Palestinian officials to visit the United States

Senior Palestinian officials will visit the United States soon to meet with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, US State Department spokesman James Rubin said yesterday.

Rubin said that the officials, possibly Abu Mazen and Saeb Erekat, would visit "probably sometime late next week."

Rubin said they will discuss "matters of concern" to the Palestinians regarding the peace process, adding that the US would like to be "in a position to assist the parties in their decision-making to put the process back on track."

He said the US continues contacts with the Israelis and Palestinians, although, "We want them to be in a position to work problems out themselves."

On the issue of funds which have not been been approved by the US Congress for both the Palestinians and Israelis related to implementation of the Wye River accord, Rubin said, "Congress is not out of session for the year yet. There are several months of session remaining. We are going to be working with members of Congress to explain to them the importance of the Wye Agreement to peace in the Middle East and, therefore, to the security and national interests of the United States."

He added, "Withholding this funding will only harm the peace process and, that, therefore, at the appropriate time this year we will be in a position to obtain those funds."

He said that the lack of these funds would not stop the start of implementation of the Wye agreement, "But the only way we're going to be able to keep it going and keep it implemented and keep it on track is to have the commitments that we've made and that many members of Congress made to parties in the Middle East about it to be fulfilled."