VARIOUS: MIXED REACTION TO DECISION BY ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN LEADERS TO REMAIN AT CAMP DAVID PEACE SUMMIT

Record ID: 400722

  • Title: VARIOUS: MIXED REACTION TO DECISION BY ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN LEADERS TO REMAIN AT CAMP DAVID PEACE SUMMIT
  • Date: 20th July 2000
  • Summary: JERUSALEM (JULY 20, 2000) (REUTERS) 1. SCU HEADLINE OF THE JERUSALEM POST NEWSPAPER 0.06 2. SCU PHOTOGRAPH OF ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER EHUD BARAK, U.S. PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON AND PALESTINE PRESIDENT YASSER ARAFAT ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE JERUSALEM POST 0.14 3. SLV MAN READING NEWSPAPERS 0.21 4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) DOV APSTI SAYING:
  • Embargoed: 4th August 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: GAZA CITY, GAZA/ TEL AVIV, ISRAEL/ WEST BANK/ JERUSALEM
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA2ZCIR6EXTSICEQ9M6XPH6V0N3
  • Story Text: There's been a mixed reaction at the decision by
    Israeli and Palestinian leaders to remain at the peace summit
    in Camp David to continue talking as U.S. President Bill
    Clinton leaves for an economic summit in Japan.

    In the West Bank, Israeli forces remained on alert,
    fearing violence could erupt if the talks failed.

    Israeli newspaper headlines on Thursday (July 20)
    expressed pessimism about the chances of an agreement being
    reached at the peace summit in the United States.

    Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian
    President Yasser Arafat announced on Thursday(July 20) they
    will stay at Camp David despite the fact U.S President Bill
    Clinton has had to leave for the G8 summit in Japan. Barak and
    Arafat hope to forge an agreement on key issues such as the
    fate of Jerusalem, the settlements and the borders between
    Israel and a future Palestinian state.

    In Jerusalem, Israelis have expressed mixed feelings about
    the talks.

    "I live on the areas (West Bank), so I hope something will
    happen that will be good, that will leave us at the same place
    that we started sixteen years ago but I am not certain it is
    going to happen", said Israeli resident Dov Apsti.

    The Palestinian state minister, Ziad Abu Zayyad,has said
    that the Palestinians should not give up their claims at the
    peace summit in Camp David.

    "We wanted this summit to succeed. We are committed to
    peace. We wanted these negotiations to continue. It seems that
    the other side are not mature enough to understand that this
    is a historical opportunity, that peace is of interest to all
    the communities, that Jerusalem is very important to all the
    Moslems and Christians, not only for the Jews, and that
    without making compromise in Jerusalem, they are not able to
    understand this point", he said.

    Israeli leader of the coalition faction in parliament,
    Ofir Pines, said on Thursday (July 20) that Israel and the
    Palestinians will give everything that they have to bring
    peace to the Middle East.

    "If Barak and Arafat will come back to the region without
    anything, I think that it will be very bad for us. I think
    that this will bring, unfortunately, wide gaps between us and
    the Palestinians, maybe violence" Pines told Reuters.

    The coalition leader spoke after U.S President Bill
    Clinton announced that the sides will continue talking at Camp
    David.

    Meanwhile, Israeli forces remained on alert in the West
    Bank, fearing a failure at the talks would trigger violence.

    At a military base between the West Bank town of Hebron and
    the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba, armoured personnel
    carriers and ambulances were parked while tents were set up.

    Jewish settlers on Thursday (July 20) continued to oppose
    Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Baraks peace moves with the
    Palestinians. The settlers declared a hunger strike and set up
    a protest tent outside the Prime Minister's office in
    Jerusalem shortly after Barak left for the summit last week.

    " These talks will lead to more concessions, more danger
    to Israel, putting off not only the settlers and settlements
    but also of the Zionist idea and the Jewish idea", settler Ron
    Breiman said on Thursday(July 20) .

    The fate of the Jewish settlements is one of the main
    issues at the talks in Camp David.

    About 150,000 Jewish settlers live in scattered
    settlements in the West Bank and Gaza. Barak has vowed to keep
    large settlement blocs under Israeli sovereignty.

    The Hamas movement, which opposes Palestinian President
    Yasser Arafats peace moves with Israel, said on Thursday(July
    20) the failure at the talks was expected.

    "My opinion is that the tension inside the Palestinian
    community is high and the Palestinians are determined to their
    goals. If they cannot achieve their goals I think they might
    develop into some kind of a new Intifada or new violence
    against the occupation" said Hamas spokesman Ismail Abu Shanab.

    In Tel Aviv, Israel's deputy defence minister Ephraim Sneh
    said the Palestinians should be more flexible at the talks.

    Asked about possible eruption of violence if the talks fail,
    Sneh said: "I don't think that any special security
    arrangements are required. Both sides have to take all the
    measures that no one will succeed to provoke or ignite
    eruption of violence in the West Bank or Gaza".


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