(11 Jul 2000) Hebrew/Arabic/Eng/Nat
XFA
Israeli Prime minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat are in Washington for the tri-lateral summit at Camp David where they'll try to set a framework agreement to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Barak will consider any agreement that emerges from the summit, however meagre, as a success, because he has been constantly dogged by political problems in the coalition government in Israel.
The optimal result for him would be a document summing up all the outstanding issues between Israel and the Palestinians.
Issues such as establishing a Palestinian state with demarcated borders, setting-up a mechanism for resolving the thorny issue of Jerusalem and the tough problems of the refugees.
A framework agreement along these lines would be accompanied by generous U-S aid to Israel.
Even if the negotiators produce only a partial settlement entailing recognition of a Palestinian state and postponing everything else it would still be seen as an achievement preventing the outbreak of violence in the Territories and pushing the issues of Jerusalem and the refugees into the future.
Barak leaves a divided nation with the right-wing violently opposed to any land concessions to the Palestinians which would involve handing back any of the settlements in the West Bank or Gaza.
The mood on the streets was far from optimistic with many people believing that the two sides are still too far apart for any realistic compromise agreement.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
\"When Barak speaks about Jerusalem he's talking about a capital, undivided city and Jewish sovereignty. Arafat says he will not accept anything less than East Jerusalem and this would be a concession because he's not talking about whole of Jerusalem. East Jerusalem was occupied in 1967 as an internal part of the occupied territories.\"
SUPER CAPTION: Mahdi Abdelhadi, Political Analyst
SOUNDBITE: (Arabic)
\"We want a real peace which can get us our land back, and all occupied areas.\"
SUPER CAPTION: Vox Pop
SOUNDBITE: (Arabic)
\"There is no solution. There's no trust between the Israelis and the Palestinians.\"
SUPER CAPTION: Vox Pop
SOUNDBITE: (English)
\"I would love for peace, that's been the dream since 1948 but I don't think its going to happen.\"
SUPER CAPTION: Vox Pop
SOUNDBITE: (English)
\"I would love to have peace in the country. I moved here from America 6 years ago and my big hope and dream is to live among everybody in peace.\"
SUPER CAPTION: Vox Pop
SOUNDBITE: (English)
\"When they talk about settlements and no changes to settlement status, Arafat says they are talking about territories. and that (its possible) to talk about exchanging territories and there is room for exchanging territories.\"
SUPER CAPTION: Mahdi Abdelhadi, Political Analyst
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