Arafat welcomes convening a summit similar to Camp David

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat expressed his approval to the idea raised by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to convene a summit like the 1979 Camp David summit between Egypt and Israel to push forward the final status negotiations and reach a final settlement between the Palestinians and Israelis.

In statements yesterday, Arafat said after his meeting with Barak. "We gladly welcome any idea in this respect, and we want cooperation in it so that we do not have reservation on this meeting. Yet this summit must not be a mere celebrating summit. There must be an actual and specific agenda."

Regarding whether he succeeded during his meeting with Barak in bridging the gaps between the two sides, Arafat said that there are difficulties concerning this matter, adding that they are currently working on overcoming it.