Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Middle East peace talks end on negative note Date: Fri, 20 Nov 92 15:30:30 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD;NEWS ANALYSIS \HD Middle East peace talks end on negative note \BY Martin Sieff \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES The seventh round of the Arab-Israeli peace talks ended here yesterday in a far gloomier atmosphere than it started. The talks resumed Nov. 9 after a break for the presidential election with American diplomats and public spokesmen for many of the delegations upbeat about prospects for peace. No one is talking that way now. Even Edward Djerejian, assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs whose role it is to be permanently upbeat about the talks, conceded yesterday that at best only "incremental progress" had been achieved in this round. The latest outburst of violence between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists in southern Lebanon "cast a real shadow on the talks," Mr. Djerejian said. All the parties to the talks appear to be waiting for the incoming Clinton administration to show its hand, said Robert Satloff, deputy director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. But there may be little to be gained by waiting. Diplomatic sources said Mr. Clinton is eager to see the talks continue on current lines. Anxious to reassure America's Arab allies, he placed phone calls within a day of his election to Saudi Arabia's King Fahd and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to assure them the main directions of America's Middle East policy would remain unchanged. Even before his election victory, Mr. Clinton had indicated he was backing away from his earlier pledge to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The United States has never recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. But Syrians and Palestinians in particular are worried that the incoming administration will freeze them out and tilt toward Israel, Arab diplomatic sources said. All parties to the talks agreed to return for another round in Washington starting Dec. 7. It will be the eighth round of talks since the current peace process began in Madrid on Oct. 31, 1991. But there are fears that the latest dip in Mideast peace stocks has deeper causes than just waiting for Mr. Clinton. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, facing increasing resistance from within his own center-left Labor Party to the prospect of giving up all or part of the Golan Heights, expressed his frustration this week with Syrian President Hafez Assad and questioned whether the Syrian leader really wants peace. Muwaffiq Allaf, the chief Syrian negotiator here, assured the U.S. government Wednesday that Syria remains committed to the peace process, Mr. Djerejian said. Chief Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi appeared more pessimistic in her assessment. "I'm afraid that the negotiations on the Palestinian-Israeli track have run into some serious difficulty," she said, criticizing the Israeli model for interim self-government in the occupied territories as "unworkable, impractical." Israeli spokesman Yossi Gal was equally gloomy. "I must regrettably report that positions of the past rather than substantive dialogue have returned to the talks" with the Palestinians, he said. Mr. Gal also complained that the Palestinian press office was writing and distributing negative accounts of the discussions before they were even held. "An hour before our opening meeting this round, the Palestinian press center provided journalists with a readout of the session even before it took place," he said. "My colleagues and I felt that we had experienced something out of 'Back to the Future.' " He said "the harsh and inflammatory terminology of these announcements undermines the confidence of the public in the concept of a negotiated settlement and negotiated peace as a whole." This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM