Israeli-PLO Talks Reach an Impasse : Mideast: Rabin and Arafat may postpone next week’s meeting, further delaying implementation of accord on Palestinian self-rule. Sticking points include control of borders.

JERUSALEM — Negotiations between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization over implementation of their peace accord are at a serious impasse, Israeli officials said Friday, and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat will probably postpone a meeting planned for next week.

Shedding their usual optimism, Israeli officials described the deadlock as a real crisis with no solution in sight to the major issues, including future control of the borders of the Gaza Strip and West Bank, and little progress on lesser questions.

But Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who has been in Paris and Budapest, Hungary, remained in Europe over the weekend to work on possible compromises that might allow Rabin and Arafat to meet in Cairo as planned Wednesday or Thursday, according to senior officials.

“Peres may well come up with something--he’s not going to let this peace agreement die,” one official said. “Compromises are possible if Arafat can understand what Rabin needs, and that is security guarantees that our people can see.”

Ahmed Suleiman Khoury, a ranking PLO official known as Abu Alaa, who negotiated the original agreement on Palestinian self-government, said in Paris that he and Peres discussed the negotiations in broad terms and then a number of specific proposals to break the current stalemate.

“I hope the (Rabin-Arafat) summit meeting can go ahead,” Khoury said. “We must not get bogged down now. I believe we can begin implementing the accord before the end of December.”

Dr. Ahmed Tibi, an Israeli Arab who is advising Arafat in the negotiations, was less confident about quick progress despite continuing contacts between Israeli and PLO officials; he described the open issues as “very delicate, very difficult and ultimately fundamental.”

The most hotly disputed issue, according to both Israeli and Palestinian sources familiar with the negotiations, is control of the borders between the Gaza Strip and Egypt and between the Jericho District of the West Bank and Jordan.

For Israel, this is a security question. A porous border could allow the influx of large numbers of armed terrorists not only into the autonomous Palestinian areas but also into Israel itself.

For the PLO, Palestinian control of the borders is a political question of great importance, since it would mark a major step toward independence and statehood.

The other major issues include the size of the Jericho District, which the PLO wants extended from the town of Jericho to include much of the Jordan Valley, and measures to protect Jewish settlers remaining in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

There are still other important, though not decisive, questions, including the nature of the Palestinian government that will be established, the character of the legal system, economic cooperation, “hot pursuit” of Palestinians by Israeli forces after terrorist attacks in Israel and precisely who takes over administrative functions as the Israelis leave.

Rabin told Danish Television on Friday that he does not plan to meet Arafat again until he is sure they can settle the major issues.

“I’m not losing hope whatsoever,” Rabin said, “and I’m finding now means and ways to prepare the next meeting (with Arafat). If it will be in 10 days or even in 20 days, it has to be a successful meeting, otherwise the disappointment and the frustration will be increased. There should be no meeting unless we know beforehand that the results are assured.”

When Rabin and Arafat met in Cairo last Sunday, they put off implementation, originally scheduled for Monday, of the accord signed in September. That effectively delayed Israel’s withdrawal of its forces from Gaza and Jericho and the turnover of responsibility for the two districts to the PLO.

The two leaders said they would meet again in Cairo around Dec. 23, but that meeting may not be held until Jan. 6, according to Israeli officials. Three weeks more may be required to draft an agreement they can sign, and the whole timetable for implementation of the peace accord may slip with it.

Although not disputed in substance by Palestinian sources, the series of official briefings for Israeli military and diplomatic correspondents in recent days portrayed the negotiations as in serious difficulties, if not a full crisis, and appeared intended to intensify pressure on the PLO for compromises.

At the same time, the firm positions being taken by the government are reassuring Rabin’s domestic critics that he is putting the country’s security first and protecting the Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza.

“Rabin is putting much more emphasis on consolidating support, for himself and for the agreement,” a senior Israeli official said, asking not to be quoted by name. “The Cairo meeting, where he gave Arafat nothing, was a big signal to his domestic critics that he won’t compromise security. Peace, yes, but not at any price. . . .

“Once he is more confident and has more support, then he will reach out for a compromise. But this compromise will have to acknowledge that for Rabin and for Israel security is paramount. So far, Arafat does not fully realize what this means, and until he does Rabin will be tough, inflexible, rigid.”

Another official, involved in preparing and assessing the negotiations, observed: “The full magnitude of this autonomy agreement has hit us both, and we are staggered by it.

“When Britain or France left their colonies in Africa or Asia, the process was worked out, step by step, in months, even years of negotiations,” he continued. “We have just weeks--and we have a big security question, too, as we are next door and others were an ocean or two away.”

Rabin emphasized, however, his commitment to the Declaration of Principles on Palestinian self-government signed with the PLO. “I found in my meeting with Mr. Arafat differences on certain issues related to the interpretation of the agreement of Declaration of Principles,” he told Danish Television, “especially on issues related to the security of Israel.

“I believe these issues, hopefully, can be solved. I’m not saying 10 days or 20 days, and therefore the question is not a few days here or a few weeks here or there. We--at least I--want to carry out what we are committed to in the Declaration of Principles and its first phase, ‘Gaza-Jericho first,’ and I believe it can be done.”

A prolonged delay in implementing the accord, however, could deepen public dissatisfaction with it among both Israelis and Palestinians and lead to greater violence by militant opponents of the accord.

An Israeli public opinion poll published Friday showed that a majority of Israelis believe Rabin and Arafat will, in fact, agree on details of Palestinian self-rule in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho.

Conducted among Israeli Jews this week for the newspaper Maariv by the Shilov Institute, the survey found that 54% of those Israelis questioned said they believe Rabin and Arafat will eventually agree on details of Israeli withdrawal. Thirty-five percent said they believe the deal will not be concluded, and 11% had no opinion.

Despite their belief in the government’s ability to carry out the peace accord, 53% criticized Rabin’s performance in negotiations with the PLO on implementation. Thirty-eight percent said his performance had been “pretty good” to “very good.”