President Clinton said yesterday that the Oslo summit with Israeli and Palestinian leaders had revitalised the Middle East peace process.
"We have just completed a very good meeting. I feel we have revitalised the peace process," he said after talks in Oslo with the Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, and the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak.
He gave no details of any agreements reached at the meeting, the first three-way talks since Mr Barak took office in July. The talks lasted just over an hour at the US ambassador's residence in Oslo.
The leaders were trying to agree on a programme towards a final Arab-Israeli peace settlement by September 2000 with a framework deal due in February.
Mr Clinton said the three leaders would meet again to work on the framework accord. "They have agreed with me that we might well have a summit at the end of this process if enough progress has been made," he said.
The three met in Oslo, the cradle of the original 1993 Israeli-Palestinian peace accords, at the end of two days of ceremonial events marking the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin.
Separately, a senior US official said Mr Clinton was willing to call a three-way summit early next year, but only if there was sufficient progress in talks on a framework Middle East peace accord due to be in place in mid-February.
There has been speculation that such a summit could be held at Camp David, Maryland, the site of a breakthrough peace deal between Egypt and Israel.
Mr Clinton and Mr Rabin's widow, Ms Leah Rabin, urged the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to take advantage of the renewed opportunity to reach a lasting peace deal.
"If Rabin were here with us today he would say, `There is not a moment to spare. All this honouring me and these nice words, they're very nice - but please finish the job'," Mr Clinton told dignitaries assembled to honour Rabin's memory at Oslo's city hall.
Mr Barak and Mr Arafat had two hours of discussion after the memorial ceremony, but they both agreed not to comment upon the conclusions of the meeting.
The Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported that Mr Barak was not bringing any maps or position papers to the Oslo meeting, but was prepared to outline his policies on final status issues.
It said that Mr Barak would offer the Palestinians statehood as part of the accord he expects to sign in February - but Palestinians are wary that he will try to leave other key issues unresolved indefinitely.
Final status talks are to due to start next week in the West Bank city of Ramallah.