Clinton says Mideast peace talks make headway

Clinton says Mideast peace talks make headway
Arshad Mohammed

Okinawa, Japan, July 23: U.S. President Bill Clinton said on Sunday Israeli and Palestinian negotiators had not wasted their time in his absence and had made some progress toward a final Middle East peace agreement.

Before rushing back to the Camp David peace talks after aweekend summit of powerful nations in Japan, he declined to say whether they might reach a deal on the issues of Jerusalem, the shape of a Palestinian state and the fate of Palestinian refugees and Israeli settlers.

"They have not wasted their time. They have really worked,"Clinton told reporters on this southerly Japanese island, where he arrived on Friday after nine days of tortuous Middle East negotiations at the presidential mountain retreat North of Washington.

"Whether we get an agreement or not, they have tried. Theyhave really been up there working," he added.

The talks all but collapsed on Wednesday night as ClintonLeft Camp David for a Group of Eight (G8) summit in Okinawa. The U.S. Side announced the negotiations had failed before Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat decided to stay behind and keep working to try to forge an agreement while Clinton was in Japan.

"Since I Left there has been a lot more sort of systematiceffort in the groups on a lot of the issues," Clinton told reporters. "So whatever happens, I think they have continued to make headway."

He held up his hand, fingers crossed, just before he boardedAir Force One for home.

He was expected to touch down at 3:50 P.M. EDT (1950 GMT) atAndrews Air Force Base outside Washington and to board a helicopter immediately for Camp David.

JERUSALEM A DEAL-BREAKER

Diplomats say significant progress has been made on mostissues -- the borders and powers of a Palestinian state, security arrangements, the fate of Palestinian refugees and the future of Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

But the status of Jerusalem still looked the most likelydeal-breaker.

Barak has vowed to maintain Israel's undivided sovereigntyover the holy city, although aides have hinted he could accept sharing sovereignty in some parts of Arab East Jerusalem.

While negotiators took a break for the Jewish sabbath, Barakwas forced to issue a statement on Saturday rebuking unidentified aides for bad-mouthing two senior ministers in his team on the crucial issue of Jerusalem.

Barak's only public comment in 12 days of secret talks camein response to Israeli media reports quoting his entourage as saying the ministers were putting pressure on him to make concessions on Jerusalem, the main stumbling block in the talks.

"Prime Minister Ehud Barak gives full backing to MinistersShlomo Ben-Ami and Amnon Lipkin-Shahak. Barak entirely rejects the veiled criticism that was voiced towards the ministers and he has reprimanded all those involved in the matter," he said.

The squabbling in the Israeli camp contrasted with a publicshow of unity among Arafat's team and pro-Western Arab states against any watering down of what they see as Palestinian rights in Arab East Jerusalem.

PALESTINIANS REJECT PARTIAL DEAL

"Jerusalem should be and will be at the forefront of anyagreement. Jerusalem is the number one issue for the Arabs and the Moslems," PLO secretary-general Mahmoud Abbas, better known as Abu Mazen, told reporters on returning from the West Bank to rejoin the peace talks.

"I am always optimistic, because at the end we willultimately reach agreement. But I reaffirm we will not accept a partial agreement," Abbas said.

The Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers, meeting inAlexandria, Egypt, said there would be no acceptable solution unless U.N. Security Council resolution 242, calling for Israel to withdraw from territories occupied in the 1967 war, was applied to East Jerusalem.

Clinton telephoned the leaders f both countries earlier inthe week to ask them to encourage Arafat to be flexible, diplomats said. But their ministers' comments suggested they see Jerusalem as a bedrock issue not amenable to flexibility.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met Arafat for an houron Day 12 of the marathon summit, while Barak spent the Jewish sabbath quietly in his own cabin, officials said.