As the negotiations to implement the Palestinian self-rule accord continued with little sign of progress, observers were ruling out a meeting this week between Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat.
After their meeting in Cairo last week, the two leaders had planned to meet this week. But they are reluctant to schedule the meeting until there was a clear agreement on several details that have so far held up the implementation of the accord.
The Israeli and PLO delegations met Tuesday in a hotel here, then left in the afternoon, accompanied by high-level Norwegian officials.
On Wednesday, the discussions resumed about 15 miles west of the French capital that is home to the ornate chateau of Versailles, built by Louis XIV.
Rather than engage in face-to-face discussions, negotiators swapped position papers late into the evening Wednesday.
Israeli sources said the negotiations were taking this form because the real decision-making for both sides was proceeding simultaneously in Jerusalem and Tunis, the site of PLO headquarters.
Draft proposals were being faxed back and forth in a lengthy and laborious process that was, according to sources, producing little progress.
The Israeli team was led by Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, and the Palestinians by Abu Alaa, also known as Ahmed Karia, the head of the PLO’s economic division.
Three key issues are dividing the two sides: who will control the borders between the Gaza Strip and Egypt and between the West Bank town of Jericho and Jordan, the size of the Jericho district that will fall under Palestinian autonomy, and the size of the Israeli security force that will remain behind to protect settlers in Gaza and Jericho.
The Israeli sources indicated there was flexibility in Israel’s position on the border checkpoints.
They said Israelis and Palestinians could staff the checkpoints in two separate rooms, with travellers passing through two screening processes.
Israel Television reported from Paris that the atmosphere was “businesslike, but not especially warm” at the talks.
The meetings here followed a round of talks held over the weekend in Oslo, where the negotiators remained deadlocked over the key issues.
On Sept. 8, Israeli and Palestinian delegations met here to finalize the terms of the self-rule accord just five days before the historic signing ceremony in Washington.
(Contributing to this report was JTA correspondent David Landau in Jerusalem.)
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