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Show ation & Page M'5- 4 April 28, 1999 Editor: Mike Sherwood jeromeml2hotmail.com Washington Proposes New Peace Summit With Israel, Palestine Tribune Media Services WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States launched an intensive new Mideast peace push Monday,' urging the par ties to reach a deal within a year and inviting them to a summit after Israeli elections next month. "Acting in a spirit of partnership and moving away from Congratulations Graduates Graduates Get $1000 OFF From GM eligible grads can receive an additional $1000 off any new Pontiac, Otdsmobile or GMC. Best of all it's in addition to most other rebates or incentives. GRAND AM SE 214 per mo. Auto, k ks, Tilt, Cruise, Tape, 4 Wheel Disc ABS & More' SONOMA 169 per EXTENDED CAB mentality, Israelis and Palestinians can work together to achieve a just and lasting White House peace," spokesman Joe Lockhart said. The US initiative comes in the final countdown to the May 4 deadline for concluding the permanent status phase of the Oslo peace accords. The Mideast talks have been stalled despite the Wye River accords President Clinton mediated last October, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is threatening to declare statehood unilaterally unless the Oslo pact is fulfilled by next week. In a tacit acknowledgement that the year deadline will not be met, Lockhart said Washington hoped to bring the parties together again within six months once the dust has settled following Israel's May 17 elections. "The United States calls on both parties to engage in accelerated permanent status talks ... and to rededicate themselves to the goal of reaching an agreement within a year," Lockhart said. At the State Department, spokesman James Rubin cau zero-su- m tioned that Washington was not setting a specific deadline for the fresh talks to end. It "is a timetable that we think is reasonable," Rubin said, adding however that Washington was anxious to see the issue settled quickly. Clinton has made Mideast peace a priority in his second term but he has recently been consumed with the Kosovo crisis. Israeli newspapers reported Monday, however, that Clinton has sent a letter to Arafat ahead of a key meeting Tuesday of PLO leaders to decide whether to postpone the statehood declaration. In it, Clinton said the United States recognizes that the Palestinians will "determine their future as a free people on their land." The letter fell short of Arafat's demand that Washington recognize the Palestinians' right to statehood, but it was the firmest expression yet of U.S. support for Palestinian "It's more than positive," Arafat told journalists in Gaza after receiving the Clinton letter 2WD mo. 3rd Dooi, Allov Wheels, CD, ABS & More! ALERO G C SEDAN I J 1 LJLLfc? wULLLJUJLXLiT r oar- GjEO - 03HIQSDOJ Auto, C.'DTape. Cruise, Tilt, Disc ABS. 'AF Iocs 36 men", 12 000 m leCvea' Orly Is: M merit - ta East ofi tide at S. snng next to new Dixie Center asr so at are eligible for this offer if you are within six months of graduation or have graduated within the past 2 years from a 2 or 4 year college. Vou uir it. ya n i t 1-- 15 ' 8Hf i V 'V ' 111' V '! lrMIK Netanyahu's office. Washington "has adopted the Israeli position of not allowing the Palestinians to declare a state unilaterally and of insisting that the fina status (of the Palestinian territories) can only be decided through negotiations," it said. Lockhart would not comment on the contents of the letter, saying only that it is aimed at jumpstarting the peace process. It was also to "reiterate our view about how the United States government views unilateral declarations," Lockhart said, in an apparent warning to Arafat. Rubin said lengthy discussions between US officials and Arafat had yielded at least some movement from Arafat on the statehood issue. J'He indicated he would take our concerns into account," he said without elaborating. Both Rubin and Lockhart denied the new pressure for an agreement aimed at influencing the Israeli elections, in which rightist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trailing Labor Party candidate Ehud Barak. rv i from U.S. 5 consul John Herbst. "Their contents will contribute to advancing the peace process and keeping peace alive," said Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat. aides of Paradoxically, right-win- g Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also hailed Clinton's letter, claiming it as a vindication of Netanyahu's policies. "It is thanks to the government's resistance of pressure from Arafat that he has been forced to go back on his plans to declare a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital next week," said a statement from s "I would reject the view that somehow this is designed to meddle in the elections," Lockhart said. But he added: "Both parties have expressed concern about the possibility of a political vacuum post-Ma- y 4, and we thought it was useful to make this statement now." |