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Israeli-Palestinian summit in Washington is off
May 9, 1998
Web posted at: 2:05 p.m. EDT (1805 GMT)RAMALLAH, Israel (CNN) -- An Israeli-Palestinian summit planned for Monday to discuss a further Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank is canceled, senior U.S. officials told CNN Saturday.
The Washington officials said that President Clinton had hoped that his special envoy for the Middle East, Dennis Ross, would be able to talk Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into attending the summit, despite his previously expressed reservations about a new U.S. proposal calling for an additional Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank of 13 percent.
"It's not going to be Monday," the official told CNN and added that Washington now hoped that the summit could go ahead later this month.
Ross met with Netanyahu for two hours on Saturday but failed to break any new ground. A third meeting is scheduled for Sunday, said Netanyahu aide David Bar-Illan, who also said a Monday summit in Washington would not be possible.
CNN's Jerrold Kessel reports
3 min. VXtreme video
The cancellation did not come as a complete surprise since Ross had already sounded skeptical about the summit after talks with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat in Ramallah earlier Saturday.
"At this moment, the differences are too difficult to overcome," Ross told reporters after his meeting with Arafat. "We need more time to work them out."
Ross' comment came after Arafat's Cabinet warned of renewed anti-Israeli violence should the peace talks be on hold for much longer.
"The Palestinian people ... have nearly lost their patience and faith," the Cabinet said in a statement issued after its overnight meeting.
"The entire region is in a race with time between the success of the peace process and its collapse, which will lead to a return to violence and chaos," the statement added.
Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to resist what he called U.S. "dictates" in the peace process -- in particular the scope of a further Israeli withdrawal of security forces from the West Bank.
He has also expressed anger at recent remarks by U.S. first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, who said -- in what senior administration officials described as a "private and personal view" -- that she could envisage a Palestinian state sometime in the future.
Background: U.S. special envoy Dennis Ross' mission focuses on a Washington proposal that Israel cede a further 13 percent of the West Bank to Palestinian administration. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected that figure, saying such a withdrawal could mean the end of his government. Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat has vowed to proclaim a Palestinian state by this time next year should the peace process not move forward significantly. Peace talks have effectively been deadlocked for 14 months amid controversy over Israeli settlement and housing policy and a spate of bombings by Arab extremists opposed to the peace process.
The United States has launched several mediation missions in the past months to try and breathe new life into the peace process with little tangible success.
Netanyahu says he wants firm Palestinian measures to guarantee security for Israelis in the region before ceding any more territory to Palestinian authority. But Arafat has criticized that position as a way of deliberately stalling the implementation of Israeli-Palestinian peace accords.
Correspondent Jerrold Kessel contributed to this report.
B A C K G R O U N D I K E Y P L A Y E R S I M A P S
Special sections:
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Newsmaker profiles:
- Benjamin Netanyahu - Israeli Prime Minister
- Yasser Arafat - Palestinian Leader
- Bill Clinton - U.S. President
Related stories:
- Ross arrives in Israel for peace talks - May 8, 1998
- U.S. envoy to meet with Netanyahu - May 8, 1998
- Ross returning to Israel at Netanyahu's request - May 7, 1998
- Netanyahu may reject new peace talks - May 6, 1998
- Fate of Mideast talks hanging as Netanyahu meets with Cabinet - May 5, 1998
- Mideast talks may move to Washington - May 5, 1998
Related sites:
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- Office of the Israeli Prime Minister
- Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Israel Information Service - Gopher server
- Palestinian National Authority - official site of the PNA
- The Palestine Ministry Of Information
- ArabNet
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