Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - In an increasingly frantic bid to reach some kind of agreement before President Clinton leaves office in a week, top-level Israeli and Palestinian negotiators resumed high level talks suddenly overnight.
No breakthroughs were reported on Friday after the midnight meeting at a crossing point into the Gaza Strip. The meeting took place under heavy pressure from Washington and against a backdrop of shooting attacks that are continuing despite earlier attempts to revive security cooperation.
Although the sides reportedly will meet again before the end of the weekend, there is little optimism that an accord can be reached in the remaining days of Clinton's presidency.
Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami spoke by telephone with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat after the midnight meeting. Initial reports indicated Arafat would meet with Israeli peace process architect Shimon Peres on Friday, but that meeting has not yet happened.
Prime Minister Ehud Barak's security advisor, Danny Yatom, said on Friday that he did not believe there was a chance for a major breakthrough before Israeli elections are held on February 6, much less before January 20.
Obtaining an acceptable Israeli-PA agreement is viewed as the only hope Barak could have for defeating Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon, who is leading by as much as 20 percentage points in public opinion polls on Friday.
"I don't think in one meeting there can be a breakthrough, of course not after so many months and actually after so many years, in which we discussed so many topics with the Palestinians," Yatom said in a radio interview about the overnight encounter.
Yatom added that his views were shared by Barak.
The PA has rejected the idea of a "framework agreement" and say they will only accept a permanent accord, based on relevant U.N. resolutions.
Chief PA negotiator Yasser Abed Rabbo said prior to the meeting that the Palestinian position had not changed. "We reject completely and utterly a declaration of principles," he was quoted as saying.
Clinton, who is pushing both sides hard to accept proposals which he outlined several weeks ago, said he does not know if there will be an agreement before he leaves the White House next week.
There could still be some progress in negotiations, however, he told reporters.
The responsibility to continue the process would fall on the incoming administration and the winner of the Israeli elections, he added.
In the meantime, Washington has said that the visit of special envoy Dennis Ross, which was to have taken place earlier this week, remained on hold.
The two sides are reportedly being asked to work out a treaty with a list of reservations attached. If they can formulate an outline agreement, Ross would be dispatched to the region to try to narrow the differences between the them.
"The president still hopes to ... narrow the gaps between the parties in the short time that is still available," said State Department spokesman Philip Reeker, adding that that would be Ross' job.
Clinton recommended that the PA be given a state in all of the Gaza Strip and about 95 per cent of the West Bank, as well as control over eastern Jerusalem - including the Temple Mount, Judaism's most holy site, on which Islam's third holiest mosque now stands.
In exchange, the Palestinians would be asked to give up the "right of return" to Israel for some 3.5 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants.
However, the Palestinians have refused to back down on the refugee demand. Palestinians living in refugees camps in PA-controlled areas and in Lebanon staged protests during the week.
On the Israeli side, there has been strong protest against dividing Jerusalem and surrendering the Temple Mount to the PA. As many as 400,000 Israelis gathered in Jerusalem earlier this week to protest the possible division of the city.
Ronni Milo, a cabinet minister from the Center Party, announced that he would resign from the government on Sunday in protest to the continued discussions based on the Clinton initiatives, which include the dividing of Jerusalem.
"In the history of the Jewish people, they didn't think about Rehavia," Milo said about one of the oldest Jewish neighborhoods in western Jerusalem.
"They didn't think about anywhere in Jerusalem except the Temple Mount," Milo told a joint press conference in New York with the city's mayor, Rudolph Giuliani. "I think there's no future for any nation that neglects its past and its history."
Milo's resignation is largely symbolic since the present government - already in a minority after previous resignations - has less than a month left in office. But it highlights the growing concern among Israelis over the future of the city they consider to be their capital.
In a poll published in Friday's Jerusalem Post, Israelis rejected Clinton's proposals by 62 percent to 31 percent.
Earlier in the week, 70 percent of Palestinians polled in an independent survey indicated that the uprising should continue, and 66 per cent said they supported suicide bombings.
Shooting attacks on Israeli civilians and army positions in the disputed territories continued overnight and on Friday morning, despite renewed security cooperation between the sides.
Israel on Thursday eased security restrictions as a result of a security talks between the sides, headed by CIA Director George Tenet.