Summit Conferences

Angered by a broken promise, Western nations and Russia threatened Saturday to cancel a conference to drum up aid for Bosnia-Herzegovina unless the country's competing factions free the remaining prisoners taken during the bitter Balkan war.

Few observers believe that today's world summit to rescue the Middle East peace accords from the grip of death and to fight terrorism will translate into full cooperation on the ground between Israel and Arab countries. But the Middle East is a region where political theater plays well, and this gathering will have high drama and a backdrop of important political symbols that could allow it to renew the momentum of peacemaking between Israel and the Palestinians.

President Clinton will call an unprecedented meeting of Middle East government heads Wednesday in Egypt to launch a regional assault on terrorism in the wake of four deadly bombings in Israel, an administration official said late Thursday. The administration is expected to announce the meeting of Arab and Israeli leaders today. U.S.

The upcoming "Summit of the Peacemakers" in Egypt has underscored stubborn divisions in the Muslim world as countries are forced to show, through their attendance, whether they support or repudiate the Middle East peace process. Some governments and Islamic militants charge that the conference is a sham to legitimize U.S.

Shimon Peres waved goodbye to Bill Clinton on Thursday, then returned to the lonely, uphill task of persuading Israelis that peace with the Palestinians is still a goal worth seeking.

The historic show of solidarity at Wednesday's "Summit of the Peacemakers" marked the symbolic culmination of a half-century-old dream of Israel's pioneers: to be accepted as a regular Middle Eastern nation. But in a historic irony, the agent that turned the Zionist vision into reality was Hamas, the Islamic extremist organization dedicated to Israel's destruction.

As master of the dramatic ceremonies here Wednesday, President Clinton was addressing three disparate audiences: the anxious Israeli public, the restive Palestinian population and the wider Arab world. But his appearance and remarks here were also aimed at a fourth critical constituency: the American electorate, which will be called upon in November to render a vote of confidence on his governance.

Highlights from speeches at the "Summit of Peacemakers": "To the forces of hatred and violence, I say--and let us all say: 'You kill yourselves and others in the aim of killing peace. Yet today, as you see, peace survives, and peace will grow stronger. You will not succeed. Your day has passed." --President Clinton **** "This terrorism is not anonymous. It has a name. It has an address. It has bank accounts. It has an infrastructure. It has networks camouflaged as charity organizations.

In an unprecedented show of unity in the Middle East, President Clinton and the leaders of Israel and 13 Arab nations declared Wednesday that "peace will prevail" and vowed to wage a common war against terrorism.

When President Clinton wanted to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres before the opening Wednesday of the historic antiterrorism summit in this sunny Red Sea resort, he had to wait in line. Peres was being buttonholed by some other prominent figures: the president of Egypt, a sheik from Bahrain and the kings of Morocco and Jordan.