Mideast Envoys Talk Peace; Clashes Rage On
Dec. 22 -- Violence marked the final Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan when a Palestinian, harnessed with explosives, walked into a roadside cafe full of Israeli soldiers and blew himself up, injuring three soldiers, one critically. Elsewhere, four Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The violence came as Palestinian and Israeli officials pressed ahead with U.S.-brokered talks in Washington today.
But the Clinton administration today avoided making any assessment, and an Israeli diplomat said his delegation reported Thursday night that the sessions were productive.
Both sides continue to make public pledges to push for a peace deal that would put an end to 52 years of bitter disputes between Israelis and Palestinians. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is meeting with negotiators today, a day after President Clinton offered the two sides a preliminary peace deal. Working-level discussions over the deal continue.
The envoys are racing against the clock to try to forge a final peace deal as Clinton prepares to leave office on January 20 and Israel heads toward a prime ministerial election on February 6.
Earlier, delegates from both sides said a possible compromise is emerging on the sensitive issue of Jerusalem, which Israel and the Palestinians both claim as their capital.
“The intent to make progress is there,” Arafat aide Nabil Shaath told reporters in Gaza. He said an assessment would be made when the Palestinian delegation returned.
Violence Mars Holy Day
But the violence on the streets has not stopped. The latest deaths have brought the toll in the 3-month-old spasm of violence to more than 340, nearly all Palestinians.
The cafe where today’s suicide bomb attack took place is near the remote Jewish settlement of Mehola, at the northern tip of the West Bank. Located on the main north-south highway through the Jordan Valley, it is frequented by troops stationed nearby.
It was not the first time the diner had been targeted. In 1993 a Palestinian parked a car bomb close to it and blew up the car with himself inside.
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