LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Seeking to end the bloodshed in the Middle East, President Clinton is giving diplomacy yet another chance. He's offering to meet with Israel and the Palestinians again separately with the hope of finding a way out. But so far, there's been no commitment from either side. CNN's Kathleen Koch has details from the White House for us now -- Kathleen.</s>KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon. There is almost a palpable sense of frustration here at the White House this morning. Just a month ago, President Clinton was achingly close to a breakthrough agreement on achieving peace in the Middle East. And the realization now is that, day by day, as the violence continues, those opportunities are really slipping away. So President Clinton spoke yesterday for 30 minutes each with both Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, inviting both men to come individually to Washington to talk peace, to talk about implementing the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement that they discussed last week in Egypt. The White House says that first, though, there would have to be progress on ending the fighting.</s>WILLIAM J. CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As hard as that may be, there must be an end to the violence and the Israelis and Palestinians must find a way out of confrontation back to the path of peaceful dialog. And they must do it sooner rather than later. For in the Middle East, as we have all learned, time does not heal wounds, it simply rubs more salt in them.</s>KOCH: Now, so far, as you said, Leon, neither Mr. Barak nor Mr. Arafat have accepted Mr. Clinton's offer. We're not sure if he will hear from them today. There's no timetable on that. Now, if those discussions were to take place, they would most likely have to occur sometime in the next few weeks because after the November elections later on in the month, Mr. Clinton is planning an extended trip to Asia that would make any Middle East peace discussions difficult -- Leon.</s>HARRIS: All right, thanks, Kathleen Koch at the White House.
Crisis in the Middle East: President Clinton Offers to Meet Separately With Israeli, Palestinian Leaders