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Clinton meetings with Barak, Arafat, termed a 'disaster'

By Steve Rodan, Middle East Newsline
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Wednesday, September 13, 2000

JERUSALEM — The Clinton administration's plans to hold another summit between Israel and the Palestinians have been put on hold. Israeli and U.S. officials said President Bill Clinton was deeply disappointed after meeting separately in New York last week with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. Neither leader had budged from positions staked out at Camp David in July, and at one point Arafat walked out of a meeting with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

"The meetings were a disaster," a U.S. diplomatic source said. "Both sides were entrenched in their positions and there seems to be no point to move on."

The source said Clinton even scrapped a plan to bring Arafat and Barak together for a meeting in New York last week during the United Nations millennium celebrations. Clinton, the source said, saw no point to such a three-way session given the gap in Israeli and Palestinian positions.

"At this point, it seems that there won't be anything significant for the remainder of the Clinton administration," the source said. "Let's just say that the president is deeply disappointed."

Arab diplomatic sources said that at one point Arafat left a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in New York. The sources said Ms. Albright kept referring to the Al Aksa as the Temple Mount, the name used by Israel. At first, Arafat interrupted Ms. Albright and said the proper name is the "Al Aqsa mosque." When the U.S. secretary repeated the term "Temple Mount," Arafat left the session.

In the end, Clinton was called to reconcile Arafat and Ms. Albright.

Israeli officials said Clinton was dismayed that Arafat refused to consider any compromise on the Temple Mount. The officials quoted Clinton as saying that he told Arafat that Israel cannot concede on sovereignty over the site, which is holy to both Jews and Muslims.

"After the last meeting between Arafat and Clinton, and after we heard the answers Clinton got from Arafat, I'm much less optimistic," Barak's chief aide, Danny Yatom, said.

Israeli officials said Barak has set an Oct. 6 deadline for a peace settlement. On that date, Congress goes into recess and focuses on national elections.

Barak returned from New York on late Monday. Arafat flew to Egypt on Monday night and held a two-hour discussion with President Hosni Mubarak.

U.S. officials said Clinton was upset at Arafat. But they said the president also appeared to have expected more from Barak. They said Barak appeared eager to portray Arafat as intransigent rather than seek to maintain a dialogue with the Palestinian leader.

On Tuesday, the Israeli Haaretz daily reported that Barak is now willing to consider proposals to internationalize the Temple Mount. Later, Barak's office denied the report.

Western diplomatic sources said the failure of Clinton's meetings will probably delay plans by the president to announce a strategic upgrade of relations between Washington and Jerusalem. The upgrade was to include additional U.S. defense funding and technology sharing.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were scheduled to meet on Tuesday to review final status issues. So far, the two sides have failed to even agree on what was achieved during July's Camp David summit.

In New York, Israeli acting Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami arrives for talks with U.S. peace envoy Dennis Ross.

PA officials said that so far there have been no new initiatives to bridge the gap between Israel and the Palestinians. The officials said Arafat is willing to go as far as replacing Palestinian sovereignty with Islamic sovereignty over the Temple Mount.

"There can't be any flexibility regarding Jerusalem and its sanctity," Palestinian Legislative Council speaker Ahmed Qurei said. "He [Arafat] doesn't have any capability, willingness or flexibility regarding the sanctity of Islamic holy sites."

Wednesday, September 13, 2000

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