Clinton to Meet Arafat in Effort to Rekindle Mideast Peace Talks
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: President Clinton is meeting today with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in an effort to move along those Middle East peace talks. CNN White House correspondent Major Garrett is at the White House with more on this meeting. What are you expecting today, Major?</s>MAJOR GARRETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Carol. Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat arrived in Washington late last evening. He's due here at the White House 9:30 this morning. The president has set aside about an hour and a half for the meeting, and the atmosphere in the Middle East peace talks, at least the Israeli-Palestinian track, are grim. There's essentially two tracks to the negotiations going on here in Washington, one about the so-called interim issues. That's the Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and the handover from Israel to Palestinians of prisoners. Well, the Palestinians pulled out of those talks yesterday, saying the Israeli concessions were not nearly enough. The other track of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process deals with what are called final status issues. That's the status of Jerusalem, the final boundaries of a new Palestinian state, and other issues. Those talks are continuing, and it's those that the president hopes to jumpstart today. Yesterday, the president was asked about the prospects for a final status peace agreement. He said he's still working on it.</s>WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think we are making steady progress. We're -- we've seen the narrowing of some of the gaps, but I don't know that we're ready to have the final meeting yet.</s>GARRETT: U.S. officials are not pleased with reactions from Palestinian Chairman Arafat or Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak yesterday. Both accused each other of foot dragging, both accused each other of negotiating in bad faith. The president spoke with Mr. -- Prime Minister Barak yesterday for about 45 minutes here at the White House in preparation for his meeting with Arafat. The White House does hope it can find some hope in restarting the peace talks with Arafat today, but right now officials are not very optimistic. Major Garrett, CNN, reporting live from the White House.