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Clinton leaves Barak and Arafat at Camp David, heads to appearances in Baltimore and Washington
CAMP DAVID, Maryland -- President Bill Clinton will leave Israeli and Palestinian leaders on their own Thursday, as they try to end a decades-old conflict at the Mideast peace summit at Camp David. Clinton, who hosts the summit and has been directly involved in mediation with the two leaders, is scheduled to speak in Baltimore at the convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and at a Congressional Medal of Honor Ceremony in Washington. It is not clear when he will return to Camp David.
Clinton tentatively plans to wind up his hands-on mediation between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat by July 19. But he has also said there is no "artificial deadline" for concluding the talks. In the president's absence, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will work with the two Mideast leaders. The summit, which started earlier this week, so far has produced no breakthroughs; much work remains to be done. Senior U.S. officials have told CNN that Clinton is prepared to force discussion of potential compromises if necessary. The officials say Clinton is carrying recommendations from advisers as well as his own thoughts on how to bridge some of the major divides between the Israeli and Palestinian positions. But, the officials said, Clinton first wanted to get a sense of how ready the Israeli and Palestinian delegations are to make direct concessions to each other. Meanwhile, both Arafat and Barak reached beyond the curtain of privacy at the summit on Wednesday -- Arafat to ask PLO leaders to come to Camp David and Barak to telephone supporters holding a vigil in Israel. White House press secretary Joe Lockhart, speaking at a 6 p.m. news conference Wednesday, said it had "been a busy day" at the summit with "real engagement...dealing with the substantive issues that define what the parties need to agree on." Clinton had met with both sides during the day, and, Lockhart said, "As I was leaving he was beginning a bilateral discussion with ... Arafat; they were planning to do this while taking a walk around the Camp David grounds." But Lockhart repeatedly told reporters that he would not detail the substance of the talks. "Anything that goes to the negotiations, and how it's being done ... goes to the substance, and I'm just not going to get drawn into that," he said. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met with members of the Israeli and Palestinian delegations around a round table. Separately, Clinton talked with Barak and then with Arafat. And Dennis B. Ross, the senior U.S. mediator, also met with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators. Sources: Arafat seeks meeting with PLOThe move by Arafat to seek input from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization highlights the position both he and Barak face in trying to broker a peace deal in the United States that will be accepted when they return to the Mideast. They face intense political pressure within their own ranks not to make compromises on issues such as borders, Jerusalem, settlements and access to limited water resources. Sources told CNN that Arafat has asked Palestinian national figures, including opposition leaders, to come to Camp David for consultations. While an official in the Clinton administration said the White House was "not aware of any such meeting," a U.S. official said, "experts in the area could be brought to Camp David if it would help the negotiations." Lockhart said, "no request has been made" for a meeting between Arafat and his leaders who are not at the talks. He reiterated that the U.S. position is that no one should be coming and going to Camp David other than those who are facilitating the talks. Hassan Abdul Rahman, chief of the PLO Mission to the United States, said, "It's only natural" for Arafat to be seeking consultations with Palestinian leaders because "they're part of the decision-making process." Abdul Rahman said, "Definitely there will be a meeting. They need to be consulted, and President Arafat will consult with them personally ... We will find a way." The PLO, headquartered in the Palestinian autonomous areas of Gaza and Jericho, is an umbrella organization for various Palestinian factions and resistance groups. Barak phones homeMeanwhile, Barak took time out from the summit on Wednesday to telephone supporters holding a vigil at home for his peacemaking mission. The supporters, some of whom lost children in attacks by Palestinian militants, were manning a tent in the center of Tel Aviv, Israel, under the banner "Go for peace" to back Barak's efforts to try to wrap up a peace treaty with the Palestinians. "We are doing what we are doing here to ensure that our children ... will be left with a stronger Israel that is more secure and has a different future," Barak said in the telephone conversation, broadcast by Israel Radio. "If it is possible to put an end to this conflict then we will do it," he said. Media briefing interruptedThe strict information blackout led to an awkward situation for a Palestinian Cabinet minister on Wednesday while he was briefing reporters. Angry U.S. State Department officials rushed to silence Palestinian Cabinet minister Nabil Amr, who was speaking to reporters about Palestinian peace positions outside a press center several miles from the secluded talks. "You are breaking a media blackout that was agreed by the three leaders," one State Department official told Amr in front of a herd of television cameras. Amr replied, "I am only analyzing and repeating the known Palestinian positions."
Israel cancels sale of radar systemIn Jerusalem on Wednesday, Cabinet Minister Haim Ramon said Palestinian and Israeli negotiators had agreed in principle to a land swap, the first acknowledgment that such an exchange could be part of the final status deal being negotiated at Camp David. Ramon, who is close to Barak, said Palestinian negotiators accepted a plan where large settlement blocs in the West Bank were annexed to Israel in exchange for symbolic amounts of land inside Israel which are uninhabited by Jews. Lockhart would not comment on Ramon's statement. Israeli officials also said Wednesday that they are canceling the sale of a $250 million airborne radar system to China. The United States had objected to the proposed sale. Israeli spokesman Gadi Baltiansky told reporters that "there is no link between this and the summit." But the scrubbed sale could be a sign that Israel was yielding on this point to strengthen its hand on other issues at the summit table. Lockhart said the White House is "satisfied with the clear statement that Israel takes into account our security concerns both for U.S. security and the security in the region." CNN's Sausan Ghosheh, Elise Labott and Larry Register, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. RELATED STORIES: Clinton prepared to force discussion of compromises at Mideast summit, officials say RELATED SITES: The Israeli Government's Official Website, by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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CNN Senior White House Correspondent John King reviews the second day of the Mideast peace summit at Camp David, Maryland
CNN State Department Correspondent Andrea Koppel reports on preparations in advance of the Mideast peace summit
