CLINTON TO MEET AGAIN LATE JANUARY 20 WITH ISRAEL'S PRIME MINISTER
USIA
USIS Washington File
20 January 1998
CLINTON TO MEET AGAIN LATE JANUARY 20 WITH ISRAEL'S PRIME MINISTER
(Secretary Albright announces this at late afternoon briefing) (440)
By Wendy S. Ross
USIA White House Correspondent
Washington -- President Clinton will meet late in the evening January
20 with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the second meeting
of the day between the two.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright announced this at a late
afternoon briefing in which she informed the press about the day's
earlier meetings.
"We have in fact had some good serious meetings today, on what is a
working visit, in a friendly atmosphere," Albright said, adding that
she interrupted a two-hour late-afternoon meeting she was having with
Netanyahu in order to brief the press.
"I am going to go back" to continue that meeting, she said, and then
"we will continue some discussions later this evening with the
President."
Albright said the discussions center on "the appropriate elements for
a further redeployment -- that is timing, the quality, quantity, and,
of course, security aspects involved in that. We have also been
talking about the Four Part Agenda, which again is obviously security,
the timeout, the FRD's (Israeli Force Redeployment), and accelerated
Final Status Talks."
Albright said the evening meeting between Clinton and Netanyahu was
possible because the dinner in honor of Netanyahu at the Israeli
Embassy was canceled (due to the death of Israel's Education Minister)
and this made it possible for the Prime Minister and the President to
be able to continue the discussions they held earlier in the day.
"The purpose of these talks," she said, "was for the President to be
able to lay out his ideas on how the gaps could be narrowed. The Prime
Minister was interested in what the President had to say. It seems
useful to be able to explore those ideas further, and have some give
and take face to face, rather than on the phone, or by mail," she
said. "So we are taking the opportunity of a free evening to be able
to have some additional discussions."
"We are talking about how both parties can fulfill their mutual
obligations and get the peace process back on track," she said.
Asked if she thinks the stage is being set for a three-way meeting
among Clinton, Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser
Arafat, who is scheduled to meet at the White House with Clinton
January 22, Albright said that question is "premature. ... We will see
how this progresses. We are dealing with very, very serious issues now
and they take time and they take very careful work and I think we
don't want to get ahead of ourselves."