ARAB-US RELATIONS - June 23 - Palestinians Request US Involvement.

Palestinians repeat calls for the US to play a central role in ME peacemaking to secure the implementation of outstanding agreements with Israel and help initiate a trilateral summit. Senior Palestinian negotiator Erekat says he had asked US Middle East envoy Ross - in the region to further mediation efforts - to ensure the delayed Israeli hand-over of West Bank land and the further release of Palestinian prisoners. Erekat says: I hope that Mr. Ross and Secretary [of State Madeleine] Albright will help us to acquire the implementation of the 3rd phase of redeployment and the release of prisoners". On June 20, Palestinians agreed to a US request to postpone for 2 weeks a 3rd and final hand-over by Israel of West Bank land under interim peace deals that had been slated for June 23. (The 2 sides have long disputed the scale of the hand-over. Palestinians also demand the release of some 1,600 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.)

The US requested the delay to give Albright time to arrange a possible 3-way summit between Pres. Clinton, Palestinian Pres. Arafat and Israeli PM Barak. Erekat plays down the chances of a meeting of the 3 leaders in the near future. He says: It needs a lot of preparation...it needs the acceptance of the Israeli side of the relevance of UN resolutions which are the objective of the negotiations". (Israel and the Palestinians are aiming to forge a final status peace deal by September that would resolve the most difficult issues at the heart of their conflict, including the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees.) In a statement, the Palestinian cabinet decries Israeli army preparations to increase the military equipment of soldiers guarding Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza for fear of a flare up of clashes with Palestinians. It also blasts Israeli Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz for warning that the army might deploy helicopters to put down clashes that military intelligence has predicted could occur if the sides fail to clinch a peace deal. The statement says Mofaz's remarks unveiled "a hidden intention, and political and military plans that point out that this Israeli government...has been preparing politically and militarily for the clashes and military solution". On June 21, an Israeli military source said the army would give teargas canisters and metal bullets to troops to protect the 145 Jewish settlements. The Palestinian cabinet in says the implementation of interim agreements were "central issues without which the negotiations will reach no results and no accomplishment of final status issues".