WASHINGTON - A Middle East summit at last at hand, President Clinton pledged Saturday to do everything he can to end the armed clashes that have wrecked his drive for a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.
After a frustrating week of trying to set up the summit, which now will begin Monday at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, Clinton said, ''We expect that both parties will do all in their power to cease hostilities and halt the violence.''
Apart from restoring calm as a central objective, Clinton said key goals are to set up a ''fact-finding mechanism'' on how the violence erupted on the West Bank and in Gaza, to prevent a recurrence and to find a way back to dialogue and negotiations.
The host, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, was cast in a prominent role, and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will participate as well. Clinton hopes to return home in time for a memorial service Wednesday in Norfolk, Va., to honor 17 American sailors killed in an attack on a U.S. destroyer during a port visit to Yemen on the Saudi Peninsula.
By drawing on Mubarak and Annan, Clinton is reaching for maximum diplomatic assistance and reducing chances that, in the event the summit fails, blame would be focused totally on the United States.
The Clinton administration, like its predecessors, long has looked to Egypt for help in promoting conciliation in the region. Still, when July's peace talks at the Camp David presidential retreat were hung up over Jerusalem's future, Egypt made clear it would not pressure Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to ease his demand for sovereignty over east Jerusalem.
Annan has been using his influence in the region to try to end the fighting and gain the release of three Israeli soldiers held by Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas. His precise role at the summit was not immediately clear Saturday.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will accompany the president and be available for post-summit diplomacy depending on how the talks with Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak work out. Shuttling in the region appeared unlikely.
''I will do everything I can to minimize the violence and to do all the preparation necessary to maximize the chances of a successful meeting,'' Clinton said in a brief statement at the White House before leaving on a political trip to the West.
Clinton labored for eight days to curb the violence and get Israel and the Palestinians back on track toward his No. 1 foreign policy priority: a peace accord.
He came close at Camp David, but his fortunes have slumped since. And with only a little more than three months left in his second and final term, time is running out.
The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Republican Jesse Helms, said Thursday the violence was predictable, ''given the heavy pressures being put on the Israelis and Palestinians to come to a peace agreement.''
Neither was ready, the North Carolinian said.
The violence was orchestrated by Arafat, Helms said, and until he renounces it and pulls back his ''terrorists'' the United States should accept that the peace process is dead.
Clinton withdrew his first call for a summit after Egypt and the Palestinians balked. Setting up the one Monday took several days as Arafat continued to insist that Israel withdraw troops from the entrance to cities held by the Palestinians, lift a siege of West Bank towns and agree to an international inquiry into the causes of the violence.
Finally, after agreements to convene were made, and Annan said: ''There were no preconditions; there were suggestions.''
Nabil Shaath, a senior Arafat aide, said the Palestinians still expect an Israeli retreat from the edge of Palestinian-controlled towns and access to Palestinian areas for delivery of food and medicine.
He said the Palestinians would ''watch those developments on the ground'' in the next two days.
Violence in the region during the past two weeks has resulted in the deaths of nearly 100 people, mostly Palestinians, and the U.N. Security Council accused Israel last Saturday of using excessive force.
Arafat expects similar results from a fact-finding mission. Clinton did not say whether he supports the Palestinian leader's demand for an international inquiry or Israel's willingness only to allow a probe conducted by the United States, Israel and the Palestinians.
''We should be under no illusions,'' Clinton said. ''The good news is the parties have agreed to meet, and the situation appears to be calmer. But the path ahead is difficult. After the terrible events of the past few days, the situation is still quite tense.''
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On the Net: State Department Middle East site: http://www.state.gov/www/regions/nea/index.html
