November 17, 1999
Web posted at: 2:12 a.m. EST (0712 GMT)

In this story: Arafat refused to sign off on plan No Syrian talks planned RELATED STORIES, SITES

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- The stalled handover to Palestinian control of Israeli-occupied West Bank land could be on the agenda of a Wednesday meeting between U.S. President Bill Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, a White House spokesman said.

MESSAGE BOARD Mideast peace

Clinton aide Joe Lockhart said that while the two leaders might discuss the delay in a planned Israeli pullout from portions of the West Bank, it was not the reason for the meeting.

Clinton and Barak will discuss "all issues" in the Middle East peace process when they meet in Istanbul, Lockhart said.

"Barak was looking to have a meeting in the aftermath of Oslo to continue working on issues important to the peace process. I'm sure he has a number of issues on his agenda as far as moving the peace process forward," Lockhart said.

What began as a minor dispute turned into a full-blown fight, with Israelis and Palestinians deadlocked over who should decide what land Israel hands over.

The argument over the withdrawal began over the weekend, when Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat refused to sign off on maps outlining the Israeli troop pullback from 5 percent of the West Bank.

Israel said its exclusive right to sketch West Bank withdrawal maps was anchored in earlier peace accords. The Palestinians disputed that, saying they had to be consulted.

"No one has the right to impose maps on us," Arafat said on Tuesday.

After a two-day visit to the region, U.S. Middle East peace envoy Dennis Ross said he had seen "a very clear intention on the part of both (sides) to continue to move ahead." Ross met with both Barak and Arafat.

Meeting Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy on Tuesday in Jerusalem, Ross said he was confident the mechanism in place to sort out redeployment issues would resolve the dispute.

But he added that the United States regarded it as Israel's responsibility to carry out further redeployment.

Lockhart, when asked whether Clinton may also be planning to meet Syrian President Hafez Assad, said he had heard nothing to that effect.

Barak has been trying to reach an overall peace settlement with the Palestinians as well as trying to begin talks with Syria over the Golan Heights, seized by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Barak was due to fly to Istanbul for meetings on the fringes of a 54-nation European security conference. Clinton is already in Turkey and will attend the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe conference.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.