11.   He noted it was Netanyahu who repeatedly has suggested speeding up the final status talks and trying to resolve the major issues at once.

12.   I have done my best for a year now to find the formula that would unlock the differences between them to get them into those final status talks.

13.   In a letter to Arafat in April, Clinton called on Israel and the Palestinians to complete final status talks within a year.

14.   In the current negotiations, Barak is seeking a date early in the New Year for a framework agreement on permanent status talks.

15.   Israelis and Palestinians are negotiating the fate of Jerusalem in final status talks.

16.   Now final status talks have arrived and, lo and behold, the issues are still intractable.

17.   Now, as Messrs. Barak and Arafat enter final status talks, they must devise formulas for the further knitting together of Gaza with Ramallah and Nablus and Hebron.

18.   On the surface, this marrying appears to adopt a proposal Netanyahu made in the spring to proceed at once to the final status talks.

19.   Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat, who met with Clinton on Monday, has threatened to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state unless final status talks are completed by May.

20.   Quandt doubts, however, that serious final status talks will follow.