Albright cuts peace talks short

WASHINGTON - The long-awaited resumption of Middle East peace talks stumbled yesterday when U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright cut short the first meeting, complaining that the Palestinian delegation does not include the technical experts needed for detailed negotiations with Israelis.

Albright convened a preliminary meeting in her office with the delegation chiefs, Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy and Mahmoud Abbas, a deputy to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.

But when Albright tried to turn the talks to such nitty-gritty issues as establishment of an airport, seaport and industrial park to serve Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, she found that the Palestinian technicians were not present.

The developments were promised as part of the 1995 Israeli-Palestinian peace accords, but the two sides have been unable to agree on details.

"They're not here and ... without them we won't be able to make any progress," State Department spokesperson James Rubin said of the mid-level Palestinian negotiators.

Arafat sent two of his top aides, Saeb Erekat and Nabil Shaath, along with Abbas. Selection of that trio, among the most important Palestinian officials after Arafat, indicated that the Palestinian leader wanted the Washington talks to concentrate on major issues such as the further withdrawals of Israeli troops from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and a freeze on the building of Israeli settlements.

Rubin said those issues are on Albright's agenda, but that the secretary of state also hoped to make progress on lesser issues that would give average Palestinians a greater stake in the peace process.

The procedural disconnect is only the latest symptom of the mutual mistrust that has plagued the Middle East peace process for more than a year. Last week, Albright had chided Israel for failing to send any negotiators at all. This week, with the Israeli delegation in place, she judged the Palestinians to be short-handed.

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