Ha'aretz - Tel Aviv - 10/06/98
By Yerah Tal and Nitzan Horowitz, Ha'aretz Correspondents and AP
U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and special Middle East peace envoy Dennis Ross are scheduled to arrive in Israel
today in an attempt to bring Israel and the Palestinians closer ahead of a planned three-way summit in Washington.
Albright will meet today in Jerusalem with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then travel to Gaza to meet with Palestinian
Chairman Yasser Arafat. She will probably meet with Netanyahu again tomorrow before returning to Washington. Her senior aides,
Ross and Martin Indyk, will stay on to continue the negotiations.
The final date and venue of the summit are expected to be determined over the next few days. The White House and State
Department are reportedly trying to organize it within the next two weeks. It is scheduled to last several days and include, in
addition to the leaders, extended teams of aides and specialists from both sides.
The Palestinians have apparently ruled out the possibility of holding the summit at Camp David. Another possible venue - Wye
Plantation - is problematic as it is already hosting another event. Other locations in the Washington area, including military
campuses and government installations, are currently being looked into.
President Bill Clinton has already made clear that his goal is to conclude a deal at the summit. American sources say that the
president is eager to strike a deal before the November elections for Congress.
A senior official in the Prime Minister's Office speculated yesterday that if Albright and her top aides manage to bridge most of the
gaps remaining between the sides in the preliminary talks starting today, the summit will indeed lead to an agreement. However, "If
Albright and her team do not resolve at least 90 percent of the issues currently under dispute between Israel and the Palestinians
then there is no chance that the Washington summit will succeed," the senior official added.
The official speculated that at least two key sticking points would not be resolved in the current talks and would have to be left for
the summit meeting between Clinton, Netanyahu and Arafat. These issues are the Israeli demands for the scrapping of the
Palestinian Covenant and the handing over of all suspected Palestinian terrorists. The senior source denied reports that Netanyahu
had given into Arafat on these issues, but added that a compromise is possible.
Another contentious point is Israel's demand that the Palestinian Authority disarm the extremist groups operating within its territory.
The PA has informed the U.S. administration that it is willing to disarm any Palestinians not serving in the police or security forces,
but has demanded that in return Israel disarm all West Bank and Gaza settlers. Netanyahu has rejected this demand.
Meanwhile yesterday, top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that without Israeli concessions, Albright's latest peace efforts
"won't go anywhere."
"I hope Madame Albright will end this cycle - meeting and arranging other meetings, giving Netanyahu the extra miles - because this
must stop and we must move to substance," he said.
"We believe that without a clear-cut Netanyahu 'yes' to the American initiative and all its components, I think we won't go
anywhere," Erekat said.
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