The White House denied a report that Clinton would be convening a summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in the Middle East in the coming days, reported AFP.
"The president has made no decision," spokesman PJ Crowley said, denying Israeli television reports that aired after the president had spoken with both Barak and Arafat by phone, the agency said.
The report, which did not give a source, said Clinton had spoken at length by telephone with Barak and Arafat to discuss the trip.
"The president has focussed first and foremost on working with the parties to reduce the prospect of further violence ... and to focus again on the peace process," Crowley said.
Clinton spoke to the two leaders "to discuss steps that they can take in the region to end the cycle of violence," another White House spokesman, Jake Siewert, said, adding that a three-way summit remained a possibility, according to AFP.
"We would welcome public statements by the chairman and the prime minister and others that help reduce the prospects of further confrontations ... including their judgement on possible meetings in the region," Crowley said.
Another option would be to send Albright to the region where the Israeli-Palestinian peace process has been dealt a severe blow by 13 days of deadly clashes between the two sides, said the agency.
"Ultimately, we will make a decision by what we think is the most effective ... and how the president's time can best be used," Siewert told reporters.
At the State Department, where Albright was juggling Middle East peace efforts with her hosting of a senior North Korean envoy as well as dealing with events in Yugoslavia, spokesman Richard Boucher echoed those comments.
He said that neither the secretary, nor any other senior official such as special Middle East envoy, Dennis Ross, or his deputy, Aaron Miller, had any travel plans yet.
"At this point there's really nothing planned in terms of travel for her or others," Boucher told reporters.
"We have said that one of the ideas is a summit meeting or some other kind of meeting in the region (but) there have been no decisions on that at this point," he said, adding that “anything that can be done to calm the situation we're willing to do."
But, Boucher said, the "first goal" for the parties and interested countries must be an end to the violence.
"The overriding importance, right now, is to get the parties and others that can help to take immediate steps to calm the violence and then, as we move forward, we'd certainly like to move into a situation where we can take up the peace process issues again," he said.
Meanwhile, Israeli-Palestinian confrontations eased Monday, but clashes were reported overnight in Palestinian towns between Arab Israelis and Jews.
According to Al-Jazira TV channel, clashes between the two sides erupted in Tel Aviv and Acre.
Jews destroyed Arab properties in these towns, calling for the death of all Arabs, according to the TV report - (Several Sources)
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