Albright takes over reins at Camp David

THURMONT, JULY 13. After two days of shuttling back and forth between the Israelis and the Palestinians, the U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, stepped back from the summiteering today, temporarily turning over the reins to the Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright.

As Mr. Clinton prepared to honour two previous commitments - a address to the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People in Baltimore and a medal ceremony in Washington - the White House adhered to its steadfast refusal to discuss the substance of the talks.

Mr. Clinton's chief spokesman, Mr. Joe Lockhart, described yesterday's meetings at the Camp David presidential retreat as ``a busy day between all parties, a day of engagement.'' In the absence of any claim of progress, Mr. Lockhart warned against drawing any conclusions as to whether gaps were being narrowed in the talks. ``Nothing should be read one way or the other,'' he said.

Without elaborating, he said the two sides had been concentrating on ``core issues.'' Those disputes - the most contentious ones separating the two sides - include the status of Jerusalem, claimed by both sides as their capital; the borders of any future Palestinian state; and the status of more than 2 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants.

In addition to a series of informal encounters among members of the three delegations, yesterday's sessions included separate discussions by Mr. Clinton with the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Ehud Barak, in the morning and the Palestinian leader, Mr. Yasser Arafat, in the late afternoon.

Mr. Arafat and Mr. Clinton talked as they strolled along a wooded pathway, according to Mr. Lockhart, who has repeatedly said that the rustic, informal atmosphere at the retreat was proving conducive to talks.

``This was a substantive encounter,'' the White House spokesman, Mr. P. J. Crowley, said of the Clinton-Arafat meeting.

The President then met Palestinian negotiators.

Mr. Lockhart stressed he did not expect any loss of momentum due to Mr. Clinton's absence for part of today, pointing out that Ms Albright already had held talks with both leaders and presided over meetings of delegates from both sides.

Enforced togetherness, though, has been credited in the past with contributing to success.

Meanwhile, a report from Gaza quoted the Palestinian Authority as saying that it had asked the U.S. and Europe to pressure Israel to remove military reinforcements from Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. Major-General Abdel-Razek al- Majaydeh, secretary of the Authority's National Security Council, said Israel had brought in tanks and supplied settlements with heavy machineguns.

He said military attaches of France and Britain, along with U.S. officials in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, had visited the Strip and taken pictures.

- Reuters

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Section  : International
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