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In July 2000, President Clinton invited Prime
Minister Barak and President Arafat to Camp David to conclude
negotiations on the long-overdue final status agreement. Barak
proclaimed his "red lines": Israel would not return to its
pre-1967 borders; East Jerusalem with its 175,000 Jewish settlers
would remain under Israeli sovereignty; Israel would annex
settlement blocs in the West Bank containing some 80 percent
of the 180,000 Jewish settlers; and Israel would accept no
legal or moral responsibility for the creation of the Palestinian
refugee problem. The Palestinians, in accord with UN Security
Council resolution 242 and their understanding of the spirit
of the Oslo Declaration of Principles, sought Israeli withdrawal
from the vast majority of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip,
including East Jerusalem, and recognition of an independent
state in those territories.
The distance between the two parties, especially
on the issues of Jerusalem and refugees, made it impossible
to reach an agreement at the Camp David summit meeting in July
2000. Although Barak offered a far more extensive Israeli withdrawal
from the West Bank than any other Israeli leader had publicly
considered, he insisted on maintaining Israeli sovereignty
over East Jerusalem. This was unacceptable to the Palestinians
and to most of the Muslim world. Arafat left Camp David with
enhanced stature among his constituents because he did not
yield to American and Israeli pressure. Barak returned home
to face political crisis within his own government, including
the abandonment of coalition partners who felt he had offered
the Palestinians too much. However, the Israeli taboo on discussing
the future of Jerusalem was broken. Many Israelis began to
realize for the first time that they might never achieve peace
if they insisted on imposing their terms on the Palestinians. |
