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Clinton to Meet Barak, Arafat Next Month: U.S. Envoy
U.S. President Bill Clinton plans to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat during the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York next month, U.S. special envoy Dennis Ross told Barak on Friday.
The Israeli Prime Minister's office said Ross told Barak that the window of opportunity is closing with regard to the peace process and the time factor is becoming critical.
Barak replied there is no point in meeting with Arafat as long as there have been no positive changes in his positions.
Ross also met Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat at an undisclosed location in Jerusalem. Erekat was quoted by Reuters as saying "The gap between the sides are still there and it is still premature to talk about summit."
Asked whether they had discussed holding a new summit, Erekat said no such proposal was discussed.
The U.S. envoy also met on Friday afternoon with Israeli Minister of Regional Cooperation Shimon Peres.
Earlier in the day before meeting Israeli President Moshe Katsav, Ross said it is still too early to say whether the Israelis and Palestinians are able to reach an agreement in the wake of the failure of last month's Camp David summit.
Ross said the summit meeting was significant but there are still differences that have to be overcome between the two sides.
The special envoy arrived here Thursday in a bid to revive the peace talks and met Israeli Acting Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami Thursday afternoon. Ben-Ami said "another summit would be reasonable only if there was a noticeable move" in the stance of the Palestinians.
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