Arafat Delegation Disappoints U.S. Mediated Talks With Israel Start Slowly Without ‘Experts’

A new round of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians got off to a slow start Monday as U.S. mediators complained that the delegation sent by Yasser Arafat lacked expertise in some areas.

The Palestinian leader sent three of his most senior deputies to Washington, but not the backup specialists that State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said were needed to deal with setting up a Palestinian airport and seaport, an industrial zone and a corridor for traveling between the West Bank and Gaza.

Arafat apparently intended to underscore that he wanted the talks being mediated by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and U.S. envoy Dennis Ross to concentrate on his demand for a substantial Israeli pull-back on the West Bank.

But Rubin said “we are concerned” that Palestinian specialists were not included in the delegation. He said that “without them we won’t be able to make any progress” on the four issues.

The response from Arafat’s headquarters was chilly.

Marwan Kanafani, an adviser to the Palestinian leader, said the negotiators sent to Washington “are more than experts” on all issues on Albright’s agenda. “If there is a positive development on these basic issues, I think Arafat is prepared to dispatch a private plane now with all the experts needed,” Kanafani said.

Albright convened the new round in her office, meeting with both Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy and Arafat’s deputy, Mahmoud Abbas. Ross, the senior Mideast mediator in the Bush and Clinton administrations, then stepped in.

Albright’s ambitious agenda could expand Arafat’s hold on areas of the West Bank, but that would require Israel’s acquiescence.

Promising to seek progress, Levy urged Arafat to stop predicting Israel would take an unyielding stance in the talks. Levy said both sides had to be flexible.