STOCKHOLM — A secret channel of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks has primarily been preparing for a three-way summit that will include U.S. participation, a top-ranking Israeli official said Tuesday here.
Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat and President Clinton are scheduled to meet this summer, according to Internal Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, who was in Sweden to lead Israel’s secret negotiating team.
This second peace-talks channel, which has been active for some time, was made public only last week. It consists of Ben-Ami and attorney Gilad Sher on the Israeli side and top negotiators Ahmed Qurei, who is also known as Abu Ala, and Hassan Asfour on the Palestinian side.
“This is not a negotiation aimed at finishing the permanent-status agreement. But rather we are aiming to create the conditions under which the prime minister and Arafat can hold an effective summit in the U.S. under the auspices of Clinton,” Ben-Ami said in an interview for Israeli television’s Channel 1.
Sources reported that Oded Eran, head of the official negotiating team, was frustrated by his lack of authority relative to the power granted to the secret-channel negotiators, although Ben-Ami denied that Eran was being circumvented.
“There is an important official channel…dealing with a clear set of issues, and no one is bypassing this channel,” Ben-Ami said.
“There is ongoing contact between us and Oded Eran and his team. Simply, we are two channels in which one complements the other.”
There were no official-channel talks on Tuesday because Yasser Abbed Rabbo, head of the Palestinian negotiating team, resigned earlier this week in protest over the secret channel.
U.S. special Mideast envoy Dennis Ross, who was visiting the region for a few days, met Tuesday with both Arafat and Barak to assess the situation.
Ross, who also has participated in the secret talks in Stockholm, planned to report to Clinton later this week.
U.S. National Security Adviser Sandy Berger was also expected to meet with the leaders today in Israel in order to give his own assessment to Clinton.
Barak himself is to leave for the United States late Saturday night, and is scheduled to meet with Clinton in Washington. Barak is eager to have the transfer of villages Abu Dis, Al-Azariya, and Sawahara to full Palestinian control completed before his meeting with Clinton.
Barak reportedly phoned Arafat on Monday night to tell him that the pullback from the villages will be delayed until the Palestinian Authority contains the street violence. Officials in Barak’s office, however, said the redeployment could still be carried out this week.