Clinton, Barak, Arafat speak at Oslo memorial service
Palestine-Israel-USA, Politics, 11/2/1999

US President Bill Clinton today called for completing the Middle East peace process and warned against the consequences of failing to reach peace.

At a memorial ceremony in Oslo, Norway honoring the late Yitzhak Rabin, whose Israeli government reached the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians, Clinton said, "We have now a chance, but only a chance, to bring real and lasting peace between Israel and her neighbors. If we let it slip away, all will bear the consequences: Israel still trapped within a circle of hostility; the Palestinians still saddled with poverty and frustration and pain; both and their Arab neighbors wrapped in an endless and pointless cycle of conflict."

He added, "The way ahead will be full of challenges -- for the Israelis, the Palestinians, the Syrians, the Lebanese, for the friends of peace here represented. President Mubarak and King Abdullah will be important to our efforts. I am determined that the United States will do all we can, including living up to the commitments we made at Wye River."

In his remarks at the ceremony today, Barak said, "My government is determined to strengthen Israel and to bring prosperity to the region by putting an end to the century-old conflict between Israel and its neighbors.

"We have concluded the Sharm el-Sheikh Agreement, and are currently implementing it. Ahead of us is the Framework Agreement for Permanent Status. Time is short and the challenge is demanding.

"Together with my partner, Chairman Arafat, we will strive to overcome the difficulties and to reach our common goals. The road is bound to be arduous, but our positions and demands are clear and well known," he added.

Barak continued, "We will strive to ensure Israel's security interests and vital needs; but, at the same time, we will seek to achieve a fair settlement which reflects the needs and sensitivities of our neighbors. All disagreements must be resolved only through negotiations. "

Barak added, "There are still many who will try to sabotage the peace process. But courageous leadership must rise to the occasion and summon the will to overcome every obstacle."

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat asked at that Israel implement it's agreements "honestly" and said that the settlements should be stopped as they are an impediment to peace.

The Oslo ceremony is bringing together today Clinton, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Barak for a trilateral meeting ahead of final status negotiations which are slated to start on November 8, after a meeting of the steering and monitoring committee on November 7.

Clinton met separately yesterday with the Palestinian and Israeli leaders, which a senior US administration official characterized as "serious" and focused on practical steps toward reaching a framework agreement for final status talks. "We felt it important to be able to get the sides working, get them focused on how to get from where we are to February 13th," the target date for a framework agreement, the official said.

Clinton is "prepared to go anywhere and do anything to help reach agreement. But I think he'll want to see that the two sides are working together in a way, and are creating the kind of basis, that gives one a reason to believe that we really can succeed," the official stated.

Without providing further detail, the US official confirmed "in a general sense" that in yesterday's bilateral meeting between Clinton and Barak, the Israeli leader outlined what Israeli sees as nonnegotiable issues.

Arafat and Barak were also to meet last night, he said.

The US official said that the Syrian track did come up in the talks, "on the Syrian track, we have not been in a position where the two sides were prepared to resume direct negotiations, or the two sides made it clear to us that they were serious about trying to reach agreement. They, at this stage, going back into September, they agreed that the best way to proceed was for us to deal with the two sides in parallel to see if we could create a basis across all the issues, meaning those issues that they, in the past, have understood were the key to a peace agreement -- withdrawal, content of peace, security arrangements -- how all these fit together, to see if we could create a basis on all of those that would give them a sufficient level of confidence that they could come back to the table, and believe that they could move relatively quickly towards an agreement.

"That is a process that we have continued. As long as we think that it's serious and has some prospect, we'll stick with it. If we draw the conclusion that it's not, obviously, we'd have to reassess. We're not at that point where we're prepared to reassess," he added.

He emphasized the US desire to establish a "structure and process" for the final status talks.

Previous Stories:
  No expectations from Oslo summit   (11/1/1999)
  Moving ahead in final status talks   (10/30/1999)
  Further redeployment this week   (10/30/1999)
  Trilateral meeting for Clinton, Barak and Arafat in Oslo on Tuesday   (10/30/1999)

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