WASHINGTON — Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat accepted with "reservations" President Clinton's outline of a final Israeli-Palestinian settlement Wednesday, clearing the way for intense diplomacy during the final 17 days of Clinton's term.
"Both sides have now accepted the president's ideas with some reservations," White House Press Secretary Jake Siewert said. "That represents a step forward."
In Jerusalem, Israel dispatched a mid-level negotiator, Gilead Sher, to Washington for talks today with U.S. mediators Dennis B. Ross and Aaron Miller. U.S. officials said Palestinian negotiators will begin similar meetings soon.
But there are no plans yet for face-to-face talks between Israeli and Palestinian bargainers, much less the sort of summit talks that would be required to complete a comprehensive treaty to end the half-century-old conflict.
Siewert and other Clinton administration officials acknowledged that a final settlement is still very much a long shot, especially with the president leaving office Jan. 20.
Siewert said President-elect George W. Bush's foreign policy strategists "have been fully briefed on the progress of our talks." But Middle East experts said it is very unlikely that the incoming administration could pick up the Clinton initiative, even if it wanted to.
Bush said Tuesday that Clinton "is giving it the very best shot he can, and I certainly hope it works." But neither Bush nor anyone on his transition team has suggested that the new administration would be prepared to take over Clinton's plan without a complete review of the situation.
Officials said Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, White House National Security Advisor Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger and Ross have briefed Secretary of State-designate Colin L. Powell and a small team of aides.
Siewert said Arafat accepted the Clinton outline in a telephone conversation Wednesday, after 3 1/2 hours of face-to-face talks at the White House the day before. Before calling Arafat, Clinton spoke by phone with caretaker Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. The president telephoned Barak a second time after talking to Arafat.
Having accepted the U.S. proposal last week, Barak had been backtracking under mounting Israeli criticism of the plan, and Arafat's belated and qualified embrace of the proposal Wednesday took Israeli officials by surprise. It set off intense debate among Barak's "peace Cabinet" of foreign policy advisors, with some urging the Israeli leader to hang tough and others saying he had no choice but to return to the negotiating table.
