Clinton runs into Israeli, Arab reservations in push for quick summit

WASHINGTON - President Clinton turned to telephone diplomacy to urge Israel and the Palestinians to stop fighting as his call for a quick summit failed Tuesday to stir broad support.

Among alternatives Clinton was offering to a summit in Egypt was having top Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian and Jordanian officials confer with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright somewhere in the region.

The White House floated the idea of a Clinton-attended summit Sunday at Sharm el-Sheik, a Red Sea resort, but it got no response.

''It's safe to say that, based on the conversations we had today, we're still looking to hear back from the leaders on their view of what needs to be done,'' P.J. Crowley, a White House spokesman, said.

That, he said, includes ''their judgment on possible meetings in the region.''

The primary U.S. interest is not simply holding a meeting, but getting the violence stopped, assessing what happened and looking at ''where we go from here to accelerate the peacemaking process again,'' Crowley said.

The Arabs do not want a summit held until after an Oct. 21 Arab League meeting in Cairo, while Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak is insisting the violence end before a summit or any other meeting is staged.

''There just has been no decision, one way or another,'' State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on whether Albright would stand in for Clinton.

While Clinton's proposal for a summit or other U.S. contacts ''will, of course, be discussed on their merits,'' Barak told Israel Radio, ''there is no logic in our saying on the one hand that we demand an end to the violence, and on the other, when there is an attempt to convene a meeting for the purpose of halting the violence.''

Egypt, the projected host, was lukewarm to the idea as well.

On a visit to Syria, Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said ''the next event will be the Arab summit'' that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has called for Oct. 21-22 in Cairo.

Syria's foreign minister, Farouk al-Sharaa, said: ''I don't think there are indications that a summit will be held in Sharm el-Sheik.''

Clinton met at the White House with his top advisers Tuesday and consulted by telephone with Barak, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Mubarak. Albright extended her weekend telephone diplomacy with discussions Tuesday with al-Sharaa, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.

Albright has also reinstated the security clearance of U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, allowing him to rejoin peacemaking efforts, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday night. An investigation continues into the ambassador's alleged violation of security procedures.

Refusing to give up the idea of a summit this week, White House spokesman Jake Siewert said, ''We remain focused on what we can do in the shorter term to break the cycle of violence.''

He said Clinton is ''assessing and reassessing'' the idea of convening a summit. Spokesman Crowley said the president has made no decision whether to travel to the region.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was in the Middle East, trying his hand at promoting calm and urging the militant Islamic group Hezbollah to release three captured Israeli soldiers. In a 15-minute telephone conversation, he and Clinton agreed the situation in Israel seemed at least temporarily a bit cooler, Crowley said. They decided to focus on pressing Barak and Arafat to ''shift back from confrontation to calm'' and resume negotiations.

If a quick summit were to occur, it should concentrate on establishing an international commission to explore causes of the violence and how it is being waged, said Hassan Abdel Rahman, the senior Palestine Liberation Organization official in Washington.

In an interview, Rahman said an equally important goal is to compel Israel to withdraw its troops and armor from Palestinian-controlled areas.

The PLO official said gangs of Jewish settlers were on a rampage and had carried out 35 separate attacks on the West Bank.

''That's one of the most dangerous elements,'' he said, because it is hardening Palestinian resistance, and the Israeli government is not acting to stop the settlers.

Boucher said the Clinton administration supports the concept of fact-finding but said the panel's composition depends on the approval of both Israel and the Palestinians.

Mindful of pro-Palestinian sentiment abroad, Israel is resisting the idea of an international panel.

Complicating Clinton's call for a summit was the somewhat different approach Israel and the Palestinians took to a high-level meeting.

Barak would like a date set at the summit for a resumption of the sidetracked negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, while the Palestinians are focused on what they see as provocative Israeli actions.

''The substantive negotiations on a permanent agreement will be resumed only after the violence ends,'' Barak said. ''But suggestions for other contacts, such as for the purpose of stopping the violence, will of course be discussed on their merits.''

---

On the Net: State Department Middle East regional site: http://www.state.gov/www/regions/nea/index.html