JERUSALEM – Bill Clinton tries to forget the Sexgate and to play the role of director of peace in the Middle East. This morning, the US president receives Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, waiting to meet, today or tomorrow, the leader of the PLO Yasser Arafat. After two weeks of intense diplomatic efforts, the United States hopes to at least get a partial understanding on their proposal for an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories. On Saturday, Secretary of State Albright saw both Netanyahu and Arafat, defining the two talks “good”, then he talked with the foreign ministers of half a dozen Arab countries to whom he asked to multiply the pressure in favor of a positive solution , and yesterday negotiations and contacts continued among all the protagonists of the delicate game. “We will try to conclude as much as possible of the aspects of the agreement,” State Department spokesman James Rubin said in the evening. The fundamental question, the entity of the new Israeli withdrawal, seems resolved: the Palestinians would control another 13 percent of the territory in the West Bank, 3 percent of which is designated as a “nature reserve” so that they can not build on anything . Thus, Arafat would control 40 percent of the West Bank, plus 60 percent of Gaza. However, various divergences remain on the minor points: the intensification of the fight against terrorism by the PLO, the modification of the Palestinian constitution in the points where it challenged the existence of the state of Israel, the opening of a port and an airport to Gaza, the suspension of Israeli settlements, and others. In Washington as in Jerusalem, there is a cautious optimism, even if at an official level everyone keeps low expectations. Meanwhile, at the request of Israel, America presses on Arafat because it does not announce a declaration of independence for 4 May ’99 (the date set for the end of the negotiations, started five years earlier), in the speech to be held this morning before the General Assembly of the UN, a one-sided move that would push Netanyahu to break every negotiation. In case of an agreement on the withdrawal thanks to the direction of Clinton, the two parties would immediately start the negotiation on the final status of the territories administered by the Palestinian Authority.