Israeli and Palestinian negotiators headed off Tuesday for a new round of US-led talks aimed at breaking the deadlock in peacemaking, spurred on by the first summit between their leaders in two months.
Officials from both sides said there was no breakthrough from the two hours of talks between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak but that the meeting was aimed at building trust and reducing tensions.
Arafat aide Nabil Abu Rudeina said the meeting opened to door to serious negotiations, but that there was still a crisis.
"The peace process still moves through a crisis. There are not enough positive signs, but the efforts continue to break the freeze and give life to the Israel-Palestinian track," Abu Rudeina told AFP.
Barak's security advisor Danny Yatom said that much of the meeting, which took place at the prime minister's private home near Tel Aviv, was between the two leaders alone.
"I can't say there was a breakthrough," Yatom told Israeli radio, but added: "They know that time is precious and they are committed to peace."
The late-night talks were their first since the US-hosted Camp David summit collapsed without agreement two months ago, largely over the most sensitive issue at the heart of their conflict, control over Jerusalem.
A statement from Barak's office said the two leaders had told their negotiating teams to "spare neither time nor effort" to try to achieve progress.
The peace process, due to have been wrapped up with a final accord on September 13, has been floundering since then with the Palestinians accusing Barak -- who has no parliamentary majority and faces possible early elections -- of focusing more on his domestic woes ahead of parliament's return at the end of October.
The Palestinians, who delayed plans to declare statehood on September 13, had complained that before Monday they had not seen results from an agreement between Arafat and US President Bill Clinton in New York this month to dedicate four to five weeks for an intensive peace push.
In a brief telephone call Monday to Arafat and Barak, Clinton vowed that Washington would do everything in its power to keep the peace process alive.
Aside from Jerusalem, the two sides remain at loggerheads on other key issues, including final borders and the fate of 3.7 million Palestinian refugees.
Time is running out for Clinton too, determined to clinch an Israeli-Palestinian accord before he leaves office in January.
The Palestinians, however, would be willing to accept a delay of "months" in reaching a peace deal if Israel carries out a further withdrawal from the West Bank and releases more prisoners, an official said.
"If we don't reach a final agreement in a short time, since everything is blocked on Jerusalem, we would agree to a delay of months to enable a new US president to settle into office," the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The Israeli negotiating team for the US talks is led by acting Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami and lawyer Gilad Sher while the chief of preventative security in the Gaza Strip, Mohammed Dahlan, and negotiator Saeb Erakat are representing the Palestinians.
Israel's Justice Minister Yossi Beilin, one of the architects of the 1993 Oslo peace accords, said he believed the two sides were "very close to an accord."
"If we have to delay one or two problems considered too sensitive at this stage, Israel would not be opposed," Beilin said, referring in particular to the control over east Jerusalem and its holy sites.
Although Israel has floated the possibility of reaching a partial accord and delaying such contentious issues as Jerusalem and a disputed site sacred to both Jews and Muslims, the Palestinians have insisted that there is either a full agreement or no agreement at all -- JERUSALEM (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
