The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has said that some progress has been made in moving the peace process foward in his talks with President Clinton in Washington. Earlier, American officials said Mr Netanyahu rejected a proposal by Mr Clinton to promise a specific and substantial Israeli withdrawal from the occupied West Bank.

The prime minister lists some of unfulfilled Israeli demands (1')

Speaking at an early morning news conference in Washington, Mr Netanyahu demanded that the Palestinians fulfil their security commitments first. The prime minister said he would not be meeting the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, who is due to hold talks with Mr Clinton on Thursday.

A senior Palestinian official, Hanan Ashrawi, said Mr Netanyahu was stalling for time and fabricating new pre-conditions. Israeli newspapers say Mr Clinton urged Israel to withdraw from 15% of West Bank land which, he believed, could be accepted by the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat.

Marathon talks

Mr Netanyahu initially had a 90-minute meeting with Mr Clinton on Tuesday, after which he said that no advances had been made.

He then had extensive talks with the US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, who suggested a follow-up meeting with the president.

When this second, unscheduled meeting with the President broke up just before midnight, there was still no agreement on ways to break the deadlock. The Israeli cabinet insists it won't hand over the amount of territory that the US administration thinks is reasonable. A senior administration official said the differences between the Israelis and Palestinians had existed for about a year and it would take more than a night of talks to overcome them.

President Clinton had been hoping to have a new package of proposals to discuss with the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, on Thursday. But that now appears to have been ruled out.

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