Tuesday, December 21, 1999

Close to midnight, Barak goes to Ramallah to meet with Arafat to assure him that resumption of the Syrian-Israeli track will not derail negotiations with the PA. (This is the 1st time an Israeli PM has entered the PA-controlled areas.) After 3 hrs. of talks, Barak and Arafat say they expect their negotiators, who did not attend the mtg., to resolve within a wk. differences on the 2d stage of the 2d FRD, a Palestinian prisoner release to mark Ramadan; plan to hold more 1-on-1 mtgs. in the nr. future. (MM 12/21; NYT 12/22; MENA 12/22 in WNC 12/23 NYT, WP 12/23; al-Quds 12/24 in WNC 12/28)