The US special envoy, Mr Dennis Ross, is returning to Israel today, to try to win the agreement of the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, to Washington's ultimatum for salvaging the peace process. If that agreement is not forthcoming, Palestinian sources say, the Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat, intends to convene a summit meeting of Arab heads of state, at which he may urge those of them that have established formal relations with Israel to sever those ties.
Mr Ross's hurriedly arranged trip to Israel followed a phone conversation yesterday between Mr Netanyahu and the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright. Earlier this week, Ms Albright issued an invitation to Mr Netanyahu and to Mr Arafat, to come to Washington next Monday for a summit meeting hosted by President Clinton. However, she said the invitation was conditional on Israel agreeing at once to relinquish another 13 per cent of the occupied West Bank to Palestinian control. Mr Arafat immediately signalled his agreement. Mr Netanyahu's public response was that he would not accept US "dictates" on issues critical to Israel's security, and might pass up the Washington invitation.
Mr Netanyahu has been engaged in feverish consultations with his ministers over the ultimatum in recent days, and his cabinet is scheduled on Sunday to discuss how much land it is now prepared to transfer.
A handful of ministers have said they oppose any further land transfers. Another group has warned that, were he to endorse a withdrawal from more than 9 per cent of the West Bank, they would work to bring down his coalition. Not a single minister has publicly declared support for the US 13 per cent proposal.
Mr Ross's trip appears to represent yet another last-ditch bid to bind Mr Netanyahu to his own commitments. President Clinton, playing good cop to Ms Albright's bad cop, has been insisting that "there is no way in the world that I could impose an agreement on them [the Israelis], even if I wished to do that - which I don't." But it seems clear that, if Israel does reject the US demands, American attempts to revive the peace hopes will have reached the end of the road. In remarks broadcast to a conference of Israeli and Arab youths in Switzerland, Mrs Hillary Clinton reportedly expressed support for the eventual establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Administration officials have been quick to stress that this is her personal view, not official policy. But it is clear that the Clinton administration is developing ever greater sympathy for Mr Arafat and his position, and has essentially made a remarkable shift - from working alongside Israel to broker peace with the Palestinians, to working along with Mr Arafat to try and press Mr Netanyahu into honouring his peace accord pledges. If there is no Washington summit, and the region slides into more violence, it is Mr Netanyahu whom the Americans will blame.
South Africa's foreign ministry, processing a visa application from the Hamas leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, is assessing the effect of a visit on Middle East peace, the deputy foreign minister, Mr Aziz Pahad, said yesterday in Cape Town. Mr Pahad told parliament that while South Africa was highly critical of Mr Netanyahu, it was not anti-Israeli and would do nothing to harm Middle East peace.