US sets ultimatum for peace progress

US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright took steps on May 5, 1998, to prevent the collapse of the Middle East peace process by issuing what was effectively an ultimatum after two days of talks in London, England, failed to produce any real progress. Albright invited Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Pres. Yasser Arafat to a meeting in Washington, DC, on May 11, 1998, but only if they first reach agreement on the scale of Israel's withdrawal from the occupied West Bank. Albright insisted that the US had no intention of watering down its 'bridging' ideas.