▪ Oslo Atmospherics Summit set the tone for the toughest talks yet. DOUGLAS DAVIS Jewish Telegraphic Agency London U Norway's placid setting, the task of negotiating the really tough issues back home in the pressure cooker of Middle East politics would be far more difficult. No one was underestimating the enormity of the task ahead, the consequences of failure — or the very real benefits that success will bring. For the Israelis, a final settlement with the Palestinians will still leave unfinished business in Syria and Lebanon, but it will remove the major obstacle to normalizing relations with much of the Arab world and help secure the legitimacy that has eluded the Jewish state in the region. For the Palestinians, a deal would mean not just a nlike previous efforts at Middle East summitry, this week's Clinton-Barak- Arafat meeting in Oslo did not aim at achieving any dramatic breakthroughs. Instead, the three leaders had the more modest goal of creating a positive atmosphere as Israel and the Palestinian Authority embark on their most dif- ficult negotiations to date — the final-status talks. Given these goals, President Bill Clinton had lit- tle difficulty in hailing his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. "We have just completed a very good meeting. I feel we have revitalized the peace process," Clinton said after Tuesday's meeting, which took place amid commemorations in the Norwegian capital of the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Clinton offered no details about the hour-long meeting, which was intended to lay the groundwork for the final-sta- tus talks. Those discussions — which will tackle such seemingly intractable issues as the future of Jerusalem, Jewish settlements, Palestinian refugees and final borders — are slated to begin next week in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Barak and Arafat have Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak agreed to reach a final peace shake hands prior to their bilateral talks in Oslo, Norway, on Monday agreement by September of next year. They have also set an interim Feb. 15 homeland but, for the first time in history, the very deadline for achieving an outline of that pact. real likelihood of an independent Palestinian state, Clinton also said Tuesday he would hold another with the promise of international diplomatic recog- summit with Barak and Arafat to work on the out- nition and aid for reconstruction and development. line, adding that they "agreed with me that we For Clinton, it is his last best chance to redeem his might well have a summit at the end of this process presidency and associate his name in history with the if enough progress has been made" in the weeks achievement of a lasting peace in the Middle East. before the February deadline. A hint of Clinton's eagerness to score this achieve- Earlier in the day, the three leaders invoked ment could be detected at the Oslo town hall before Rabin's memory in a bid to kick-start the final-status the summit, when he joined other speakers in pay- talks. Yet, for all three of the principals who assem- ing tribute to Rabin's legacy. "If Rabin were here bled along with other leaders in Oslo — where with us today he would say, 'There is not a moment secret Israeli-Palestinian talks led to a historic break- to spare. All this honoring me and these nice words, through in 1993 — the summit was a high-stakes they're very nice — but please finish the job,'" the diplomatic poker game. They knew that if they were president told the hundreds who had gathered to unable to create the appropriate mood music in OSLO on page 28 Peace Process Tune Line New York (DTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat vowed in Oslo this week to press forward with the most difficult and delicate talks the two sides have yet faced — the final-status negotiations. The following is a time line of key events in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process: • Winter 1992-Summer 1993 — Israeli and Palestinian negotiators hold a series of secret meet- ings in Oslo to draw up a road map to peace. • Sept. 13, 1993 — Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Arafat exchange a historic handshake on the White House lawn as the two sides sign the Declaration of Principles, a timetable for launching Palestinian self-rule in the Gaza Strip = and West 'Bank. • May 4, 1994 — Israel and the PLO sign the Cairo Agreement for establishing self-rule in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho. Jericho comes under self-rule on May 13. Israel 3 completes its withdrawal from Gaza on May 18. • Sept. 28, 1995 — Rabin and Arafat sign the Interim Agreement, which sets the stage for an Israeli withdrawal from six West Bank towns. • Nov. 4, 1995 — Rabin is assassinated by Yigal Amir, a 25-year-old Jewish law student, after a Tel Aviv peace rally. Shimon Peres steps in as prime minister. • Jan. 20, 1996 — Palestinians in the territo- ries vote for the first time to elect an 88-member legislative body. Arafat is elected leader of the Palestinian Council with 90 percent of the vote. • Feb. 25-March 4, 1996 — The peace process faces its most serious threat when Israel is left reeling by a series of Hamas suicide attacks in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Ashkelon that claim 59 lives and wound 220 others. • April 24, 1996 — The Palestine National Council votes to amend portions of the charter that call for the destruction of Israel. • May 29, 1996 — Israelis narrowly elect Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu as prime minister. • June 22-23, 1996 — Egypt hosts the first A rab League summit in six years to develop a fo nt against the new Netanyahu govern- , oath to the peace process. 1996 Netanyahu and Arafat hold ‘ 'eeting. Both sides agree to discussions „ from most of Hebron, the last West 430ati$nvin. to be turned over to the Palestinians. 15, 1997 — Netanyahud an Arafat c during a late-night bron Agreement at the Erez Crossing. On Jan. 17 , "WA•W, rt :q•. ps redeploy in the predawn hours from of Hebron, days earlier than called for gement. 18, 1997 — Israel breaks ground for erslal Jewish housing project at Har At;7,% n page 28 s itkAAQ"t, , 1,1 5 1999 Dettoit Jewfsh News 25'