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Barak says Arafat was too 'scared' to act

Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Tuesday, July 25, 2000

WASHINGTON -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said the Camp David summit failed to produce any results and blamed Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's fear of making "historical decisions."

Barak warned of looming violence and confrontation with the Palestinians and Arabs. He said the United States will send an envoy to continue peace efforts.

"Israel was ready to reach agreement at a painful price but not at any price," Barak told a Washington news conference on Tuesday. "We can say that all the possibilities were exhausted. But unfortunately the conditions were not ripe."

Barak blamed Arafat, saying the Palestinian leader refused to demonstrate any flexibility on Jerusalem during the 15 days at Camp David. The prime minister said Arafat was "scared to take historical decisions."

The prime minister said he accepts responsibility for his decision to negotiate at Camp David. But he stressed that the positions submitted by Israel are "invalid" and will not form the basis of future negotiations with the Palestinians.

Barak said the United States did not submit bridging proposals at Camp David and he did not present written ideas to the Palestinians. He dismissed the refusal of Foreign Minister David Levy to attend the summit, saying "there were no concessions."

"The Israelis positions received full legitimacy from the U.S. government," Barak said. "We presented a series of ideas that the Palestinians will have a state with territorial contiguity and we were to receive first and foremost, the end of the conflict, 80 percent of the Jewish settlement population and recognizable borders."

Tuesday, July 25, 2000


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