Shaath looks to Clinton meetings

A senior PLO official warned that the peace process was passing through "an acute stage," highlighting the importance of the continuing Egyptian - Palestinian consultations and contacts to overcome the crisis.

Dr. Nabil Shaath, Palestinian planning minister, told reporters after meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa and President Hosni Mubarak's political advisor, Osama El-Baz, that the meeting between Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and the US president in Washington "would have an effective impact on the Palestinian track."

US President Bill Clinton is to meet with Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington this January in a bid to break a deadlock impeding the regional peace drive.

Shaath did not rule out a tripartite meeting between Arafat, Netanyahu and Madeleine Albright, "if the bilateral meetings were successful," Al-Akhbar daily reported.

The coming round of talks and meetings in Washington would be decisive in showing the Israeli position towards the issue of redeployment and halting settlements," Shaath said.