Israel suggested Friday that final agreement with the PLO on implementing Palestinian self-rule will not be reached for weeks.
"Even if there are understandings with the PLO, there is no chance of signing an agreement in 10 days or even in 20 days," the Israeli media quoted a senior Israeli negotiator as saying.Israeli journalists were briefed by officials Thursday night on the state of talks with the PLO following the delay in the scheduled start on Monday of a troop pullout from the occupied Gaza Strip and West Bank town of Jericho.
Their subsequent reports carried the same message: no progress on resolving differences with the PLO on control of border crossings, the size of the self-rule area around Jericho and security arrangements for Jewish settlements.
Israel Radio, quoting senior Israeli political sources, said Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chief Yasser Arafat apparently would not meet as planned on December 23.
Both leaders met in Cairo Sunday and announced an indefinite delay in the withdrawal, the first stage in the self-rule deal signed in Washington on September 13.
They said they would meet again in about 10 days to discuss progress.
But Rabin has said he was concerned that another summit without results would be damaging.
"If it is clear an agreement can be reached, there will be a meeting," Environment Minister Yossi Sarid told Israel Radio. "If it is not clear and everything is still open, there will not be a meeting."