Mrs Hillary Rodham Clinton and Mrs Suha Arafat yesterday inaugurated a $3.8 million health project in the West Bank town of Ramallah for the care of women and children in the Palestinian self-rule areas. Mrs Clinton's hastily arranged visit to Palestinian territory caused the second round of Israeli-Palestinian talks on permanent settlement of their conflict, also taking place in Ramallah yesterday, to be moved to another side of town, where they were limited to discussion of the agenda.
The official object of the US aid-funded scheme opened by Mrs Clinton is to upgrade health services by refurbishing and reequipping 32 clinics in the West Bank towns of Jenin and Hebron and in Gaza City.
Washington's long-term aim is to provide similar care to all Palestinian towns and villages.
Addressing a group of health care officials in Ramallah, Mrs Clinton said: "This visit is particularly significant to me because the Palestinian and Israeli people stand at a crossroads ready to make the hard decisions to achieve a just and lasting peace. "I know, and my husband knows, that this will be a difficult undertaking. It will not be easy and for neither side will it be without pain.
"But all of us believe the rewards far outweigh the costs, for what peace will give to the Palestinian people, and especially the children, are lives that could only be dreamed of before."
By paying a visit to Ramallah and uttering these words, Mrs Clinton transformed a trip to Israel which had been seen as a vehicle for promoting her Senate candidacy for New York into a means of strengthening the special relationship her husband's administration has developed over the past four years with the Palestinian Authority and people.
Mrs Clinton had been invited to Israel by Mrs Nava Barak, the wife of the Prime Minister, to deliver a lecture at a conference on "Violence to Dialogue" at Tel Aviv and to visit youth centres.
The stop in Ramallah was arranged hurriedly when leading Palestinians, including the legislator and spokeswoman Dr Hanan Ashrawi, accused Mrs Clinton of trying to appeal to the pro-Israel vote in New York at the expense of the Palestinians.
Mrs Arafat provoked a strong reaction from the Israeli government with an attack on its environmental record. "Eighty per cent of the water resources are contaminated and daily use of toxic gases by Israeli forces over the past years has increased cases of cancer," she alleged.
"The earth is full of chemicals banned internationally," she said, adding that she looked forward to a future that was free of illnesses that kill "our women and children".
Mrs Clinton did not react to Mrs Arafat's comments, which were made in Arabic.
But the Israeli government quickly responded with an angry denial of her claims. "We condemn the unacceptable remarks by Palestinian personalities today," said a statement from the office of the Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak.
Palestinian sources at yesterday's talks said they expected the framework for a final settlement to be agreed by its deadline of February 13th, 2000, possibly after the Palestine President, Mr Yasser Arafat, and Mr Barak meet as guests of Mr Clinton early next year at Camp David, near Washington. But while the sides are expected to meet the first deadline for a framework, it is in the negotiations determining the "final status" of Jerusalem, settlements, borders, water and refugees that the "hard decisions" will have to be taken.
