Bangla2000 | International News - Half-way through Camp David summit

THURMONT, Maryland (AP) - With only three full days remaining before U.S. President Bill Clinton was scheduled to leave for Japan, U.S. officials at the Camp David summit said the pace of negotiations had picked up and the two sides were zeroing in on their most difficult disputes.

Prime Minister Ehud Barak, President Clinton, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and others attend a Sabbath dinner at Camp David Friday, July 14, 2000. From the left: Barak, Abu Mazen, Clinton, Eli Rubinstein and Arafat. (AP Photo/The White House, William Vasta)

"As we approach Day Six, we will look for further intensification of these discussions," White House spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters Saturday night, after the talks moved back into high gear with the end of the Jewish Sabbath at sundown.

Clinton met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Saturday evening before a dinner with all three negotiating teams, and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. More meetings were possible later, Crowley said.

During the day on Saturday, negotiators kept to a slower pace, mindful of the Sabbath.

Taking a break from their own ancient quarrels, about 15 members of the Israeli and Palestinian delegations had a firsthand look at the scene of one of the greatest fraternal bloodlettings in American history.

The delegates took a two-hour tour of the battlefield near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, about 15 miles (25 kilometers) from Camp David and the site of the July 1863 engagement that was generally considered the U.S. Civil War's turning point.

None of the tour participants was a member of the official negotiating teams that are secluded at Camp David. These delegates were staying at nearby Emmitsburg, and Crowley said these teams might hold talks later Saturday on so-called non-core issues.

The principal disputes on the table at Camp David are the status of Jerusalem, the border of a future Palestinian state and the fate of several million Palestinian refugees.

Since the three men first sat down together on Tuesday, the summit's opening day, Clinton has shuttled between the two sides in talks described as contentious and difficult.

Summit participants have agreed to disclose nothing of the substance of the negotiations, but U.S. officials briefing reporters have repeatedly used words like "grappling" and "struggling" to characterize the efforts. At one point, White House spokesman Joe Lockhart described the issues as "intractable."

Asked Saturday whether the issues defied solution, Crowley said: "I don't think any of us think they're impossible - all of us agree they are difficult."

The length of the summit is still uncertain. Clinton is to travel to Japan on Wednesday. U.S. officials have said that should not be considered a deadline for wrapping up the peace talks, but Crowley said "it is still our desire to see an agreement ... before the president leaves for Tokyo."

Barak left home last Monday amid a political crisis triggered by the collapse of his governing coalition. Israeli spokesman Gadi Baltiansky told Israel radio that it would be difficult for the prime minister to remain away from Israel for much more than a total of two weeks.