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Lots of Work Going on Before Clinton-Barak-Arafat Summit: Ross
Visiting U.S. Middle East envoy Dennis Ross said Monday there is a lot of work going on and more might be done before a three-way American, Israeli and Palestinian summit for Mideast peace.
After an hour-and-a-half meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Ross, who came back to the Middle East on Thursday for another round of shuttling diplomacy, told reporters that there is potential for such a summit to take place.
Ross' trip is aimed at preparing for the regional tour by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, which is to begin on Tuesday. Albright will try to judge whether the Israeli and Palestinian positions on the main issues are close enough for the holding of the summit between Arafat, U.S. President Bill Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak next month in the United States.
So far, Barak is eager to attend such a summit but the Palestinians consider the gap between the two sides still wide.
Arafat gave a speech in the West Bank town of Nablus on Sunday that a Palestinian state would be declared "in a few weeks", even without a deal with Israel. His remarks were strongly criticised by the Israeli side.
Ross said, "We are out here trying too make a judgment about where the parties stand on the issues, what is possible, is there a basis to move towards a summit or should one continue working."
Albright will report to Clinton on her assessment of the prospects of the summit and Clinton "will determine if we are at a stage to move towards a summit or continue working," Ross said.
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said Arafat had presented Ross with "some ideas" on both the interim and final settlements, but that there were still gaps.
Among the issues raised by Arafat were the free of Palestinian prisoners and a further Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank that was to have taken place last Friday.
Erekat did not say how Ross had responded to Arafat's requests.
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