US optimism on peace unrealistic -- Israeli official

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- The security adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said on Friday that American optimism over reaching a Middle East peace deal within two months may be unrealistic.

Danny Yatom said while an agreement might be reached despite the failure of the U.S.-sponsored Camp David summit last month, there was also a possibility a deal would not be clinched.

A senior U.S. official who declined to be named said on Thursday during a briefing on U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Edward Walker's tour of the Arab world that Israel and the Palestinians could forge a deal in less than two months.

"I am not sure that the American optimism reflects reality," Yatom told Israel Radio.

"I hope and pray that the Palestinian side will understand not only the importance of an agreement but the great dangers of the situation deteriorating if an agreement is not reached."

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has vowed to declare a state as early as September 13 deadline for peace whether or not a deal is forged. Israel fears that a unilateral declaration would unleash serious violence in the region.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said on Friday that Arafat had to decide what he wanted.

"If Arafat does not decide that he is on the way to an agreement that respects the interests of both sides, it will bring about a dangerous stalemate that will affect the entire region," Barak said in a statement.

Senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters that sealing a deal with the Jewish state depended on whether it was willing to implement U.N. Security Council resolutions which call for an Israeli withdrawal from the territories it occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

Trading blame at home, lobbying for support abroad

Israel and the Palestinians blame each other for the failure of the Camp David summit. Israel says Arafat has to be more flexible if he wants peace.

Erekat said the Israelis had made far fewer concessions than they liked to admit.

"If the Palestinian side makes progress in one kilometer, the Israeli side tries to make progress in one centimeter and to show the world that the centimeter is bigger than the kilometer," he said.

Palestinian cabinet minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said on Thursday that no future Palestinian leader would be as flexible as Arafat.

An Israeli official in Jerusalem, who declined to be named, said it was becoming clear that Arafat was preparing to make his positions in negotiations more stringent.

The official said Arafat wanted the Arab world to "constrain" him so he would not be able to make concessions, especially on Jerusalem.

"The whole world supports our stance that Jerusalem is an occupied city," Erekat responded.

Israel seized East Jerusalem from Jordan in 1967 and later annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. The Palestinians want it as the capital of their future state, but Israel views the whole city as its "united, eternal capital."

Israeli and Palestinian sources close to the negotiations said both sides were waiting for the United Nations Millennium Summit in New York at the beginning of next month where U.S. President Bill Clinton is expected to meet separately Barak and Arafat.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Thorbjoern Jagland said after meeting Arafat in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Friday that he was optimistic the sides would reach an agreement before the end of the year.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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