Military

DATE=1017-2000

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=Clinton-Mideast Accord (L)

BYLINE=David Gollust

DATELINE=Sharm El-Sheikh

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The emergency Middle East summit in Egypt has ended with an agreement by Israel and the Palestinians to seek an immediate end to their nearly three weeks of violence and to seek a way back to negotiations on a final peace agreement. The understandings were brokered by President Clinton, in two days of almost non-stop mediation. VOA's David Gollust reports from the Egyptian Red Sea resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh.

TEXT: The summit took place in an atmosphere of gloom over the fighting, the worst between the sides in several years, and it appeared at times the meeting might break down in failure.

But the understandings announced by President Clinton were surprisingly broad and raised hope, at least, that the conflict has not entirely swept away chances for a final-status Israeli-Palestinian peace accord.

Mr. Clinton said the parties had agreed to make unequivocal public statements calling for an end to the violence, to take immediate concrete steps to eliminate points of friction and incitement:

///CLINTON ACTUALITY///

To accomplish this, both sides will act immediately to return the situation to that which existed prior to the current crisis in areas such as restoring law and order, redeployment of forces, eliminating points of friction, enhancing security cooperation and ending the closure and opening the Gaza airport. The United States will facilitate security cooperation between the parties as needed.

///END ACT///

Perhaps the most serious point of contention at the summit was Israel's flat rejection of the Palestinian demand for an international inquiry into the causes of the latest outbreak. Israel had said it was willing to accept a less-formal U-S chaired examination of the issue, and there were elements to satisfy both sides in the approach announced by the President:

///CLINTON ACT TWO///

The United States will develop with the Israelis and Palestinians, as well as in consultation with the United Nations Secretary-General, a committee of fact-finding on the events of the past several weeks and how to prevent their recurrence. The committee's report will be shared by the U-S President with the U-N Secretary-General and the parties prior to publication.

///END ACT///

Mr. Clinton said the United States will consult with the parties within two weeks on ways of getting the parties back to peace negotiations, which were totally derailed by the violence. A senior U-S official said Israeli and Palestinian envoys would come to Washington to initiate that discussion.

The summit agreements did not come in the form of a document signed or initialled by the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, but rather understandings between the United States and both sides. Despite the lack of signed accord, the senior American official said the understanding are very specific and that each side knows what the other has promised.

U-S Secretary of State Madaleine Albright, who flew off to Saudi Arabia to begin a round of consultations on the summit results, said an Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire should be in place within hours.

President Clinton also left Egypt immediately after the announcement heading back to the United States to keep a promise to attend a memorial event in Virginia for those killed in last week's terrorist attack on a U-S Navy ship in Yemen. (Signed)

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