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Israel, Palestinians hold talks |
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January 13, 2001
JERUSALEM (AP) — After a round of high-level peace talks, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators lowered expectations Friday, saying gaps remain so wide that it will take a miracle to strike a deal before President Clinton leaves office. However, both sides said they are willing to keep trying, and agreed to meet again Saturday evening, possibly with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres leading the teams. The resumption of negotiations was accompanied by a decrease in violence. In 14 weeks of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, Fridays have often been especially bloody, with thousands of Palestinians clashing with Israeli troops after Muslim prayers. On this Friday, there were scattered stone-throwing clashes. In the West Bank town of Hebron, a 23-year-old activist in Arafat's Fatah movement hurled an explosive device and fired shots at Israeli troops. Soldiers returned fire, killing the assailant and wounding another man. The gunman was shot in the Palestinian-run part of the divided city, and four soldiers dragged his body more than 100 yards through the street to the Israeli-controlled sector. ``Run, run,'' their commander yelled at his troops. The Israeli-Palestinian session — the first direct, high-level peace talks since the failed Mideast summit in July — started at midnight Thursday at the Erez crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip. Israeli officials arrived more than an hour late, insisting they would not attend until Palestinian negotiator Yasser Abed Rabbo apologized for calling them ``war criminals'' earlier in the week — in connection with Israel's killing of more than a dozen Palestinians it considered organizers of attacks on Israelis. It was not immediately clear how the standoff was resolved, although the two sides discussed it further. The incident underscored the deep rifts the fighting has created even among the negotiators who had developed cordial ties in more than seven years of stop-and-go contacts. Clinton's blueprint for a peace deal remains the basis for the talks, though the Palestinians told their Israeli counterparts in Friday's session that they would not drop their grave reservations about some of the U.S. proposals. The main sticking points are the fate of Palestinian refugees and control over a major Jerusalem shrine revered by Muslims and Jews. Israel, backed by Clinton, rejects the Palestinians' demand that it grant nearly four million refugees and their descendants the right to return to former homes in Israel. The Palestinians insist they be given sovereignty over the shrine, an arrangement also proposed by Clinton. Israel has said it will not cede control to them, but has not ruled out a third party. The two sides are working toward a treaty outline — leaving it for a proposed visit by U.S. mediator Dennis Ross to narrow differences on key points. Israeli negotiator Amnon Lipkin-Shahak said gaps remain wide. ``There is much more to talk about, because the positions are not close to each other,'' he told Israel radio. ``There is no chance of achieving an agreement in the time remaining.'' The most that could be expected would be a document that lists the items where agreement can be reached, but ``that isn't easy, either,'' he said. Abed Rabbo agreed, saying it would take a miracle to strike a deal. Clinton, whose term ends Jan. 20, said Friday he would remain involved, but also suggested that reaching a peace agreement was a long shot. ``I think there are all kinds of reasons why an agreement on the big issues has always been kind of against the odds, but they have continued to try, and they're trying now in a climate that is much less negative than a few days ago and in the preceding weeks,'' Clinton said in Washington. ``I'm working hard on it. I'm spending time on it every day,'' he said. ``But they have to decide.'' |