- guardian.co.uk, Thursday October 12 2000 02.13 BST
Mr Clinton's admission that Washington is eager to resume its diplomatic role comes after several days spent on the sidelines of a peace effort spearheaded by Kofi Annan. The UN secretary general has shuttled between meetings with the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Barak, and the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat.
The Pope added his voice to the appeals for peace yesterday. "Faced with such a dramatic situation, I can only beg everyone to put an end to this spiral of violence without delay," he said.
Last night the intense diplomatic activity appeared to be producing results, and even speculation that Israel and the Palestinians could be willing to look beyond the bloodshed towards convening a summit. Mr Annan is expected to travel to Lebanon today to try to secure the release of three Israeli soldiers kidnapped by Hizbullah guerrillas at the weekend. That would prepare the ground for a return to the negotiating table by President Clinton.
"I am prepared to do whatever I can to help," he said yesterday, adding that his secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, might also travel to the region.
Yesterday Hizbullah warned Israel that any attempt to free the soldiers by force would be doomed. "Israel knows very well there is no solution except through an exchange operation. Let them decide what they see as appropriate."
Israeli officials said a peace summit could be convened as early as the weekend. Norway and Italy have offered to act as hosts.
Mr Barak appeared to support such a schedule yesterday and he suggested for the first time that the violence appeared to be dying down. "You know, if it [the reduction in violence] will continue for some time, this should be taken into account," he said.
The Russian foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, yesterday completed a whirlwind tour of Syria, Lebanon and Israel during which he has been trying to defuse the crisis. The Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying there was an increasing chance of a Barak-Arafat meeting.
"It is becoming clear there is a possibility of holding multilateral meetings with the participation of Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat," he said. "The participants and the venue are being agreed upon."
However, the Palestinians say that any talk of a summit is premature. "We welcome efforts exerted by President Clinton, but it is too early to speak about holding a three-way summit before the convening of the Arab summit [on October 21], especially since the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian territories is continuing," Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a senior Palestinian official, said.
Egypt is also opposed to an early summit, but President Clinton played down this rejection.
"I don't think you should over-read that as a reflection that either the Israelis or the Palestinians do not want to continue the peace process," he said.
The key to the gradual easing in tensions appears to be an emerging agreement between Israel and the Palestinians on an investigation team to look into the violence, in which more than 90 people have died. All but five of the dead were Palestinians or Israeli Arabs.
Yesterday a Palestinian teenager was killed during clashes in the West Bank, and another man died in Gaza. A third Palestinian was shot dead in clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank village of Jama'in, near Nablus.
