UNITED STATES: STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN NICHOLAS BURNS COMMENTS ON SECOND DAY OF EMERGENCY PEACE SUMMIT
Record ID:
337734
UNITED STATES: STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN NICHOLAS BURNS COMMENTS ON SECOND DAY OF EMERGENCY PEACE SUMMIT
- Title: UNITED STATES: STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN NICHOLAS BURNS COMMENTS ON SECOND DAY OF EMERGENCY PEACE SUMMIT
- Date: 2nd October 1996
- Summary: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (OCTOBER 2, 1996) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN NICHOLAS BURNS WALKING UP TO MICROPHONE 0.07 2. MV BURNS SPEAKING ABOUT A DELAY IN TALKS AT THE WHITE HOUSE RESUMING, BUT SAYING THAT OTHER TALKS ARE CONTINUING WITH SECRETARY OF STATE WARREN CHRISTOPHER AND ASKING REPORTERS NOT TO PREJUDGE THE OUTCOME OF THE TWO DAYS OF NEGOTIATIONS. SAYING THAT THE PARTIES ARE WORKING THROUGH THE MAJOR ISSUES. EACH SIDE HAS HAD A CHANCE TO DESCRIBE WHERE THEY STAND ON THE MAJOR ISSUES AND THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF FACE-TO-FACE DISCUSSIONS BETWEEN THE PALESTINIAN AND ISRAELI DELEGATIONS. IN A NEGOTIATION OF THIS KIND THE STATUS MUST BE ASSESSED AT THE VERY END. IT IS DIFFICULT AND COMPLICATED AND THERE IS A LOT OF PUBLIC TALK ON THE BACKGROUND OF THE DELEGATES BUT I WOULD ENCOURAGE THE PRESS TO HOLD JUDGEMENT UNTIL THE END OF THE TALKS." (ENGLISH) 2.54 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
- Embargoed: 17th October 1996 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
- City:
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA5USSAROXL6ZOM23XQLAOHLXFY
- Story Text: - INTRO: A second day of Middle East summit talks in Washington has been delayed by differences between the Israeli and Palestinian delegations.
United States (U.S.) President Bill Clinton sought on Wednesday (October 2) to persuade the leaders of Israel and the Palestinians to translate a willingness to meet into concrete steps to reinvigorate the Middle East peace process.
But the start of a second day of discussions was delayed as deputies tried to resolve Israeli-Palestinian differences believed to concern an Israeli withdrawal from Hebron.
State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said talks were continuing between the delegations but not the White House, and he urged reporters to wait before making judgement about the way the talks were going.
The discussions had begun on Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat meeting face-to-face for only the second time. Working level meetings followed throughout the night.
On Wednesday morning senior aides of Netanyahu and Arafat met U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, but afterwards Israeli officials said the Palestinians were making unacceptable demands for an immediate Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank town of Hebron, and Israel insisted on better security concessions.
"For the moment the demands of the Palestinians are for an immediate redeployment from Hebron without any security arrangements anywhere else and we aren't ready for that," an Israeli official said after the meeting with Christopher.
The crisis summit was called after bloody clashes in Jerusalem, Gaza and the West Bank last week killed 57 Palestinians and 15 Israelis and threatened to scuttle the whole peace process.
Palestinians view Hebron, the last and most sensitive of the cities scheduled for handover under an agreement sealed at the White House one year ago, as a test of Netanyahu's commitment to the peace deals he reluctantly inherited when he came to power at the head of a hardline government in June.
Clinton was scheduled to join Netanyahu, Arafat and Jordan's King Hussein in the White House Blue Room for a meeting set tentatively for 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT) but it was announced there would be a delay while Christopher conducted a lower-level summit session at the State Department.
Originally the White House had planned a working lunch after the group session. A news conference for public statements was also planned for a summary of the two days of talks, but White House spokesman Mark McCurry refused to rule out the possibility of the summit talks extending to Wednesday too.
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