BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: From the talks in North Korea to the talks in Washington at the White House today, again, the focus there is the Middle East peace process. President Clinton plans to meet today with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. From the White House now, here's Major Garrett with more on developments from there. Hey, Major, good morning.</s>MAJOR GARRETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill. Chairman Arafat is due here at the White House in about 20 minutes. President Clinton has set aside about an hour and a half for their Oval Office visit. The topic, of course, the Middle East peace process. There are two tracks of it going on here in Washington: one, the so-called "interim talks," those deal with the Israeli pullout from West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and the handover of various Palestinian prisoners. The Palestinians pulled out of those talks yesterday, accusing the Israelis of negotiating in bad faith. The other track of the peace process, the much more difficult and complex final status talks. Those dealing with the final status of Jerusalem, the final boundaries of a Palestinian state, and the status of many, many Palestinian refugees. Those talks continue, but as administration acknowledge privately, it is going to be very difficult, if not impossible, to achieve progress on those final status talks when the interim talks, which are slightly more -- less complex rather -- are broken down. President Clinton will try to revive both of those with Chairman Arafat today. He spoke by telephone from the Oval Office yesterday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, but Palestinian and Israeli officials, yesterday, both said the prospects for reaching a final status agreement by that deadline of September 13th are dimming by the day. The president continues to work this. He will continue to work it throughout his presidency because he sees it as one of his great legacies, if it can be achieved. Major Garrett, CNN, reporting live from the White House.</s>HEMMER: Major, thanks.
President Clinton Expected to Meet with Arafat at White House Today