CAIRO - Making what is probably his last trip to the Middle East before retirement, Secretary of State Warren Christopher failed yesterday to break the deadlock in Palestinian-Israeli negotiations over a long-delayed Israeli troop pullback from the West Bank city of Hebron.
But in a valedictory speech to several thousand business people and diplomats gathered for a major regional economic conference here, Christopher said a Hebron deal is "very close at hand,'' and he expressed optimism that the "traumas" of the past year - beginning with the assassination last November of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin - could be overcome.
"Over the last year, and especially in recent weeks, the peace process has demonstrated great resilience," Christopher told delegates to the third annual Middle East and North Africa Economic Conference. "By looking back into the abyss, both Arabs and Israelis recognized the imperative of moving forward.''
Christopher, 71, has staked enormous amounts of prestige on achieving a comprehensive settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict. His frequent shuttle missions to the region have earned him widespread recognition - if not always respect - among Arabs and Israelis alike.
In the first years of the Clinton administration, Christopher's lawyerly, low-key negotiating style seemed to be bearing fruit. Israel signed separate peace accords with the Palestinians and Jordan and undertook serious talks with Syria over terms of an agreement to include the return of Syria's Golan Heights, captured by Israel in 1967.
But relations between Arab countries and Israel have nose-dived since the election in May of Israel's new right-wing government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Syria and Israel are no longer talking. Israeli-Palestinian negotiations are stalled. Even moderate Arab countries are calling for the suspension of moves to "normalize" relations with Israel.
The United States has promoted the annual meeting taking place here in the belief that greater economic interdependence will lead to greater political stability in the region. Under pressure from the Egyptian public, which is deeply suspicious of Israel, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak initially threatened to cancel the conference, then relented under pressure from the United States. Other Arab states have downgraded their political representation, sending trade officials instead of foreign ministers. Jordan's King Hussein stayed home.
That is not to say that the meeting is a failure. U.S. officials noted yesterday that 1,500 business people, including 260 from the United States, are attending - 400 more than last year. The high attendance reflects improving investment prospects in countries such as Egypt, which is restructuring its economy in line with the free-market prescriptions of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
"If they didn't think there were possibilities here, they wouldn't be here," said Dennis Ross, the State Department's senior Middle East negotiator. "If they thought this was a region that was going to be characterized by instability and conflict, they wouldn't be excited about the economic reforms."
Egypt has played down the political significance of the conference, using it as a forum to promote foreign investment in the country of 60 million. In his opening address, Mubarak devoted most of his remarks to the merits of "globalization" and free trade and made only passing reference to the peace process.
That approach seemed to sit well with many delegates who contend that there are good reasons to invest in the Middle East even in the absence of a comprehensive peace agreement. "We don't view this as a political happening at all," a European diplomat said. "We're here to make money."
The most overtly political moment of yesterday's opening session occurred when Irish Foreign Minister Dick Spring, the current president of the European Union Council of Ministers, called for a restoration of the "land-for-peace" principle as the basis of a comprehensive settlement, drawing cheers from Arab delegates. Netanyahu has largely ruled out territorial compromise.
In the weeks leading up to the conference, U.S. officials have worked feverishly to secure an agreement on Hebron, the last major city in the West Bank still under occupation by Israeli troops. But after meetings here Tuesday with Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat, Mubarak and Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy, Christopher left this afternoon for Paris empty-handed.
AP PHOTO
Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat salutes a navy honor guard on his arrival in Gaza City yesterday after his meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher on Monday.