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Hailing 'new spirit,' U.S. to host Mideast summit
Arafat, Netanyahu, Clinton to meet next week
October 7, 1998Web posted at: 4:25 p.m. EDT (2025 GMT)
In this story:
- 'I wasn't born yesterday'
- Israel: Only 'modest' progress
- Cordial atmosphere
- Related stories and sites
EREZ CROSSING, Gaza Strip (CNN) -- Following "substantial progress" toward breaking a lengthy peace process deadlock, the leaders of Israel and the Palestinians will come to the United States next week for a U.S.-mediated summit.
The talks, to be hosted by President Bill Clinton and expected to last several days, will open on October 15 near Washington, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright announced Wednesday.
The meeting will be held at the Wye Plantation, a private conference center in Maryland, located on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay across from the city of Annapolis. It is a remote, well-secured meeting site about an hour's drive from Washington.
Albright said a four-hour meeting on the Gaza-Israel border Wednesday with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had made "substantial progress" on key elements of a U.S. peace package that Washington hopes to finalize at the summit.
It centers on the extension of Palestinian autonomy to another 13 percent of the West Bank in tandem with tougher Palestinian action to halt attacks on Israelis by militants operating from areas under their control.
'I wasn't born yesterday'
Speaking with optimism of a "new spirit" between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders after months of acrimony, Albright held out hopes for opening a "new chapter" in the troubled peace process.
"On the other hand, I wasn't born yesterday," she added at a news conference following Wednesday's meeting, the third time in 11 days that Arafat and Netanyahu held face-to-face talks. "There are still very many hard problems out there that the leaders, themselves, are very much aware of."
The peace process, which has been at a standstill for 19 months, faces a deadline of May 1999, the expiration date of a temporary peace pact Israel and the Palestinians signed in Oslo, Norway, in 1993.
The United States hopes the Washington talks will launch the two sides into long- overdue negotiations on a permanent agreement. Without that, Arafat has said he will unilaterally declare the creation of a Palestinian state, a move Israel vigorously opposes.
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For an overview of the Mideast peace process, use our interactive timeline: Israel at 50 - Statehood & the Struggle for Peace | ||
Israel: Only 'modest' progress
Neither Netanyahu nor Arafat accompanied Albright as she spoke to reporters after Wednesday's talks. The Palestinian leader left for Russia, where he said he would ask President Boris Yeltsin for help in breaking the deadlock in negotiations with Netanyahu.
The Israeli prime minister returned to Jerusalem, where he played down U.S. optimism. "We have climbed hills but the mountain is before us," Netanyahu said.
He said progress had been achieved in three areas -- opening an industrial park on the Israel-Gaza border, setting up a committee to battle anti-Israeli incitement and forging people-to-people contacts.
But significantly, Netanyahu did not repeat Albright's contention that "significant and substantial progress" had also been made on security, a key issue delaying Israel's handover of a further 13 percent of the West Bank to Palestinian self-rule.
"If they will fulfill their commitments there will be an agreement," he said in reference to what he called "security and reciprocity" needs.
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| Netanyahu speaks at a new conference in Jerusalem Wednesday | |
Cordial atmosphere
At the start of Wednesday's meeting, Albright and the two Mideast leaders had a three-way handshake as they posed for photographs. Albright, Netanyahu and Arafat sat around a square table so small their knees and elbows were almost touching.
Posing for photographers, Netanyahu and Arafat shook hands across the table and then Albright placed her hand on top of theirs.
At one point during the meeting, Albright walked out of the room, leaving Netanyahu and Arafat to talk alone. It was the first time in a year the two leaders spoke without mediators.
The meeting began at an Israeli army base on the Gaza border and then moved to a guest house on the Palestinian side of the frontier for an unscheduled working lunch.
During the lunch, which was described as relaxed, Arafat presented Netanyahu with two boxes of Havana cigars which the Israeli leader distributed at the end of the meal, quipping, "after we sign an agreement, we'll all have to go to Cuba," according to Israel radio.
After the meal, Arafat accompanied Netanyahu to his car and the two men, smiling warmly, exchanged a long handshake before Netanyahu left.
Jerusalem Bureau Chief Walter Rodgers, Correspondent Andrea Koppel, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
