The PLO has signalled its qualified acceptance of the US Middle East peace initiative following the Washington talks on Tuesday between President Bill Clinton and the Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat. "He [Arafat] accepted with his interpretations and principles," Mr Hassan Abdel Rahman, the Palestine Liberation Organisation representative in the US told journalists yesterday. "The President believes real progress was made and now will get the Prime Minister's sense and see how to proceed from there," a senior White House official said.
Mr Clinton yesterday followed up the talks with further conversations by phone with the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, and Mr Arafat, both of whom expressed their reservations. A spokesman for the White House, Mr Jake Siewert, said "what we have to do now is work with both sides to see if we can reconcile those reservations. The President is committed to trying". Mr Clinton has proposed a package of agreements as a framework for an intensive 12-day negotiating drive - they include the final shape and extent of a Palestinian state, shared control of Jerusalem, and Palestinian control of the holy Temple Mount, conditional on their renunciation of refugees' right to return to Israel.
Mr Arafat insisted before meeting Mr Clinton that he could not give a yes/no answer to the framework without further elaboration of detail.
According to Palestinian sources yesterday, Mr Clinton told Mr Arafat if he wanted changes it was up to the Palestinians and Israel to try to see if they could be arranged. They also said Mr Arafat had agreed to 12 days of talks.
On containing conflict with Israel, Mr Arafat "specifically agreed to end or stop or reduce acts of violence," Mr Siewert said. Specifically, he said Mr Arafat had promised co-operation in countering terrorism, to intensify efforts to stop the shootings and to arrest those responsible. Reuters adds:
Israel and the Palestinians agreed late yesterday to send envoys to Washington, a Western diplomat said. The White House confirmed that an Israeli peace negotiator was expected this week and Mr Barak's office said an Israeli-US-Palestinian committee would be formed to try to "prevent terrorism".
"Barak and [Palestinian President Yasser] Arafat have agreed with President Clinton to send their negotiators to Washington to work separately with the US administration on narrowing the gaps," the diplomat said.
But Mr Barak's office emphasised that Mr Gilead Sher, senior negotiator and chief of staff of Barak's office, would only be in Washington to discuss halting the violence and not to revive peace talks with the Palestinians. There was no Palestinian confirmation that it had agreed to send an envoy to Washington. Mr Arafat is expected in Cairo early this morning for a meeting today with Arab foreign ministers, at which the Palestinians will announce their "position" on the Clinton proposals, according to Palestinian international co-operation minister, Mr Nabil Shaath.
