Part 11,
"The "Watchers" Mail List - chn-net.com
CNN
Wednesday October 7, 1998
Web posted at: 4:25 p.m. EDT (2025 GMT)
Hailing 'new spirit,' U.S. to host Mideast summit
Arafat, Netanyahu, Clinton to meet next week
Key Statement
"...The talks, to be hosted by President Bill Clinton and expected to last
several days, will open on October 15 in Washington, Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright announced Wednesday..."
EREZ CROSSING, Gaza Strip (CNN) -- Following "substantial progress" toward
breaking a lengthy peace process deadlock, the leaders of Israel and the
Palestinians will come to the United States next week for a U.S.-mediated
summit.
The talks, to be hosted by President Bill Clinton and expected to last
several days, will open on October 15 in Washington, Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright announced Wednesday.
She said a four-hour meeting on the Gaza-Israel border Wednesday with
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu had made "substantial progress" on key elements of a U.S. peace
package that Washington hopes to finalize at the summit.
It centers on the extension of Palestinian autonomy to another 13 percent
of the West Bank in tandem with tougher Palestinian action to halt attacks
on Israelis by militants operating from areas under their control.
Speaking with optimism of a "new spirit" between the Israeli and
Palestinian leaders after months of acrimony, Albright held out hopes for
opening a "new chapter" in the troubled peace process.
"On the other hand, I wasn't born yesterday," she added at a news
conference following Wednesday's meeting, the third time in 11 days that
Arafat and Netanyahu held face-to-face talks. "There are still very many
hard problems out there that the leaders, themselves, are very much aware
of."
The peace process, which has been at a standstill for 19 months, faces a
deadline of May 1999, the expiration date of a temporary peace pact Israel
and the Palestinians signed in Oslo, Norway, in 1993.
The United States hopes the Washington talks will launch the two sides into
long- overdue negotiations on a permanent agreement. Without that, Arafat
has said he will unilaterally declare the creation of a Palestinian state,
a move Israel vigorously opposes.
Neither Netanyahu nor Arafat accompanied Albright as she spoke to reporters
after Wednesday's talks. The Palestinian leader left for Russia, where he
said he would ask President Boris Yeltsin for help in breaking the deadlock
in negotiations with Netanyahu.
The Israeli prime minister returned to Jerusalem, where he played down U.S.
optimism. "We have climbed hills but the mountain is before us," Netanyahu
said.
He said progress had been achieved in three areas -- opening an industrial
park on the Israel-Gaza border, setting up a committee to battle
anti-Israeli incitement and forging people-to-people contacts.
But significantly, Netanyahu did not repeat Albright's contention that
"significant and substantial progress" had also been made on security, a
key issue delaying Israel's handover of a further 13 percent of the West
Bank to Palestinian self-rule.
"If they will fulfill their commitments there will be an agreement," he
said in reference to what he called "security and reciprocity" needs.
At the start of Wednesday's meeting, Albright and the two Mideast leaders
had a three-way handshake as they posed for photographs. Albright,
Netanyahu and Arafat sat around a square table so small their knees and
elbows were almost touching.
Posing for photographers, Netanyahu and Arafat shook hands across the table
and then Albright placed her hand on top of theirs.
At one point during the meeting, Albright walked out of the room, leaving
Netanyahu and Arafat to talk alone. It was the first time in a year the two
leaders spoke without mediators.
The meeting began at an Israeli army base on the Gaza border and then moved
to a guest house on the Palestinian side of the frontier for an unscheduled
working lunch.
During the lunch, which was described as relaxed, Arafat presented
Netanyahu with two boxes of Havana cigars which the Israeli leader
distributed at the end of the meal, quipping, "after we sign an agreement,
we'll all have to go to Cuba," according to Israel radio.
After the meal, Arafat accompanied Netanyahu to his car and the two men,
smiling warmly, exchanged a long handshake before Netanyahu left.
Jerusalem Bureau Chief Walter Rodgers, Correspondent Andrea Koppel, The
Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report"
Santiago |
