JERUSALEM -- A U.S. mediator will participate fully in the upcoming round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, a sign of increased U.S. involvement aimed at breaking a five-month deadlock, officials said Monday.
The talks on a treaty framework are to begin after the Jewish Passover holiday, which ends April 26. Negotiators will meet in Israel and the Palestinian areas, rather than in Washington, as they have done in the two previous rounds.President Clinton's Mideast envoy, Dennis Ross, will serve as the mediator, said Larry Schwartz, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv.
"The idea has been that the Americans would participate fully," Schwartz said. He said he did not know if Ross would attend every meeting.
The Palestinians have said no progress has been made since talks on a peace treaty began in November and have accused Israel of wasting precious time by focusing on reaching a peace agreement with Syria first.
However, after hopes for a Golan Heights-for-peace deal with Syria dimmed, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said he would forge ahead with the Palestinians.
Last week, Barak agreed to Clinton's proposal that the United States step up its involvement. On Thursday, Clinton will meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Washington, and the two will work out the final details of the level of U.S. involvement, said a Palestinian official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The first two rounds of talks took place at Bolling Air Force Base near Washington, but no progress was made. The two sides face a May deadline for a treaty framework, and a September target for a full accord.
In statements made at Sunday's Cabinet meeting and released by his office, Barak outlined what he would concede -- and wouldn't concede -- in a blueprint of a final peace treaty, due next month.
Barak said he would turn over West Bank land that would give the Palestinians the territorial contiguity they need for statehood. Barak assured his hard-line Israeli critics that Jerusalem would remain united under Israeli sovereignty but said Palestinian suburbs just outside the city, claimed by both sides as their capital, would be handed over.
The prime minister, however, did not refer directly to a Palestinian "state."
Barak said most Jewish settlements in the West Bank would be annexed to Israel in a permanent peace treaty.