Israeli envoy going to Washington in fresh Mideast opportunity

Arafat waves as he boards his plane Wednesday for his return to the Mideast     WEB EXCLUSIVE Andrea Koppel on recent developments in Mideast peace negotiations

Palestinians signal conditional acceptance of U.S. peace plan

In this story: White House issues caution 'Ball in American and Israeli court' Relative calm in West Bank, Gaza RELATED STORIES, SITES

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Israel agreed on Wednesday to send a top-level envoy to Washington in the wake of a productive meeting between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and U.S. President Bill Clinton, according to a source in the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak .

Barak's chief of staff, Gilead Sher, is expected to be dispatched to Washington to discuss the results of Clinton's meetings with Arafat on Tuesday and Wednesday, the source said. The decision to send Sher was made at a meeting of Barak's peace cabinet, called after Clinton briefed Barak on the results of the White House meetings.

After the Clinton-Arafat sessions in Washington, a top Palestinian official signaled Arafat's conditional acceptance of a U.S.-proposed framework for Mideast peace negotiations. (More on the U.S. peace proposals).

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After Tuesday's meetings, Hasan Abdel Rahman, the Palestinian representative to the United States, told CNN that Arafat had accepted in principle the U.S.-proposed parameters for future peace talks, but expressed his reservations. (More on the Palestinian concerns).

"We conveyed to President Clinton our acceptance in principle to the proposal ... with our own explanations and interpretations of those proposals in relation to all the issues," Rahman said.

Rahman said that if Barak is willing to engage in talks, based on what Arafat conveyed to Clinton, the Palestinians were prepared to begin 12 days of talks -- as early as Wednesday -- at any level.

Barak's peace cabinet also decided to accept what it called Clinton's "triple mechanism" to reduce violence in the region and said it would appoint another Israeli representative to work on that proposal.

That mechanism, the Cabinet said, will deal with curbing terror attacks and reducing the violence. It gave no further details. The mechanism would involve an Israeli, a Palestinian and a U.S. official.

White House issues caution

White House officials cautioned that it was easy to oversimplify the situation, but said Arafat now had a "better understanding" of the proposed framework for negotiations and "is open now to talking based on our ideas."

In the words of one U.S. official, Arafat's "acceptance, if you want to call it that, included many reservations and conditions, so it is our view that it is best for us not to try to characterize what he said. But it did crack the door in a way that could be promising."

A senior White House official said "The president believes real progress was made and now will get the prime minister's sense and see how to proceed from there."

U.S. officials said it was unlikely but not out of the realm of possibility that there could be a "summit-style" meeting soon, but that it was "far more likely" that there would be a meeting at the senior negotiator level before the leaders come together.

Arafat left Washington on Wednesday for Cairo, where he was to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Arab League ministers.

As he left his hotel on his way to Andrews Air Force Base, Arafat said he intended "to push the peace process forward."

'Ball in American and Israeli court'

Earlier, a senior Palestinian official in Ramallah said that the next step in the contentious peace process was up to the Americans and the Israelis.

"President Clinton listened in two meetings (to) our reservations on his initiative," said Palestinian Cabinet secretary Ahmed Abdel Rahman. "And he promised that he will discuss these reservations with the Israeli side. The ball is in the American and the Israeli court."

And in Jerusalem, Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beilin said he believed the Clinton-Arafat meeting indicated the Palestinians are serious about the framework Clinton has proposed.

"I think the exchange of talks in Washington was positive," he said. "The general impression is that the Palestinians are considering very seriously the American initiative and they may give a positive answer."

Relative calm in West Bank, Gaza

The Palestinians and Israelis have broad disagreements over several issues, particularly over Palestinian insistence on the "right of return" for Palestinian refugees or the descendants of those who fled when Israel became a state in 1948 -- and sovereignty over an east Jerusalem site sacred to both Muslims and Jews.

Known as the Temple Mount to Jews and as Haram al-Sharif to Muslims, the site was the focal point on September 28 for the beginning of the latest round of violence between Israelis and Palestinians. Since that time, 328 Palestinians have died, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society, along with 45 Israeli Jews and 13 Israeli Arabs.

Relative calm characterized the West Bank and Gaza on Wednesday, after sporadic violence was reported overnight.

But the Israeli army reported mortar bombs fired from Lebanon at a military post in the disputed Shebaa Farms area at the foot of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

The army said it returned fire with artillery and called the incident "severe," although there were no casualties or damage reported.

Lebanese Hezbollah guerillas are fighting to oust Israeli soldiers from Shebaa Farms.

CNN Correspondents Kelly Wallace and John King contributed to this report.

Clinton-Arafat talks end without agreement
January 3, 2001
High-profile killings deepen doubts about Mideast peace process
December 31, 2000
Mideast peace process limps along, shadowed by violence
December 29, 2000
Rula Amin: Mideast leaders face off over holy ground
December 26, 2000
Mike Hanna: Mideast officials on each side under pressure at home
December 22, 2000

Palestinian National Authority
Position Regarding Clinton's Proposals
Israeli Prime Minister's Office
Israel Defense Forces (in Hebrew and English)
The White House
Addameer: Palestinian Human Rights Association

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