Israeli and Palestinian negotiators Saturday ended a week of talks in Washington without bridging a gap on key issues preventing the two sides from reaching a final Middle East peace deal.
After a half-hour White House meeting with US President Bill Clinton and Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said "major gaps still exist" on Palestinian refugees, Jerusalem, security, and territorial issues.
"Inevitably, differences remain," said Ben Ami, who characterized the talks as "very encouraging" and said both sides would brief their leaders in view of possible future meetings with the US leader, whose term ends January 20.
"By Wednesday, they will be in a position to report back" on whether the week-long talks at Washington's Bolling Air Force Base and with Clinton form the basis for future meetings with him "or perhaps even a summit," said Ben Ami.
US National Security Council spokesman P.J. Crowley made clear the talks were constructive but the problems the two sides needed to tackle remained difficult.
"We will make no decisions on what to do next until we hear back from the parties," he added, anticipating questions about whether Washington would dispatch a high-level envoy to the region.
But Gilad Sher, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, said the Israeli delegation was taking "some interesting ideas back home."
"I think there is a window of opportunity," Sher told CNN.
Ben Ami said Clinton had provided ideas both on how to reach agreement and how to resolve specific issues, but declined to give details.
"The president is determined to reach an agreement ... he is prepared to do whatever he can," before leaving office, said Crowley.
Erakat stressed: "We would love very much to see an agreement completed during President Clinton's presidency, that's what we're here for."
"The president will be leaving office on January 20, so we need to have a clear calendar," said Ben Ami.
US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, US national security advisor Sandy Berger and White House chief of staff John Podesta all attended the meeting with Clinton, which began shortly after 11:00 am (1600 GMT).
Afterwards, Erakat and Ben Ami met with members of the White House's Middle East team, including special envoy Dennis Ross, for about 45 minutes, said Crowley.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian injured by Israeli bullets December 14 died, bringing the death toll from violence that erupted September 28 to 356 people, most of them Palestinians.
Still, the Palestinian territories appeared to be relatively calm Saturday. Two separate incidents, in which no one was injured, were reported in the Jewish settlements of Neve Dekalim and Nitzanit and at the Erez road block in the Gaza Strip, a military source said.
Also on Saturday, Jordan's King Abdullah II and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat discussed Arab and international steps that could be taken to secure Palestinian rights, a palace spokesman said.
Jordan is home to 1.5 million Palestinian refugees out of the 3.7 million registered with the UN Relief and Works Agency and half the five-million population is of Palestinian origin.
The refugees' "right of return" is among the key sticking points.
Israel has refused to recognize a universal right of return.
The fate of the Temple Mount in East Jerusalem that has sites sacred to both Jews and Muslims, is another volatile issue, and disagreement over the sites contributed significantly to the collapse of a peace summit at Camp David, in the United States, in July.
The Washington Post reported Saturday that Ben Ami had told US Jewish leaders Friday that Israel was prepared to surrender its sovereignty over the Temple Mount as part of a peace deal with the Palestinians -- WASHINGTON (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
