Peace Talks Begin, But Hope is Subdued

Dec. 20, 2000 -- Optimism was at a low ebb today as President Clinton met with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in Washington in a bid to revive peace negotiations between the two sides.

Palestinian delegation leader Saeb Erekat, Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, and Clinton met for 45 minutes of talks today in the White House Cabinet Room.

Afterwards, Erekat told reporters: “I don’t want to raise anybody’s expectations. We’re having very, very serious discussions. But at the same time, we’re facing major difficulties and serious differences.”

Ben-Ami was more optimistic, telling reporters; “These are very, very serious negotiations with a spirit that may lead to the conclusion of an agreement if we maintain the same spirit.”

The president spent his time with the negotiators today outlining how he thought theyshould proceed during this week, said White House Spokesman P.J. Crowley at a news briefing in Washington today.

Talks would continue through the evening, and are expected to continue through Saturday, he said.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was expected to join negotiations on Thursday.

Meanwhile, envoys from both sides were holding separate talks with U.S. mediators at the Bolling Air Force Base near Washington, D.C.

On their arrival in Washington on Tuesday, neither side was optimistic the talks could put an end to 11 weeks of conflict in which more than 330 people have been killed in the worst Israeli-Palestinian violence in years.

Hopes were further dampened by fresh violence in Gaza today.

Low ExpectationsErekat has insisted that Israel withdraw to its borders before the 1967 war when it annexed the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

“There is no other equation, so it’s time for Israel to withdraw its troops and to decide whether it wants to go down the path of peace, or no peace,” he said.

But Israeli Cabinet minister Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, who prepared the ground for the negotiations in talks with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, said that while he doubted the talks would produce a deal, he expected some progress.

“Both sides have expectations. Otherwise neither side wouldhave gone,” Lipkin-Shahak told Israel Radio. “We won’t be able to finish everything but we will be able to know if we are moving forward and have bridged some of the gaps.”

A State Department spokesman said it was critical to stop the cycle of violence that has caused the death of more than 330 people, most of them Palestinian, since the violence began at the end of September.

“If negotiations are to be successful, the situation on the ground will have to change,” said State Department spokesman Philip Reeker.

In Cairo though, expectations of a deal were running higher after Arafat met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss the resumption of the peace talks.

“If the intent and political will for achieving a settlement is there, then we can arrive at something in the next one, two, three or four weeks,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa told reporters today.

Some Discouraging Violence

Israeli soldiers shot dead two Palestinians in two separate incidents in Gaza, one of them a 14-year-old boy caught in a fierce five-hour gun battle near the Egyptian border, hospital officials said today.

Palestinian hospital officials and witnesses said HaniYoussef al-Sufi, 14, was killed during a heavy exchange of fire involving Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen in Gaza’s Rafah district near the Egyptian frontier.

In the second incident, civil emergency worker Rifaat Faisal Abu Marzouk, 28, was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers guarding the Jewish settlement of Netzarim, the officials said.

Hospital officials said 25-year-old Awad Zaloum was critically wounded by a bullet wound to the head during the gunfire exchange at Rafah and at least 40 other Palestinians, including five Palestinian schoolgirls, were injured in the confrontation.

The Israeli army said it knew of no such incident but an army spokesman said a crowd of about 300 Palestinian civilians came to watch a gun battle in Gaza’s Rafah district and people may have been hit by stray bullets fired in the exchange.

The violence came as Israeli politicians scrambled in the wake of Benjamin Netanyahu’s withdrawal from the prime ministerial race. The main contestants are now expected to be incumbent Ehud Barak and his rival hawkish opponent Ariel Sharon of the Likud party.

Peres Joins the Race

But elder statesman Shimon Peres, who holds the Nobel Peace Prize, has also thrown his hat into the ring.

The Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper found Peres would defeat Barak in a three-way race for prime minister, forcing a second Peres-Sharon round that Peres, Israel’s leading dove, would win.

Peres reportedly made his decision after meeting with Yossi Sarid, leader of the dovish Meretz Party, whose support Peres needs to back his candidacy.

Earlier, Barak appealed to Peres to unite behind his re-election campaign. But Peres appeared to be ignoring appeals from Barak that he could split the moderate vote.

Many political analysts say Barak cannot win without a peace treaty with the Palestinians to offer voters on election day.

The urgency was believed to be a key reason for the renewalof negotiations in the United States.

ABCNEWS’ Washington bureau, Sue Masterman in Vienna, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.