U.S. Offers Arafat Help In Regaining Land But Clinton Wants Palestinian Boss To Quash Terrorist Groups, Tone Down Rhetoric

President Clinton and Secretary of State adeleine Albright Thursday promised Yasser Arafat that they would push Israel to withdraw quickly from more West Bank territory, but they demanded that the Palestinian leader quash terrorist groups and tone down anti-Semitic rhetoric in official publications.

Conceding that the Mideast peace process is moving slowly, Clinton’s aides announced that Madeleine Albright will need to meet with Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the next few weeks in Europe.

For days, the administration had sought to downplay this week’s separate meetings with Arafat and Netanyahu. Noting that both sides still disagree about land returns, security arrangements, and the final status of Jerusalem, State Department spokesman James P. Rubin said Thursday, “We do not believe that there has been agreement on these various difficult issues.”

Arafat wound up a day of meetings in the White House and the State Department saying he was pleased with the Americans’ attitude and was “not asking for the moon” as he sought West Bank handovers.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Clinton wants Israel to pull out from at least 10 percent of the West Bank in the next stage. That jibes with administration reports that Clinton is seeking a “double-digit” amount. Israel has turned over 37 percent of the West Bank, and a peace accord signed with the Palestinians in 1993 does not specify how much more is to be handed over.

Erekat said Clinton assured his Palestinian guests, “I want a credible and significant redeployment. I want two digits.”

Clinton’s morning meeting in the Oval Office with Arafat lasted just over an hour, like the meeting with Netanyahu two days earlier. “As long as there is a pressure and efforts by President Clinton, I’m fully confident that the peace process will be protected,” said Arafat, who last met with Clinton 10 months ago.

By the accounts of U.S. officials, this time Clinton and others up-braided Arafat politely but firmly several times during the day for not doing enough to stop terrorism. Spokesman Mike McCurry said, “The president gave the chairman things to think about.”

Netanyahu, who flew back to Israel Wednesday night, was unrepentant about openly courting the Rev. Jerry Falwell, House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and other Clinton foes, who say Israel should defy demands to hand over land to Arabs. In his last speech in Washington, Netanyahu offered a public message to Arafat: “You haven’t done anything, and you ask us to give up additional territory to be bases for terrorism.”

Netanyahu said all the West Bank towns that Israel turned over to the Palestinians have started producing TNT for bombs.

Outside the White House, Arafat said the talks went well, but his remarks indicated just how wide is the gap Clinton is trying to bridge. He said, for example, that the Palestinians are entitled to all but a fraction of the West Bank and Gaza Strip territory that Israeli still occupies - an amount adamantly contested by Netanyahu.

Arafat also defended himself against other charges leveled by Netanyahu this week. He denied:

The assertion that the Palestinian National Council had failed to revoke its sworn pledge to destroy the Jewish state. He pointed out that the Clinton administration and the previous Labor Party government in Israel had declared the move sufficient.

The claim that two men accused of murdering an Israeli civilian are now serving as Palestinian policemen. He said that “the two suspects are in jail in Jericho, and anyone can go and visit them in jail.”

The charge that Arafat is doing too little to improve security and prevent terrorist attacks. He complained Netanyahu recently rejected a security plan negotiated by Palestinian and Israeli authorities with the help of the CIA.