From: Steve Hurst/CNN
In: Washington
Posted 12-1-97

Subject: U.S. Pressures Israel On Settlements

The Clinton Administration has given the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu until the end of the year to make a significant move on halting settlement activity and handing back West Bank territory to the Palestinians, CNN learned.

Absent that, sources tell CNN, President Bill Clinton is likely to make a public declaration outlining what would be a major shift in U.S. policy to include open support for a "viable Palestinian entity" on the West Bank, with its eastern border along the Jordan River open to Jordan and with easy access to other Arab neighbors.

The United States, under Clinton, had pursued a policy that left reaching agreement up to the Israelis and Palestinians with Washington ready to step in to facilitate or mediate.

The new approach would see the president put forth broad outlines for what the United States would find acceptable, and it is believed those outlines will run counter to what Netanyahu has been trying to achieve -- primarily the return of as little of the West Bank as possible while blunting any move toward an independent Palestinian state.

The Netanyahu government has just agreed in principle to return more land to the Palestinians but the formulation is vague and believed to depend on leader Yasser Arafat agreeing to enter the so-called final status talks required to wrap up an overall deal.

So far Arafat's representatives have rejected the latest Israel move and refuse final status talks until Israel lives up to interim agreements contained in the Oslo accords which set the peace process in motion.

In Other News:

Monday Dec. 1, 1997

• Reno's Independent Counsel Decision Expected Tuesday
• Report: Defense Readiness Depends On Quick Reforms
• Former Espy Aide Convicted Of Lying

E-Mail From Washington:
• White House-Freeh Relations Worsen
• Cohen Blames Hussein For Infant Deaths
• Gore To Attend Global Warming Conference
• U.S. Pressures Israel On Settlements