Palestinians, Israeli official urge delay of U.S.-brokered summit

Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy, right, and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright were meeting in Jerusalem on Wednesday to discuss a U.S.-Israeli- Palestinian peace summit

They say thorny issues need to be cleared up first

June 28, 2000
Web posted at: 10:17 a.m. EDT (1417 GMT)

RAMALLAH, West Bank (CNN) -- Palestinian officials hinted on Wednesday that a U.S.-Israeli-Palestinian summit in Washington may be in the offing, but later, rather than sooner, than some Israeli and American officials had hoped.

After a meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Palestinian chief Yasser Arafat in Ramallah, West Bank, Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath said the Palestinians wanted "some closing of the gaps" between the two sides before agreeing to bring their leaders together.

"You can cross rivers. You cannot cross oceans," Shaath told CNN's Jerrold Kessel.

VIDEO CNN's Jerrold Kessel looks at potential roadblocks to peace between Israel and the Palestinians QuickTime Play Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K    MESSAGE BOARD Mideast peace

One Arafat aide said he believed that no summit would occurr within the next two weeks.

After meeting with Arafat, Albright returned to Jerusalem for a second meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who has been pushing hard for the summit. The decision about when -- not if, Kessel said -- to hold a summit would be up to U.S. President Bill Clinton, Albright said.

The Israelis and Palestinians have both agreed to a September 13 deadline to reach a final peace agreement. But serious issues, including the status of Jerusalem and the return of Palestinian lands in the West Bank and Gaza, remain.

Arafat has taken a hard-line stance in recent weeks, refusing to attend a summit before Barak begins a third redeployment of Israeli soldiers from the West Bank and releases more Palestinian prisoners.

He has also held fast to a demand for the return of West Bank and Gaza land lost to the Israelis in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Barak has faced intense opposition to the land return from many Israelis -- particularly the tens of thousands of Jewish settlers in the disputed area.

"We will not return to the borders of 1967," Barak said on army radio. "The Palestinians want 100 percent of the territory. ... They are worrying about the Palestinian issues. I worry about the state of Israel."

Barak conceded that a summit might not produce an agreement, and vowed not to "sign an agreement that I don't think is good."

Levy: Not now

Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy pointedly disagreed with his boss, telling Albright that there is still too much work to be done to call an Israeli-Palestinian summit in Washington.

Albright met with Levy Wednesday morning after meeting late Tuesday with Barak. The discussions came on the heels of public comments by Levy that Barak is giving too many concessions to the Palestinians without securing enough for Israel.

Levy continued to urge Barak to hold off on the summit, saying "much work needs to be done."

"There are true differences," he said, adding that Israel "can't be an ostrich," burying its head in the sand and ignoring the differences. "We cannot go toward such a summit and risk it failing," he said.

Albright has come to the region at the request of President Clinton "in order to help him determine whether there is a basis sufficient for a summit, or if more work needs to be done" before such a meeting takes place."

"We all believe this is a very important point," she said, calling the permanent status issues being debated "the most difficult." She said it was "necessary for both parties to feel comfortable with moving forward" on the peace process and that Clinton would decide whether the sides were ready for a summit meeting.

Correspondents Jerrold Kessel and Andrea Koppel, Producer Elise Labott and Reuters contributed to this report.

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