Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, said last night it would be impossible to finalise a peace outline with Palestinians before an Israeli election on February 6th despite progress in negotiations in Egypt.
His remarks followed negotiators' assessments that the two sides would at best reach an understanding that would allow talks to continue after the Israeli prime ministerial poll.
"I think they are doing very important work there" at the Egyptian resort town of Taba on the Red Sea, Mr Barak told Israel's Channel One television.
"I think there . . . is very interesting progress on many issues at Taba even though it's impossible to finalise it," he said.
Three new opinion polls in Israeli newspapers yesterday showed Mr Barak losing to his right-wing rival, Mr Ariel Sharon.
Earlier the Israeli elder statesman and Nobel laureate, Mr Shimon Peres, said in the Swiss resort of Davos: "I am not sure that in the available time, which is extremely short, we should be able to solve the problems."
The senior Palestinian negotiator, Mr Saeb Erekat, echoed Mr Peres's pessimism, saying: "We exerted tremendous efforts but the gap still exists."
The negotiators wound down the fifth day of talks at Taba. The Israeli delegation left for the nearby resort town of Eilat in Israel where they were to host their Palestinian counterparts at dinner and continue informal discussions.