USA/JERUSALEM: YASSAR ARAFAT AND EHUD BARAK ARRIVE IN US TO ATTEND PEACE SUMMIT AT CAMP DAVID

Record ID: 647843

  • Title: USA/JERUSALEM: YASSAR ARAFAT AND EHUD BARAK ARRIVE IN US TO ATTEND PEACE SUMMIT AT CAMP DAVID
  • Date: 10th July 2000
  • Summary: ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, MARYLAND, UNITED (REUTERS) 1. SLV PLANE CARRYING PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT YASSER ARAFAT ON TARMAC. 0.07 2. SLV ARAFAT WALKING DOWN STEPS OF PLANE. 0.19 3. MV ARAFAT BEING GREETED BY OFFICIALS. 0.34 4. MV ARAFAT GETTING INTO LIMOUSINE. 0.39 5. SLV LIMOUSINE DRIVING TO WAITING HELICOPTER. 0.58 6. SLV ARAFAT SHAKES HANDS AND WAVES BEFORE BOARDING HELICOPTER. 1.21 7. SLV HELICOPTER TAXIS ON TARMAC. 1.28 8. SLV PLANE CARRYING ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER EHUD BARAK STANDING ON TARMAC 1.33 9. SLV BARAK DESCENDING STEPS AND GREETING OFFICIALS 2.16 10. LV WAITING HELICOPTER 2.20 11. SLV BARAK WALKING TO HELICOPTER AND WALKING UP STEPS 2.47 12. SLV WINDOW OF HELICOPTER 2.53 13. LV HELICOPTER TAKING OFF 3.01 JERUSALEM (JULY 11, 2000) (REUTERS) 14. EXT EXTERIOR JUSTICE MINISTRY. 3.06 15. SV SOUNDBITE (English) ISRAELI JUSTICE MINISTER YOSSI BEILIN SAYING " But I think that the high expectations and the hopes create a situation whereby it is actually almost impossible to return home without an agreement. And I hope the agreement will be a framework agreement on the peace between Israel and the Palestinians" 3.29 16. CA JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE 3.34 17. SV SOUNDBITE (English) BEILIN SAYING: "Each side has much to pay if there is a failure, if there is no success. That is why I personally am optimistic about the prospects for this summit, though we know of course that there will be crises, there will be difficulties, and there will be points where people will say okay we might have an agreement and we can't, and eventually I hope that the solutions will be found." 4.05 NEAR CAMP DAVID, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES (REUTERS) 18. VARIOUS OF SURROUNDING TOWN WHERE TALKS WILL BE HELD (4 SHOTS) 4.25 19. VARIOUS OF PERIMETER OF CAMP DAVID (4 SHOTS) 4.45 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 25th July 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ANDREWS AIRFORCE BASE AND NEAR CAMP DAVID, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES/ JERUSALEM
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Reuters ID: LVAB0MXBGZJZ34RIEP1KG5QYKAUB
  • Story Text: Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime
    Minister Ehud Barak have arrived in the United States to
    attend a peace summit with U.S. President Bill Clinton at Camp
    David outside Washington, D.C.



    Palestinian President Yasser Arafat arrived at
    Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland after midnight on Tuesday
    morning (July 11). His white private jet was met by John
    Herbst, United States (U.S.) Consul General for Jerusalem. He
    was then taken by helicopter to Camp David, the U.S.

    presidential retreat.

    Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak arrived at Andrews Air
    Force Base at 5:30 a.m. EDT (0930 GMT), his political neck
    bruised but intact after an attempt by the Israeli parliament
    to unseat him for fear he might give too much away.

    Barak was then taken to the presidential retreat by
    helicopter, following Arafat by more than five hours.

    Arafat failed to agree to a summit during a 35-hour visit
    by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright at the end of
    June, but accepted when Clinton called the open-ended Camp
    David summit last week.

    At the 143-acre (58-hectare) compound in the Catoctin
    Mountains of northern Maryland, the three men will try to
    thrash out a deal on issues which have fueled the conflict for
    decades -- the status of Jerusalem, borders, Palestinian
    refugees and Jewish settlers in areas Israel captured in the
    1967 war.

    Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beilin said on Tuesday
    (July 11) that it will be almost impossible for Israel to end
    a peace summit with the Palestinians with no agreement.

    "I think that the high expectations and the hopes create a
    situation whereby it is actually almost impossible to return
    home without an agreement " Beilin said at a news conference
    in Jerusalem.

    Beilin said he was optimistic about the summit.

    "Each side has much to pay if there is a failure, if there
    is no success. That is why I personally am optimistic about
    the prospects for this summit, though we know of course that
    there will be crises, there will be difficulties, and there
    will be points where people will say okay we might have an
    agreement and we can't, and eventually I hope that the
    solutions will be found." he told reporters.

    Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said in a televised
    address on Sunday that he would put any peace deal to Israel's
    first national referendum, and his chief security adviser said
    on Monday he had no doubt that it would win an overwhelming
    majority.

    Other Israeli officials have said they have almost no hope
    that the talks will yield a final agreement. Barak had given
    the summit only a 50-50 chance of success even before the
    political tumult of Sunday.

    Faced with a self-imposed deadline of September 13 for a
    final Arab-Israeli peace pact, Palestinian officials are also
    conceding that the summit may not bring a compromise on every
    topic.

    The area they seem least likely to reach agreement on is
    the future status of the disputed city of Jerusalem.

    The name of Camp David already has a place in history as
    the venue where Egypt and Israel made peace in September 1978.

    Clinton now has a chance to leave his presidency on a high
    note with a pact which would mark the start of a new era in
    the region.

    This could mean the official acceptance by Israelis and
    Arabs of the right to coexist side-by-side, an agreed
    Palestinian state and possibly billions of dollars in U.S.

    military aid to shore-up the future of the Israeli state.

    Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Arafat sealed the
    so-called Oslo accord with a handshake seven years ago that
    was to pave the way for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from
    parts of the Israeli-occupied Gaza strip and West bank.

    A White House official said Clinton was expected to arrive
    in Camp David around midday on Tuesday, and there would be a
    three-way photo opportunity before talks began in earnest.

    Palestinian officials said the first day would be taken up
    with bilateral summits between Clinton and Barak, and Clinton
    and Arafat, and Barak and Arafat, then the three together.

    jrc/np/jw




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