RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinians insisted Monday that a summit with Israel under U.S. auspices would be a waste of time, even as an Israeli Cabinet minister expressed optimism about prospects for such a meeting.
American mediator Dennis Ross met for nearly two hours with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in the West Bank town of Ramallah and emerged saying only that both sides were "making efforts" to bridge the gaps between them.
"If we didn't feel there was a potential, we wouldn't be working the way we are working," said Ross.
Arafat did not speak to reporters after his meeting with Ross, but senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the positions of Israel and the Palestinians are too far apart to make a summit productive.
Arafat wants assurances that Israel will hand over more West Bank land as promised by early July and release dozens of Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, on the other hand, is pushing for a Washington summit to be convened quickly. His government has been weakened by a prolonged coalition crisis, and hawkish coalition partners are threatening to bolt over reports of concessions being made to the Palestinians.
Israel's army radio said Monday that Israel's internal security minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, together with a close Barak associate, had met Sunday night in Nablus with Arafat and top aides.
"We do have some progress," Ben-Ami told army radio. "We are close to a decision on a summit between us and the Palestinians."
Arafat has angered the Israelis with renewed threats of a unilateral declaration of Palestinian independence.
"We have a few weeks left ahead of us, but they are the most important and critical, because at the end of it we will declare statehood," Arafat told supporters Sunday. "Palestine is ours, ours, ours!"
Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy said Monday that Arafat's remarks were very grave because they signaled an unwillingness to compromise. "He (Arafat) is actually telling his people that he is not working for an agreement," Levy told Israel army radio.