Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were busily engaged in marathon sessions in Cairo this week in an effort to bridge the gaps separating them before a crucial weekend meeting in Switzerland between Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat.
Arafat was himself present in Cairo as his top financial adviser, Ahmed Karia, headed the PLO side in the negotiations.
Uri Savir, director-general of Israel’s Foreign Minister, and Yoel Singer, the ministry’s legal adviser, led the Israeli team.
The two sides hastily convened in the Egyptian capital on Tuesday. But by the end of the day Wednesday, there was no end to the deadlock in sight.
Savir, Singer and Karia had met during a series of secret negotiations held last year in Norway, where the two sides hammered out the broad outlines of the self-rule accord signed in Washington last September.
But the two sides have been unable to agree on the details for implementing the accord. At issue are several troubling security issues, most notably the question of who will control the border crossing points between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, and between the West Bank town of Jericho and Jordan.
The first deadline for implementing the accord came and went on Dec. 13 with the two sides unable to resolve their differences over the security issues. They included the border control issue, as well as the size of the autonomous Jericho area and the means for providing security for Jewish settlements in Gaza.
Israeli sources said there was scant progress made during Wednesday’s negotiating session, with questions about the crossing points still posting the major obstacle.
The sources said the talks would continue Thursday, following which the negotiators would then move on to Paris, where an international conference was under way on providing economic aid for the future Palestinian autonomous entity.
The negotiators had met in Cairo in hope of working out the details of an agreement that could then be presented to Peres and Arafat when they meet over the weekend at an international economic conference being held in Davos, Switzerland.
Sitting in at the Cairo negotiations were diplomats from Egypt and Norway. Both countries have been acting as intermediaries in the discussions in an attempt to break the protracted impasse.
In Jerusalem, Peres attempted to play down speculation that the Cairo talks would soon lead to an agreement. After meeting with Arafat last weekend in Oslo, Peres had helped fuel optimism by saying the two sides were close to breaking the deadlock.
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