Barak, Clinton to Meet as More Pullout Delayed

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak is to meet with US President Bill Clinton in Turkey on November 17 on the latest developments in the Middle East peace process.

The two leaders are in Turkey to attend the summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is to be held in Istanbul Thursday and Friday.

The meeting is set to begin once Clinton comes back from his visit to Turkey's western quake-stricken areas.

The two leaders will discuss what White House spokesman Joe Lockhart called "all issues," including the late dispute over the maps of the second-stage Israeli troops withdrawal from West Bank land.

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Tuesday continued to reject the maps on the Israeli proposed 5 percent West Bank redeployment, with senior negotiator Saeb Erekat saying the problem is no longer a question of territory, as much as one of principle.

Palestinians demanded the transfer of areas more densely populated than what Israel had proposed. The Israeli government insists that it be Israel's sole authority to decide which land is to be transferred.

US Mideast Special Coordinator Dennis Ross, meeting over the past two days with Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, failed to resolve the issue.

There are no reported contacts between the two sides Wednesday.

Meanwhile in Turkey, Barak and his Foreign Minister David Levy will also meet leaders from Turkey, Portugal, Spain, Egypt, Jordan, and other European and Mediterranean countries.

During the two-day meeting, 54 OSCE members will discuss security and arms control issues and the situation in the Balkans and Chechnya. Israel, like other Mediterranean countries affiliated with OSCE, holds observer status in the organization.

Barak will leave Thursday for the US, where he will address the General Assembly of the North American Jewish Federations in Atlanta. He will spend the weekend in New York, where he will meet Jewish leaders, give interviews and open the weekly trading on Wall Street.

Barak will go to London next Tuesday to meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair and return to Israel next Wednesday morning.


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