Liberation sees hope that Barak and Arafat may yet meet in an effort to find a framework peace deal, simply because both sides prefer working with Clinton to starting over with a new U.S. administration after January 20. In a signed editorial, Gerard DuPuy writes that "Clinton's new proposals do not greatly differ from the outline he put forth at Camp David, even though they take Palestinian aspirations into greater account, particularly over the explosive issue of dividing Jerusalem."

Now, DuPuy says, the question is whether Arafat will seize the occasion before a new US. administration takes office and pursues its own Middle East policy. He says that "even if Clinton is sometimes maladroit, he has proven his good will." By contrast, he writes, Clinton's successors "are more ina thoroughly corrupt dictatorship to a society based on law will prove far more difficult." The editorial notes that while former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's Socialists scored just 13 percent in the elections, "they remain in charge of much of the economy and are the paymasters of the nation's police force." The Los Angeles Times concludes: "This combination must be dismantled if democracy is to prevail."

WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPE:

The Wall Street Journal Europe says it is now time for Serbs to bring Milosevic to trial for war crimes. The paper says in an editorial that "prosecuting Milosevic for all his crimes would be a logical next step after his ouster from power in October and the Serbian people's wholesale rejection of his party at parliamentary elections."

The editorial continues: