Mideast: Tough Talks To Begin

Israel and the Palestinians will begin negotiations on a final peace treaty on Nov. 7, the two sides announced Friday.

The date was set in a first meeting between the two chief negotiators, Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo and Israeli diplomat Oded Eran.

So-called final status negotiations were launched with a ceremony on Sept. 13 to mark the fifth anniversary of the signing of a breakthrough agreement of mutual recognition between Israel and the PLO.

However, no talks were held since then, even though the two sides face tight deadlines of reaching a framework agreement by February and a final treaty by September.

Once the talks begin, the negotiators will have to tackle the thorniest issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, such as the final borders of the Palestinian entity, the status of Jerusalem, the future of millions of Palestinian refugees and the fate of Jewish settlements.

This morning, Abed Rabbo and Eran met at a Jerusalem hotel to prepare next week's summit between President Clinton, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in Oslo, Norway.

Abed Rabbo and Eran also worked out several procedural issues concerning the negotiations, said Barak spokesman Gadi Baltiansky.

The two will meet again in Oslo to complete their work on procedural questions, Baltiansky said, adding that the meeting took place in a good atmosphere.

Since Barak took office in July, the two sides have signed a new interim peace agreement, which calls on Israel to hand over 13 percent of the West Bank, in exchange for greater Palestinian efforts to rein in militants.

Both sides were implementing the agreement, and the atmosphere has improved considerably, compared to the tension during the rule of Barak's predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu.

Still, there are many points of friction.

Palestinian officials are angry with Barak for continuing to expand Jewish settlements and have criticized him for delaying the appointment of his chief negotiator. Eran was named only this week.

Another point of contention is the role of the United States. Barak wants Mr. Clinton to scale down his involvement, while Arafat seeks a prominent U.S. role.

By Dana Budeiri
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