Camp David 'talks not a full failure,' Palestinian negotiator says

Arafat departs from Andrews Air Force Base Tuesday afternoon

In this story: Arafat rejected Jerusalem proposal 'Quiet, shaken, somber' Day by day account 'A cave that had been closed for decades' 'Significant progress made,' Clinton said Clinton looked for 'framework of progress' Other issues left undecided RELATED STORIES, SITES

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Speaking for the first time since the Mideast peace talks in Maryland ended, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said Tuesday evening the Camp David summit provided the best foundation for a comprehensive peace treaty ever.

Erakat said at a news conference, "After the conclusion of the Camp David summit, the prospects for achieving a comprehensive, lasting peace between Palestinians and Israelis on all issues is much more viable than any time."

Offering few details to reporters of any agreements or disagreements between the Israelis and the Palestinians, Erakat refused to assign blame or speculate why there were no agreements. Camp David was not a "full failure" nor was it a "full success," he said at an Arlington, Virginia, hotel.

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Erakat predicted that Jerusalem -- or Al Quds, as the Palestinians call it -- will be an "open" city and the capital of a Palestinian state.

Asked whether Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat would follow through on his stated intention to unilaterally declare statehood by September 13 if no deal has been reached by then, Erakat would say only that the "peace process will continue."

Arafat departed Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on Tuesday en route to Cairo, Egypt, where he is scheduled to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Arafat is then scheduled to fly to Gaza, where he is to arrive at 11 a.m. Wednesday. There, he is to be greeted by a ceremony praising him for standing firm for more than two weeks at Camp David in the face of pressure from U.S. mediators and Israeli negotiators.

Meanwhile, CNN has learned, the talks collapsed early Tuesday morning after Arafat rejected a U.S. proposal that included Palestinian sovereignty over parts of east Jerusalem but did not meet Arafat's bottom line.

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. Half of the city was under Jordanian control until the 1967 war, when it was reunified after Israel drove Jordan out of the West Bank.

U.S. President Bill Clinton viewed the U.S. proposal "as a fair resolution, a fair, carefully thought out agreement over who should do what, where," said a senior administration official involved in the talks. "It was an amalgam of all the various proposals, and the president said he would not even take it to (Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Barak unless Arafat accepted it, because Barak had already moved more than the Palestinians."

The source said Arafat rejected the Jerusalem proposal because it did not move far enough toward his positions on holy sites, the Old City and the neighborhoods close in to the holy sites. "Sovereignty, control, all sorts of variations of the term and artful ways of saying it were being kicked around."

'Quiet, shaken, somber'

The source described Arafat as "quiet, shaken, somber." The Palestinian leader left Clinton at midnight, saying his initial reaction was negative, but that he would discuss it with his delegation.

At 2 a.m., he sent a letter back saying he could not accept, and Clinton "realized then it was time to bring the summit to a close and send them home for a period of reflection," the senior official said.

This official said Clinton's public praise of Barak and more muted remarks about Arafat were carefully calculated, designed both to bolster Barak back home and "to give Arafat a nudge, no -- more than that -- a push."

Another official said that when the three sides held their final meeting Tuesday morning, there was some talk of resuming negotiations after a few weeks of reflection, but "there is nothing specific on the table, and we would be open to it only if there is greater flexibility on the Palestinian side."

Day by day account

The senior official, who attended the major meetings at the summit, provided this timeline of the critical hours following Clinton's return Sunday from the Group of Eight economic summit in Japan.

Sunday: Clinton returned to Camp David in the evening and, in his briefing, was told "traction" was being made on most of the major issues.

Clinton asked Barak and Arafat that night to designate one or two negotiators on each core issue to meet directly with Clinton, "so he could directly assess where things were and try to move things along."

Clinton met until 6 a.m. with negotiators charged with security issues and "made really substantial progress."

Monday: At 10 a.m., Clinton began meeting with negotiators on the issues of borders and refugees. "There was no final agreement on either, but the range of the compromises still necessary was pretty clear; the differences were narrowed significantly."

Around 5 p.m., Clinton met with the two negotiators on Jerusalem.

Clinton called Arafat over at 11 p.m.; the Palestinian leader arrived with his delegation. Clinton put a Jerusalem compromise proposal on the table.

Between 2 and 3 a.m., Arafat's letter rejecting the proposal was delivered.

'A cave that had been closed for decades'

Like Clinton, the official said the progress made should not go unnoticed, and said the detailed discussions on Jerusalem, "at least in our view, means these talks will never be the same, whether they resolve the issue or not. ...

"By discussing it, they opened a cave that had been closed for decades. It is dark in there; there are scary things in there, bats in there, lots of cobwebs. But, for the first time, they agreed to go in there. They now must confront the choice of going back in there."

The official said Clinton placed more of the burden on Arafat "because it is true; had he not said it, it would have been misleading."

'Significant progress made,' Clinton said

On Tuesday, the Israelis and Palestinians blamed each other for the failure of the lengthy talks. But Clinton, who had called Barak and Arafat together, said the talks made "significant progress" on "the most sensitive issues dividing them."

"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."

Barak, center, departs following a press conference in Frederick, Maryland on Tuesday

Arafat didn't respond, but as his jet prepared to leave Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, Hassan Abdel-Rahman, the Palestine Liberation Organization representative in Washington, said, "It's obvious that the Israelis were not ready to make the necessary steps, and take the necessary positions, to make a peace agreement possible."

When a reporter said it appeared Clinton and Barak were blaming Arafat for the breakdown, Abdel-Rahman said, "I don't think President Clinton blames President Arafat."

Clinton confirmed that Jerusalem "was the most difficult problem."

He said, "We tried a lot of different approaches to it, and we have not yet found a solution. 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," Clinton added.

The U.S. president said both sides moved forward on the issues. "Barak showed particular courage, vision and an understanding of the historic importance of this moment," he said.

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

Abdel-Rahman wouldn't comment on whether the Palestinians would still plan on unilaterally declaring a Palestinian state in September. "President Clinton knows that September 13 is the deadline," Abdel-Rahman said.

In an afternoon press conference at the State Department, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said, "I think Prime Minister Barak should go home proud of what he's tried."

As for Arafat, she said, "He will be going back to his Palestinian people... explaining all the things that happened. I think they need to be apprised," and in the future should "be much more a part of this political discussion."

Albright added, "I think it's very important that Chairman Arafat share his experiences and his knowledge of what the Israeli people need now," as Barak should share his knowledge of what the Palestinians need.

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

Incredible progress but still work to be done, says Albright

"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 G8 summit. Albright took his place as the parties kept trying to reach agreement.

But this time, the talks ran out of lifelines.

During late night talks Monday, sources said the president had pushed the two sides to draft language describing the gains they had made in the negotiations.

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.

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

The 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 for 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."

Abdel-Rahman said, "Israel wanted to continue its occupation of some of Palestinian territory. It refused to accept Palestinian sovereignty on east Jerusalem and would not accept the offer to return Palestinian refugees. Mr. Barak wanted to have Israeli Jewish sovereignty over Haram al-Sharif (the plateau on the Temple Mount from which Islam says the prophet Muhammed made a visit to heaven) and over other places in Jerusalem." Abdel-Rahman characterized the proposal as unacceptable to Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims and Christians.

Asked about the future of peace talks, Abdel-Rahman said, "I think we would pursue the peace process and the effort to achieve an agreement. The venue has not been decided yet."

"Hopefully we will continue to work toward a peace agreement under the auspices of the United States," he said.

CNN Senior White House Correspondent John King, CNN Jerusalem Bureau Chief Mike Hanna, CNN Correspondent Kelly Wallace CNN State Department Correspondent Andrea Koppel, CNN Field Producer Dave Adhicary, Senior Writer KC Wildmoon, CNN Interactive Writer Jonathan D. Austin, CNN's Larry Register and Reuters contributed to this report.

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July 22, 2000
Camp David negotiators set Jerusalem aside, turn to other issues
July 21, 2000
Albright to step in for Clinton in Mideast peace talks
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July 19, 2000
White House expects Mideast peace summit to 'wrap up' by Wednesday
July 17, 2000

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