Mideast talks made 'significant progress' despite disappointing end, Clinton says

President Clinton announces the collapse of negotiations during the Mideast Summit on Tuesday at the White House

Barak points finger at Arafat for failure of talks

July 25, 2000
Web posted at: 1:13 p.m. EDT (1713 GMT)

In this story: Trading blame Clinton looked for 'framework of progress' Other issues left undecided RELATED STORIES, SITES

CAMP DAVID, Maryland (CNN) -- Two weeks of intensive talks between Israelis and Palestinians came to naught Tuesday with the collapse of negotiations and the leaders of both sides departing Camp David with no agreement.

The two principals blamed each other for the failure of the marathon talks, but U.S. President Bill Clinton, who had called Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat together, said the talks made "significant progress" on "the most sensitive issues dividing them."

Jerusalem, Clinton said, "was the most difficult problem."

VIDEO Watch Clinton's announcement on the end of the talks Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     AUDIO President Clinton announces that the peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis have collapsed without an agreement Part 1 2.2MB/55 sec. AIFF or WAV sound Part 2 2.1MB/60 sec. AIFF or WAV sound Part 3 2.4MB/60 sec. AIFF or WAV sound Part 4 2.2MB/60 sec. AIFF or WAV sound     ALSO The text of the trilateral statement released at Camp David Israeli spy's release again comes up at Camp David summit Netanyahu warns against perils of Camp David summit Poll: More than half of Israelis want deal at Camp David Kuwaiti Islamic groups blast Camp David peace talks     MESSAGE BOARD Mideast peace     GRAPHIC Dividing Jerusalem for Peace

"We tried a lot of different approaches to it, and we have not yet found a solution," Clinton said. "But the good news is that there is not a great deal of disagreement in many of these areas about what the facts on the ground would be after an agreement was made, that is, how people would live.

"I think they will be bridged because I think the alternative is unthinkable," he added.

The Palestinians want a part of Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state, while the Israelis have insisted that Jerusalem remain undivided and under Israeli control.

Clinton said that both sides moved forward on the issues, and particularly had praise for the Israeli prime minister.

"Barak showed particular courage, vision and an understanding of the historic importance of this moment," he said.

Clinton said the two sides pledged to refrain from any unilateral action that would jeopardize peace in the region and predicted they would meet their self-imposed September 13 deadline for a final agreement.

Trading blame

Earlier in the week, Barak had appeared willing to accept a U.S. proposal that would grant the Palestinians a degree of sovereignty over portions of East Jerusalem.

But Arafat, in a letter to Clinton on Tuesday, complained "that Israel even went back on the concept of shared sovereignty over the Muslim Quarter in the Old City."

A source close to the talks said: "Arafat sent a letter to President Clinton at 3 a.m. saying that the talks can't continue because of Israel's position over Jerusalem."

Reports Tuesday morning indicated that the Israelis may have been prepared to complete an agreement on other issues, setting aside Jerusalem for future negotiations. But the Palestinians reportedly refused, saying that an agreement without the Jerusalem issue resolved was no agreement.

"We looked for an equilibrium point that would provide a peace for generations," Barak said during a news conference after the collapse of the talks, "but unfortunately Arafat somehow hesitated to take the historic decisions."

"It takes two to tango," the prime minister said. "We cannot impose it upon them."

But Barak, who faced enormous criticism at home when it appeared he might be willing to give the Palestinians some control in Jerusalem, still said he had hopes that the two sides would eventually reach an agreement.

"The vision of peace suffered a major blow, but I believe with good faith on all sides, it can recuperate," he said.

Clinton looked for 'framework of progress'

The talks wavered at the edge of collapse last week, but got a last-minute reprieve as Clinton jetted to Asia for the Group of Eight summit. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright took his place as the parties kept trying to reach agreement.

But this time, the talks appeared to have run out of lifelines.

On Tuesday, Clinton was again preparing to leave Camp David, this time for a brief personal trip to Arkansas to attend the funeral of an old family friend. During late night talks, the president had pushed the two sides to draft language describing the gains they had made in three weeks of talks.

A source close to the talks told CNN that the president hoped to get both sides to recognize that their discussions have "broken significant new ground" and put them close to resolving most of their major differences.

Such "a framework of progress," the source said, would serve as "a springboard" for Clinton to use to convince the Israelis and Palestinians that they could not afford to walk away from the summit without an agreement.

But the Palestinian officials described the talks about Jerusalem as difficult and said it would be impossible to put Jerusalem aside since the future of the city is tied to so many of the other "core" issues such as borders, settlements, and security.

Other issues left undecided

Other issues took a back seat to the strong emotions that Jerusalem engendered on both sides. On the table were the future of Palestinian refugees and the question of how much land Israel will swap in exchange for annexing parts of the West Bank where there are large Jewish settlements.

Also, the discussions focused on whether Israel should maintain a security presence on the eastern border of the proposed Palestinian state, which would be shared with Jordan.

"The Palestinians came with extreme and illogical positions and demands that the Israeli prime minister was not able to accept, and therefore we reached the conclusion that we cannot reach agreement at the moment that would put an end to the conflict," said Gadi Baltiansky, a spokesman Barak. "That's why we are going back home."

Asked whether there would be a resumption of talks, he said: "I think within the next few weeks a senior American official will come to the region to explore the possibility if and how we can continue the negotiations."

CNN Jerusalem Bureau Chief Mike Hanna, CNN Correspondent Kelly Wallace CNN State Department Correspondent Andrea Koppel, Senior Writer KC Wildmoonand Reuters contributed to this report.

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Camp David negotiators set Jerusalem aside, turn to other issues
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July 19, 2000
White House expects Mideast peace summit to 'wrap up' by Wednesday
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