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Saturday, Jan. 6, 2001

"We are waiting for the president now to determine how to proceed," said Israeli lead negotiator Gilead Sher after he met with Clinton at the White House for about 30 minutes Friday evening and delivered a six-page response to Clinton's proposed negotiating framework.

Sher said the Israelis still had concerns, especially in light of continuing violence in the Middle East. But he said, "All of these reservations were within the parameters laid out by the president"

Sher, who arrived in Washington Thursday, met State Department officials, including the administration's chief Middle East negotiator Dennis Ross, before sitting down with Clinton in the Oval Office.

Clinton's offer would cede sovereignty over many Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and also the Temple Mount, which houses the Haram al-Sharif, Islam's third-holiest site. In exchange, the Palestinians would drop their claim for right of Palestinians to return to Israel proper, or what is left of the state if and when a new Palestinian entity is carved from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israeli television reported Friday that Sher's response to Clinton included a plan for third-party rule of the Temple Mount.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had two meetings with Clinton Tuesday. After the meeting, Palestinian officials said he accepted Clinton's parameters for a deal with reservations as well.

"What we are trying to do at this point is to reconcile the concerns that both sides have about what the president has put forward," said National Security Council P.J. Crowley. "We'll work this for another couple of days and then make a judgment on what we do next."

Crowley said Ross would talk to Sher again Saturday before Sher left Washington. And he said administration officials would continue to stay in touch with both sides through the weekend as Clinton mulls the responses to his proposal.

Clinton could signal his next move Sunday night, when he speaks in New York at an Israeli Policy Forum dinner. Clinton's most ambitious move would be to call for a summit to negotiate a final status deal before he leaves office Jan. 20. But Sher called the chances of clenching an overall peace deal before President-elect George W. Bush is sworn in "long odds."

Foremost among Arafat's concerns is the right of return for displaced Palestinians.

In an interview Thursday, the Palestinian authority's representative in Washington, Hasan Abdul Rahman said: "How can I come to a Palestinian and say, 'I am on giving up your right to your own house.' He's the only one who can say I don't want to go back. Even if they decide to go, they cannot just pick up their bags and go. We are not saying we should put everybody on trucks. We are saying accept that those people have rights. Then we will sit down and implement it and maintain the security."

Arafat on Thursday briefed the Arab League, and the body endorsed a new proclamation claiming the right of return should not be compromised. Nonetheless, Arafat said Thursday that he hoped to move toward negotiating a final deal.

A senior administration official said the White House was encouraged by Arafat's meetings with Arab leaders in Cairo, where no strident language against the latest peace efforts emerged. The official said the muted tone from Arab capitals about the White House plan meant Arafat had more room to negotiate than he previously had when this summer's Camp David talks collapsed.

The Israelis did not appear willing to compromise on the refugee returns, however. At a meeting of his Labor Party, embattled Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said Thursday, "We shall not accept the right of return to Israel under any circumstances."

Barak added he would not sign any document transferring to the Palestinians sovereignty over the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which, as Judaism's holiest site, was believed to contain the remnants of the first and second Jewish Temples.

According to U.N. figures, there are 3.5 million Palestinian refugees. About 1.2 million Arabs live in Israel, not including the Palestinians who live in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. If the refugees were to return to Israel, Israel would cease to have a Jewish majority. Approximately 5.1 million Jews live in Israel, according to the latest statistics.

Israeli sources also said Sher was briefed on security commitments Arafat made in his meeting with Clinton. White House and State Department officials said that no summit would be possible unless the violence in the region, which has claimed nearly 400 lives, mostly Palestinian, subsides.

Israeli officials said they expected Palestinian-Israeli security cooperation to restart in the territories as a result of Arafat's pledge to Clinton. On this score, CIA Director George Tenet would travel to Cairo this week to meet Palestinian and Israeli security officials.

Israeli officials also said they were looking to Arafat to order the arrest of numerous militants released from Palestinian jails since the fighting began Sept. 28.

(C) 2001 UPI All Rights Reserved.

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