peace envoy Dennis Ross was meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last night after Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat reportedly said he is willing to meet with Netanyahu in the U.S.
Arafat made the statement following his meeting with Ross, held in Gaza City, Agence France-Presse reported. Winding up 11 days of shuttle diplomacy, Ross met with Arafat to try to break a 19-month
peacemaking deadlock between Israel and the Palestinians.
"We have made some heady but there is still work to be done," Ross told reporters in Gaza after his meeting with Arafat. He added that "the intention to move forward on the part of both sides, at least as I've seen in my discussions, is clearly there." He said serious and productive efforts to narrow gaps had been made during his mission.
Ross was due to leave for home last night after the meeting with Netanyahu, which was still continuing at press time.
On Friday Ross gave a positive assessment of his mission, saying he had made headway in negotiations with both sides.
U.S. diplomatic sources in Jerusalem sounded an equally optimistic note ahead of Ross's farewell meeting with Arafat, saying excitement was spreading about the possibility of a deal on a further Israeli handover of West Bank land to the Palestinians.
"There is this little 'boomlet' of excitement among the people close to the parties. They are starting to say something might be developing here," the sources said.
Despite American optimism, Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said after the weekly Palestinian cabinet meeting on Friday "there was no substantial progress in the talks on the main issues that were discussed"
In Washington on Thursday, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Ross was making "steady progress" towards a deal that would include a 13 percent withdrawal from the West Bank, a new security cooperation
deal between Israel and the PA, and several concrete improvements for the Palestinians, including a safe passage route between Gaza and the West Bank, and the opening of a Palestinian airport in Gaza.
Albright said she would meet Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when both attend the UN General Assembly session in New York next week. The format and venue of that meeting, or meetings, had yet to be decided.
The U.S. State Department said on Friday a three-way meeting in New York between the United States, Israel and the Palestinians could not be ruled out. |
