SHANNON, Ireland (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, returning from three days in the Middle East, said Wednesday that the Clinton administration was willing to work night and day for Arab-Israeli peace.
"We all, starting from the President on down, really want to get to work. ... We're going to keep pressing for a conclusion to this, which means instead of 20-hour days we will be ready to work every day 24 hours," she told reporters aboard her plane between Cairo and New York."The president really has a passion for peace and ... and he will set aside the time that is necessary," added Albright, who has arranged for talks between Israelis and Palestinians to resume in the Washington area starting next week.
After two days of those talks next Monday and Tuesday, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat will meet President Bill Clinton at the White House Wednesday. Clinton saw Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in Lisbon last Thursday.
The aim of the meetings is to lay the basis for a three-way summit between Clinton, Arafat and Barak for them to reach an agreement on some of the toughest disputes in the Arab-Israeli conflict--borders, Jerusalem, refugees and settlements.
The pace of the talks has picked up in recent weeks as the Clinton administration tries to help the two sides meet a Sept. 13 target date for a comprehensive settlement.
Albright, who saw Barak and Arafat Monday and Tuesday, said: "They both understand that we are at a critical moment. ... Everybody is aware of the time pressure and that for me is a relatively positive development."
"We're all in the mood of rolling up our sleeves and getting to work," she added.
Albright declined to predict when the United States might decide the time was ripe for the summit, which is expected to be a secluded meeting like the Camp David talks which led to the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty in 1979.
"Getting into timing and predictions doesn't work. ... We're going to see day by day where we are, whether there's a basis (for convening the summit)," she said.
Albright might go back to the Middle East one more time before Clinton invites Barak and Arafat to Washington together and it is unlikely that Barak will join Arafat next week, she said. "My own sense is that it is too early. I don't think that next week (would be possible)," she said.
While in Cairo Wednesday, Albright also had her first meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara since an unsuccessful summit between Clinton and Syrian President Hafez al-Assad in Geneva in March.
They talked about Israel's sudden withdrawal from Lebanon last month and the prospects for reviving the Syrian-Israeli talks which broke down in January over the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel in 1967, a U.S. official said.
Albright said: "Basically what we wanted to do was to get over the past and think about the future. (I told Shara that) the doors were open and we should look at how to proceed. We talked about Lebanon and the importance of having a calm and secure situation."
But asked if Syria had modified its position on the Israeli proposals which Clinton showed Assad in Geneva, she said: "I did not get any indication of change."