Israelis, Palestinians begin talks
May 5, 1996
Web posted at: 11:45 p.m EDT (0345 GMT)From Correspondent Jerrold Kessel
TABA, Egypt (CNN) -- Israel and the Palestinian Authority completed a day of peace talks Sunday in the Egyptian resort of Taba, aimed at finalizing aspects of an accord reached three years ago.
"The outcome will be two winners or two losers," said Abu Mazen, head of the Palestinian delegation. "There will not be a winner and a loser."
Mazen said he hoped both delegations would continue to push for a "two winners" outcome, and leaders of both delegations voiced optimism that a full peace can be reached. But they were not afraid to minimize the difficulties ahead.
"There will be times when our differences will be deep and bitter," said Uri Savir, the Israeli delegation's leader. "yet we have a common tool to help us address all the challenges that we face."
"We have learned that the art of negotiations is the art of cooperating to create a better future," he said.
The formal opening ceremony on Sunday was delayed by over two hours. Both sides pored over the other's keynote address, trying to eliminate misplaced phrase or words which could create a sour atmosphere for these all-important talks.
"It is usual to have some misunderstandings about a word here, a word there," said Mazen, "but we reached a conclusion."
The Palestinians accept that little will move in these talks until after Israeli elections in three weeks. But the thorniest issues, deliberately sidestepped until now, are at last formally on the table.
"The issues on the agenda: Jerusalem, settlements, refugees, borders," said Mazen.
The key issue, perhaps, concerns a future Palestinian state. Israel's ruling Labor Party has dropped its long-standing rejection of the creation of the state, but Israel's formal position on this crucial question remains unclear.
The Palestinian known precisely their goal -- a full state of their own by the end of the century. Even with the opposition to that within his own government, Israeli delegation head Savir is upbeat.
"The mere fact that we started, we also have a confidence that somehow in these three years ... there will be an agreement a few months, a few years down the line," he said.
The doubters are still clamoring that the negotiations for a full peace agreement are bound to fail. But the proponents of the phase-by-phase approach argue that what has been achieved in the past three years provides strong enough grounds for the next three years. And in that time, they hope, a full Israeli-Palestinian peace accord can be secured.
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