President Clinton Looks to Accelerate Israeli-Palestinian Peace Talks
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: President Clinton is back in Washington after a Democratic fund-raising trip to Louisiana. Kathleen Koch joins us live from the White House with the latest on that. Hi, Kathleen.</s>KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. Well, it was another lucrative day for the Democrats thanks to Mr. Clinton's continuing ability to draw a crowd and campaign dollars. Mr. Clinton started out the day in the Crescent City, New Orleans, at a luncheon to raise money for the Democratic National Committee. It took in $400,000 largely thanks to the president. The Democrats, as of April, have amassed a campaign war chest of $21 million. They still, though, trail Republicans in the fund-raising department, who had amassed $20 million as of the month of March. During that Louisiana trip, the president announced that he was inviting Israeli leader Ehud Barak to meet with him Tuesday here at the White House. In a statement the goal was described as "accelerating and intensifying the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian peace talks." Now, the latest round of those talks resumed here in Washington on Friday at nearby Bowling Air Force Base. When that set -- when those talks broke up in March, there were no breakthroughs reported. And Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who will be meeting here at the White House on April 20th with Mr. Clinton, Friday told his ministers in Gaza that the talks are "a waste of time." Now, tough issues do remain to be resolved such as water rights, the status of refugees, and the Palestinian desire for an independent state. Still, one White House official here does say that there is "slow, gradual movement in the Israeli-Palestinian talks." The Clinton-Barak meeting will be the first opportunity for Mr. Clinton to brief the Israeli leader on his failed talks last month with Syrian leader Hafez el-Assad. There is considerably less optimism here at the White House about the chance of restarting talks on the Israeli-Syrian track. One official saying that there has been no progress in bridging gaps over difficult issues such as the return of Golan Heights to Syria. Now, later this morning Mr. Clinton heads south again, this time to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to visit a friend who is ill. Reporting live at the White House, I'm Kathleen Koch. Search CNN.com CNNSI.com CNNmoney.com The Web