Middle East Peace

Sasson Reuven, a former Israeli paratrooper, looked at the peace agreement between his country and the Palestinians with the ambivalence of a man who believes in offering an olive branch, while keeping a maced fist at the ready. Reuven's mixed feelings about the historic mutual recognition pact reached Thursday by Israeli and Palestine Liberation Organization leaders were representative of those held by many Israelis and American Jews.

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir Distinguished co-chairmen, ministers, members of the delegation of the conference. It is an honor to represent the people of Israel at this historic moment and a privilege to address this opening of peace talks between Israel and its Arab neighbors. To appreciate the meaning of peace for the people of Israel, one has to view today's Jewish sovereignty in the land of Israel against the background of our history.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak today in a move to rescue shrinking Middle East peace prospects and regain the confidence of Arab nations angry that Washington has not pressed Israel harder to stop building settlements. The meeting with Mubarak was the latest in a series of sensitive talks Clinton has held with Israeli, Palestinian and Arab leaders during a six-day visit to the region. Arab capitals have grown exasperated over Israel's settlement activity and are expressing doubt whether the Obama administration can create grounds for a new round of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.

Yitzhak Rabin and the dovish Labor Party scored dramatic gains in Israel's national election Tuesday with a plurality that apparently gives Rabin, a proponent of speedier Middle East peace talks, a large enough base to form a government without the archrival Likud Party, headed by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. With 96% of the vote counted, returns showed Labor on the way to winning 45 seats in the 120-member Knesset, or Parliament.

A peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians "is within view now," President Clinton said here Thursday as he announced that Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will travel to the region next week to help narrow the differences. The president exuded an optimism rare in the cautious world of Middle East diplomacy.

Three days before he is scheduled to hold a landmark meeting in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Shareh said Sunday that the 51-year state of war between Syria and Israel could be ended within a few months.

About 650 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division will go to Egypt's Sinai Peninsula late next month to replace another battalion that has been on peacekeeping duty between Egyptian and Israeli lines since May, the Pentagon announced Thursday. The soldiers are members of the Multinational Force and Observers, established to oversee the provisions of the 1979 Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak arrived in Moscow on Thursday for talks expected to cover a proposed Middle East peace conference.