The summit opening today at the Wye Plantation, Maryland, is more than a little bizarre. Summit conferences are usually held when the parties are close to an agreement and only a handful of differences remaint. This, though, is hardly true of the summit being hosted by President Bill Clinton which brings together Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Most outstanding issues have yet to be resolved.
And this is despite intensive diplomatic efforts that included a meeting between the three leaders in Washington three weeks ago and a second in Gaza last week between Netanyahu, Arafat and US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. On the eve of the summit both sides appeared to be pessimistic. Netanyahu, during a visit to Jordan yesterday, said the summit could succeed if Arafat met Israel's demands to clamp down on militants. Palestinian officials reacted by declaring that Netanyahu was using the killing of the Israeli as an excuse to block any agreement. Dampening expectations of a breakthrought, the officials said they did not expect Netanyahu to work seriously for a deal if he continued to reject the idea of reciprocity on security issues.