RAMALLAH, West Bank, March 8 (AFP) - Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to resume peace talks in Washington in mid-March after weeks of acrimonious deadlock over West Bank land, U.S. envoy Dennis Ross said Wednesday.
He made the announcement after Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak held their second summit in less than 24 hours in a bid to advance efforts to reach a final deal in six months.
"The parties made good progress in addressing and resolving many of the interim issues and agreed to intensify their negotiations," Ross said, reading from a prepared statement.
"Towards this end they agreed that negotiations would resume after the Eid in Washington," he said, referring to Eid al-Adha, due to begin March 16 and last four days.
"The objective is to achieve a framework agreement as soon as possible so that all the permanent status issues can be resolved by September 13."
The breakthrough came amid continued stalemate in talks with Syria, which said Wednesday that Israel's announcement it will withdraw occupation troops from Lebanon by July was not in itself enough for peace and insisted on a return of the Golan Heights.
It followed a firm pledge by Arafat on Tuesday to declare an independent state after the September target date even if there is no peace deal, and warnings from both Palestinian and Israeli officials of an explosion of violence if there is no progress.
A Palestinian official said earlier that the two sides had agreed on a new May deadline for a framework peace deal and set dates for further Israeli troop withdrawals from the West Bank, accompanied by U.S. guarantees.
Palestinian officials said a summit between Arafat, Barak and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak would take place on Thursday in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, where a key interim peace deal was signed in September.
The negotiations broke down after a previous Arafat-Barak summit in early February failed to resolve the dispute over the 6.1 percent handover which was due to take place in January under the terms of last year's Sharm accord.
Palestinians had demanded to be consulted about which land was handed over, but Israel refused, saying it was not obliged to discuss the transfer and that it had no intention of including areas near Jerusalem as Arafat demanded.
"The main issue that was discussed today was the 6.1 percent," another Palestinian official said, adding that Israel had agreed to redeploy from areas outside Ramallah and Bir Zeit and an area southeast of Jerusalem.
Another official said the Palestinians had accepted a compromise solution by which they would choose the 6.1 percent from a 10 percent area earmarked by the Israeli government.
Palestinians had previously rejected what appeared to be the same Israeli proposal, but the official said they now have U.S. guarantees that Israel will stick to the agreed deadlines.
The two sides failed to sign a framework peace accord in mid-February to outline solutions to the most sensitive issues in the decades-old conflict, including the borders of a Palestinian state and control over Jerusalem.
The Palestinians blamed Israel for the missed date and said they preferred skipping the draft accord and moving on directly to the final agreement.
They had demanded Israel set a date for a further troop withdrawal called for by the 1993 Oslo peace accords, which they hope will include all of the West Bank except for Jewish settlements and military zones.
The Palestinian officials said Israel was now committed to this withdrawal in late June or early July.
Israeli public radio said a package deal proposed by Barak also included a further release of political prisoners, the opening of a second "safe passage" route linking the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and the payment of hundreds of millions of dollars Israel owes the Palestinians in taxes and duties.
