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Israel to Send Negotiator to US
Israel and the Palestinians appeared headed back to the negotiating table at the urging of President Clinton, but broad disagreements and a tight time schedule cast doubt over whether talks could produce an agreement.
After Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat gave a qualified yes Wednesday to Clinton's slate of proposals for talks, Israel's Cabinet grudgingly indicated it might resume negotiations.
The official Cabinet statement said only that chief Israeli negotiator Gilead Sher would go to Washington to meet with U.S. officials, seeking clarifications of Arafat's latest positions.
There was no mention of negotiations with the Palestinians. An Israeli official said that was because Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has pledged not to resume talks with the Palestinians until violence in the West Bank and Gaza is substantially reduced.
The official, Amit Zimmer, an aide to Transport Minister Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, said the ministers expected the negotiations to resume in Washington in a few days. Israel's team would be headed by Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, he said.
But time is running short. Clinton leaves office Jan. 20, and Barak faces an election Feb. 6. Lipkin-Shahak doubted that a peace accord could be forged by then. ``The most we can achieve is a presidential statement or some kind of framework agreement,'' Lipkin-Shahak said.
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