Israeli and Palestinian leaders have agreed to a two-week delay so that the Palestinian Authority Chairman, Mr Yasser Arafat, can review alterations to the Wye Plantation land-for-peace deal presented to him by the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, at a meeting last night.
The changes would mean a delay in part of the Israeli territorial withdrawals in the West Bank.
Mr Barak yesterday reiterated his commitment to the Wye agreement, announcing at a press conference following a two-hour summit at the Erez checkpoint between Israel and the Gaza Strip, that "we are committed to Wye and we will implement Wye".
However, the new Prime Minister added that he had asked Mr Arafat to consider his ideas for including part of the Wye-stipulated West Bank land hand-overs to the Palestinians in final status talks. "He will consider them," said Mr Barak, "and we will hear his views in two weeks."
While he acceded to the delay, Mr Arafat remained adamant in his demand that Israel agree to immediately implement the agreement in its entirety.
"We must see the precise, accurate implementation of agreements signed on the basis of reciprocity," he declared.
While a senior adviser to Mr Barak said that Mr Arafat had "left the door open" to Israel's suggestions, the Palestinian side sounded less upbeat.
"Tonight we didn't have any agreement," an aide to Mr Arafat said bluntly.
However, the two sides have agreed to set up a committee to begin work tomorrow on all aspects regarding the implementation of the Wye agreement, signed last October.
Mr Arafat wants a detailed timetable from Mr Barak for two Israeli troop withdrawals in the West Bank and for the release of Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli jails. Mr Barak wants the Palestinian leader to accept alterations to the agreement, specifically on the issue of territory.
The Israeli Prime Minister, a former Chief of Staff who views the security element of any agreement with the Palestinians as primary, fears that the 13.1 per cent of West Bank land to be handed over to the Palestinians under Wye will transform at least 15 Jewish settlements into isolated enclaves surrounded by swathes of Palestinian-controlled territory.
Such a situation, Mr Barak believes, will leave these settlements exposed to attacks from Palestinian militants, which could jeopardise the entire peace process and not just the interim Wye agreement This would be a threat as much to Palestinian as Israeli interests, says Mr Barak.
Therefore he wants Mr Arafat to agree to defer the third of three Israeli troop withdrawals included in Wye to talks on a final Israeli-Palestinian settlement.
However, after three years of foot-dragging by Mr Barak's hardline predecessor, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, who executed the first phase of Wye but then froze implementation on the pretext that the Palestinians had reneged on their commitments, Mr Arafat is anxious that the agreement be implemented hastily and in full.
He needs to show his people, disillusioned by the peace paralysis, that the accords with Israel have produced tangible gains.
In an effort to soften Palestinian resistance to his ideas, Mr Barak is offering Mr Arafat several enticements, including the rapid release of Palestinian security prisoners, as well as the granting of territorial continuity to the Palestinians - rather than disconnected patches - in the land which will be handed over to them.
However, Mr Barak did repeat his commitment last night that if the Palestinians rejected his proposals, the agreement would be carried out to the letter.
Arriving at their meeting, Mr Barak and Mr Arafat warmly shook hands and both later reiterated their desire to move forward in a spirit of mutual trust, something that has been absent in Israeli-Palestinian relations over the last three years.
At the post-meeting press conference, Mr Barak also emphasised the need for the Palestinians to vigorously "fight terror". For his part, Mr Arafat said he had asked the Israeli Prime Minister "to cease all settlement activities, which are illegal and destructive to the peace process".
Some Israeli observers suggested that Mr Arafat might be setting up his demand for a complete settlement freeze as a condition for his consent to delay the implementation of part of Wye.
An Israeli parliamentary committee has voted to extend for another three years emergency laws which allow Palestinian prisoners in the occupied territories to be detained for long periods without trial, parliamentary sources said yesterday.