Jerusalem Post - 10/08/98
By HILLEL KUTTLER, DANNA HARMAN, and news agencies
WASHINGTON (October 8) - President Bill Clinton pledged yesterday to dedicate as much of his time as needed to achieve an
accord when he hosts a summit with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat next
week.
Clinton told reporters he is "encouraged" by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's just-concluded visit to the region, and believes
that if Netanyahu and Arafat bring the same sense of cooperation that they have recently exhibited, a deal can be reached.
Clinton also said "it is imperative" for an agreement to be wrapped up so negotiations can commence on the final-status issues that,
under the Oslo Accords, are to be completed next May.
White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said later that the talks would be held at the Wye River Conference Center in eastern
Maryland. However, he said it has not yet been determined whether Clinton would travel there for the summit or would open the
discussions at a White House event and then leave the parties to their deliberations.
Meanwhile, Palestinian sources said the US had asked Jordan's King Hussein to join next week's summit meeting. Hussein is in
the US undergoing medical treatment and according to the sources has not yet replied to the request.
The summit opens on October 15 and could last more than one day.
The opening of the winter Knesset session, originally scheduled for October 19, will be delayed by at least one day to allow
Netanyahu - who needs to be present - to spend more time in the US.
In an Oval Office photo opportunity with visiting Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban, Clinton was asked how long he expects the
summit to last, and jokingly replied: "I'd be happy if it were over in an hour. But I'm prepared to invest as much time as it takes."
"I asked them to block out a couple of days to come back, because I think it's very important that we try to get over these last
humps and get into the last stage of negotiations," Clinton said.
"We need to get to final-status talks, because keep in mind, the whole thing is supposed to be wrapped up by May of next year.
And the closer we get to that date without having been at least in the final-status talks - where the parties have a relaxed
opportunity, without being against a timetable, to discuss these big issues of the future of the Middle East - the closer we get to
that date without that happening, it's going to be more difficult."
Clinton said he hopes that the two leaders will "be talking 12 hours a day" to reach a deal.
Albright said after her meeting with Netanyahu and Arafat at the Erez crossing yesterday that the "new spirit" and "sense of
urgency" she felt has given her confidence that a deal can actually be sealed in the US.
She said that "significant and substantial progress" had been made during her two days of meetings.
"With this substantial progress having now been achieved and some understandings reached, I believe we are now in a far better
position to finalize all the issues at the Washington summit," she said.
"Their body language has been fairly positive. On the other hand, I wasn't born yesterday, and there are still many hard problems out
there that the leaders themselves are very much aware of."
After the talks, Albright left for Brussels and London to grapple with the unrest in Kosovo.
Arafat invited Netanyahu to a lamb and fish lunch he hosted for Albright at a Palestinian guest house after the talks. Netanyahu
smoked a cigar after the meal, and later told Israelis the food Arafat served was kosher. Arafat also gave the prime minister a box of
Cuban cigars as a gift.
The American goal during this trip was to nail down those areas on which there is agreement, so as to leave as few potential
stumbling blocks as possible to be dealt with at the summit.
Three areas of agreement were pinned down: the opening of the industrial park at Karni, the setting up of a joint committee to battle
incitement, and the launching of several "people-to-people" initiatives.
In relation to matters still under contention - such as security assurances, the changing of the Palestinian Covenant, and the third
redeployment - the issues agreed upon are minor.
Several Palestinian officials went so far as to say that "nothing had really changed" during Albright's mission. Arafat's only comment
to the press after the meeting was that Albright "has done a lot to push the peace process forward."
At a press conference in Jerusalem, meanwhile, Netanyahu spoke in subdued tones of the progress made, making it clear that only
"modest steps" had been taken and that much hard work is ahead. "Are the Palestinians ready to fulfill their commitments, to
revoke the PLO charter, to fight terror, to fulfill completely their part of the agreement under the principle of reciprocity?" he asked. "If
the answer is yes, there will be an agreement. Period.
"I can say that we climbed the foothills, but we still have a very large mountain to scale in Washington," he said, adding, "None of
the central issues has been concluded between us and the Palestinians."
But a top Israeli security source said that any public agreement is important in itself, and that the sides would now find it easier to
resolve other matters.
US special envoy Dennis Ross and Assistant Secretary of State Martin Indyk are to remain in the region for a few more days to
work on several of these other matters. In addition, CIA Director George Tenet, who arrived earlier this week, is working with both
sides on the security working paper - the acceptance of which is of cardinal importance to the closing of a deal.
The security source said understandings on a majority of the security matters would hopefully be reached before the summit,
leaving only the thorny questions of the Palestinian Covenant and the third redeployment.
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