WASHINGTON — Although President Clinton's attempt to restart the Middle East peace process is a high-stakes wager of his personal credibility, he does not plan to accede to demands to get tough with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in meetings here this week, senior U.S. officials say.
Clinton has summoned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a White House session Tuesday and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat to one on Thursday in an attempt to revive peace talks that have been stalled for more than a year.
Yet despite a crescendo of demands for him to lean heavily on one leader or the other, or both, he plans to use more persuasion than muscle, the officials say.
The president will press Washington's agenda for Israel to turn over to the Palestinians a "significant and credible" slice of the West Bank and stop building Jewish settlements in disputed territories, while demanding from the Palestinians a "100% effort" to stop terrorist attacks on Israelis, the officials say.
In advance of the meetings, Clinton and his top aides have met with leaders of the American Jewish community, telling them that he will focus on hints of possible reconciliation buried deep in the confrontational rhetoric coming from both Israelis and Palestinians.
Participants in those meetings say Clinton has not tried to line up Jewish support for a harder line against Israel nor for any other basic change in the administration's approach.
Unlike during earlier rough spots in the peace process, the American Jewish community is not rallying to show unconditional support for Israeli policy.
Despite considerable differences in emphasis, Jewish groups--ranging from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee to Americans for Peace Now--are urging Clinton to call on both Netanyahu and Arafat to meet their obligations under the framework peace agreement negotiated in Oslo and signed on the White House lawn in 1993.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and U.S. peace envoy Dennis B. Ross have pressed Netanyahu and Arafat during the past several months but have met with defiance from Netanyahu and his Likud-led Cabinet and with a passive-aggressive failure to comply by Arafat and the Palestinians.
Officials acknowledge that the White House meetings are intended to raise the stakes. Even if Clinton says the same words, it will presumably be more difficult for Netanyahu and Arafat to ignore him than it is for them to dismiss Albright and Ross.
