By
The Associated Press
SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt - In an atmosphere of high tension and mistrust, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met warily at an emergency summit yesterday aimed at halting bloody clashes in the Mideast. "We cannot afford to fail," President Clinton warned.
After 14 hours of talks, there was no cease-fire agreement or claims of progress. The leaders met over a late dinner, followed by post-midnight talks among Clinton, Arafat and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Afterward, Clinton was to see Barak. The president extended his stay into today, rather than departing late yesterday. "Things have been intense," Clinton's spokesman said.
The main hangup was Arafat's insistence for an international fact-finding commission to assess the causes of the violence, an Israeli official said. Israel says it will only accept a panel led by the United States, its closest ally.
Barak, meanwhile, insisted on a halt to Palestinian attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians and the re-arrest of extremists from the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements who were released this past week. He has called for the Palestinian media to stop its calls for further attacks against Israel.
Clinton implored both sides "to move beyond blame" after more than two weeks of armed clashes on the West Bank and Gaza that have left about 100 people dead, most of them Palestinians. It has been the worst Israeli-Palestinian violence since 1993, when the Oslo peace accords launched the now-shattered peace process.
Fighting flared anew less than an hour after the summit opened. Israeli soldiers opened fire at Palestinian gunmen and rock-throwers. A Palestinian police officer was killed and dozens of civilians were wounded by Israeli fire.
Surrounded by tight security, the leaders met at a two-story golf clubhouse at this Red Sea resort, famous for its coral reefs and scuba diving. They gathered around a horseshoe-shaped table, Arafat and Barak sitting away from other leaders and far apart from each other.
"It's tough going - painstaking work," a senior administration official said.
There were no smiles or handshakes for the cameras, but officials said the two men did shake hands. Their attitude toward each other was described as chilly. There were flashes of anger in a foreign ministers' meeting on another floor.
Gadi Baltiansky, Barak's spokesman, said there were "substantial difficulties" in the foreign ministers' negotiations and that any agreement would have to be decided by the leaders.
"The differences are, on the one hand, the insistence by Palestinians that the Israelis take steps on the ground before a full stop to the violence, something Israel objects to; And, on the other hand, the character of a body that would investigate the events has not been agreed upon," Baltiansky said.
Clinton tried to bridge differences between the leaders. He spoke at length with Barak, then Arafat and then Barak again, and was planning to see Arafat later.
The summit was hosted by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who unmistakably blamed Israel for the violence. "The aggressions to which the Palestinian people were subjected during the last two weeks persuaded me to convene this meeting," Mubarak said.
Also participating were King Abdullah of Jordan, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign affairs chief. Asked how the talks were proceeding, Annan cautiously responded: "Reasonably well."
At one point, the foreign ministers' meeting erupted in acrimony.
Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami told the chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, that the international inquiry being sought by Arafat was simply an alibi to prevent progress in the peace process, according to an Israeli official familiar with the talks.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Erekat responded, "You are a real hero, threatening us with guns."
Secretary of Madeleine Albright persuaded both to continue talking.
Clinton refused to take sides. Saying the situation was "piled high with grievance," Clinton said, "we have got to move beyond blame."
Urging the parties to be "sober and serious," he set out three goals: To end the violence and restore security cooperation; to agree upon a fact-finding process about what happened "to bring us to this sad point," and to get the peace process going again.
In view of the mutual hostility, the most immediate goal was for a truce. The wounds and grievances on both sides are so deep, U.S. officials say, that it will be impossible to rebuild an atmosphere of trust quickly.
White House press secretary Jake Siewert said, "All the parties have shown some willingness to try to resolve their differences and restore calm. That's why they came here."
Both leaders were under intense pressure at home not to appear to make concessions. Arafat attended reluctantly after intense pressure from Clinton and other leaders.
After opening statements, the seven participants huddled in a corner of the room and then met around another horseshoe table for lunch in a room with a glass wall overlooking the golf course. Clinton held separate meetings in the afternoon with Barak and then Arafat.
Mubarak called for "saving what is left of the credibility of the peace process."
Clinton, too, urged both sides to remember how far they have come since 1993. "We shouldn't give it all up for what has happened in the last few weeks," he said. "And what has happened in these last few weeks reminds us of the terrible alternative to continuing to live in peace and to continuing the peace process."
The president appeared weary after an overnight flight from Washington and long days of telephone diplomacy to try to calm the violence. Eager for a Mideast peace treaty to cap his presidency, Clinton has just three months left in office to realize his goal, seriously jeopardized by the violence.
The violence erupted after a Sept. 28 visit by Israel's hawkish opposition leader, Ariel Sharon, to a Jerusalem shrine holy to Jews and Muslims
Attitudes on both sides have been hardened by images that horrified the world: a terrified 12-year-old Palestinian boy crying in his father's arms before being fatally shot; Israeli soldiers killed by a Palestinian mob that mutilated their bodies.
Going into the summit, the Palestinians demanded an end of Israeli military attacks on Palestinians, a halt to restrictions on movements around Palestinian areas and a pullback of Israel heavy weaponry from the outskirts of Palestinian towns.
