US President Bill Clinton said that Israeli and Palestinian leaders are closer than they have ever been before to reaching a settlement, but soon after that statement, a summit scheduled for Thursday in Egypt between the two leaders had been scrapped. Clinton said on Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak had accepted US proposals for a settlement with the Palestinians. However, Egyptian officials said that Barak chose not to travel to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday in Egypt. The collapse of the Israeli-Palestinian meeting dealt a blow to hopes for quelling an upsurge in violence in the region and also set back Clinton's efforts to achieve a peace agreement before he leaves office on January 20. Still, an administration official said on Wednesday night that the White House remained committed to the negotiations and was taking a wait-and-see approach to news coming out of the region.

“We always knew this could be hard,” an official said on condition of anonymity. “We're still waiting to hear from Arafat. The president has reached out to leaders in the region let's wait and see.” Bureau Report