US President Bill Clinton will
this week send special Middle East envoy Dennis Ross to
Israel, as the effort continues to narrow the gap between
Israeli and Palestinian representatives on the latest US peace
proposals, a senior US official has said.
Ross was to meet with both Israeli and Palestinian
representatives, in what is likely to be his last visit to the
region as Clinton`s envoy.
Ross would leave for the Middle East in the next few
days, another US official said on Sunday.
Clinton was expected to give indications as
to the state of play on the peace process in an address to the
Israeli policy forum in New York.
However, with just two weeks left before his term ends on
January 20, the Clinton administration was signaling that a
major breakthrough was not necessarily expected during that
period.
Rather, it is hoped to pass on to the incoming President
elect George W Bush administration a clear picture of the
Israeli and Palestinian positions on the US peace proposals
presented on December 23, possibly formulated in some kind of
framework agreement.
We are going to keep working on trying to develop some
way to get (Israelis and Palestinians) to agree on some basic
principles, because I think it is useful to the next
administration, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said
on Sunday.
Palestinian officials have said that the effort to reach a
settlement will, if necessary, continue under the incoming US
president.
Bureau Report
