During the last week, the Mideast Crisis boiled over again. More suicide bombings. Israeli reoccupation of Palestinian towns. Then the American president set forth his vision for peace. My vision is two states living side by side in peace and security. But Palestinians and Israelis have tried before. We are talking here about the toughest and more sensitive issues that humankind has ever dealt with. And the issues ever be resolved. Will the violence ever stop? At the end of the day, I know Palestinians and Israelis can make peace.
My heart aches. Because I know we were so close. Tonight, Frontline examines why the dreams of peace have remained so elusive. Spring 2002. The cycle of violence between Israelis and Palestinians is spiraling out of control. Hundreds are killed on both sides. For several weeks, it is war. But only nine years earlier, everything looked different. In 1993, the Oslo Peace Accords were signed on the White House lawn.
Ladies and gentlemen, the time for peace has come. Palestinians and Israelis agree it is time to put an end to decades of confrontation and conflict and strive to live in peaceful coexistence and mutual dignity and security and achieve a lasting peace. Soon Israel begins its withdrawal, as promised. Jericho and Gaza are transferred to the Palestinians. Yasser Arafat, Israel's implacable enemy for 30 years, returns from exile to establish the Palestinian Authority.
The parties had agreed that the core issues, permanent borders, settlements, Palestinian refugees and Jerusalem would be addressed later. In an atmosphere infused with hope, Prime Minister Rabine, his Foreign Minister, Shimon Perez and Chairman Arafat are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. But not everyone embraces the peace process. Some Palestinians want to destroy Israel, not live side by side with it. And some Israelis mistrust Arafat and believe that all of ancient Judea and Samaria, the West Bank, should be theirs. To them, Rabine's policy of exchanging land for peace is anathema.
Then on November 4, 1995, following a peace rally in Tel Aviv, Prime Minister Rabine is assassinated by a Jewish extremist. Two days after the assassination, heads of state arrive from around the globe to mourn Nitzhak Rabine. They come to pay tribute to the man who as a general had once conquered Jerusalem and the West Bank and later as a statesman had chosen the path of peace. For most Arab leaders, this is the first time they have ever set foot in Israel.
We live as a soldier, we die as a soldier for peace. And I believe it is time for all of us to come out openly and to speak our peace. Today my fellow citizens of the world, I ask all of you to take a good, hard look at this picture. Take the leaders from all over the Middle East and around the world who have journeyed here today for his Zokra being and for peace. Let me say to the people of Israel, even in your hour of darkness, his spirit lives on. Your Prime Minister was a martyr for peace, but he was a victim of hate. Gasser Arafat, Rabine's partner in peace, does not attend the funeral for security reasons and watches from his home in Gaza. It was very, very difficult and painful for me personally. And the most important thing for the Palestinians and for the Israels and for the whole Middle East area is to turn back to protect the peace of the brave, which I had signed with my partner Rabine and to live together as we had decided.
Shimon Peres, Rabine's deputy and foreign minister and the chief architect of Oslo now takes up the reigns of government. As a young man, he had been charged with preparing Israel for war and had fathered Israel's nuclear program. Now at 72, he faces the challenge of keeping the peace. I spent a lot of time with Shimon Peres in these days. He was under state of grief, deep personal grief, of deep personal loss. I remember driving with him that night of the assassination to Jerusalem. He didn't speak all the way except for saying, no, I am alone.
A month after Rabine was killed, Peres and Arafat meet to reaffirm their commitment to the Oslo Accords. Israel would release a thousand Palestinian prisoners and withdraw from five major Palestinian cities. Reconciliation seems closer than ever. But within the Israeli opposition, these concessions are seen as a dangerous strategic mistake. I listened to politicians talking about strategy and strategy and strategy. The real choice, the profound choice, is never a strategic one. It's an adequate one. There is something above strategy and this is the moral choice. It is there where peace and war begins. It is there where the life of people are being decided.
I remember Shimon Peres, a friend of mine, Shimon Peres. When I negotiate with him and I get frustrated and angry, he used to tell me, say, negotiating frustration for five years is cheaper than exchanging bullets between us for five minutes. He's right. The Palestinian people rejoice. The negotiations had led to Israel's withdrawal from the major population centers of the West Bank, handing control to Arafat's authority. When we entered the first Iron Bar, I said, now we are in the true and real process, having our own independent state. The feeling of the people, the way that the people received the Brazilian authority, was a proof to the new era, a new situation, a new history that we were building with the Israelis. The transfer of power is peaceful. The Palestinians carefully put away the Israeli flag and begin flying their own. We have the most important thing that happened in the last five years. The withdrawal from Janin, Tulkarim, Nablus, Calchilia, Ramallah, Bethlehem. The withdrawal from the Church of Nativity, the place of Jesus's birth, that made me so proud. And that made me hopeful.
But other voices oppose any compromise with Israel. An Islamic fundamentalist organization called Hamas gained power among Palestinians by controlling the mosques and providing food and education to the poor. Hamas were in a difficult situation. They've never believed in any kind of understanding or agreement with Israelis. It's all the time they were trying to spoil everything. The military wing of Hamas, Isadin El-Kassam, is already responsible for scores of Israeli deaths. It is dedicated to the destruction of Israel through a campaign of terror, especially suicide bombings. Yahia Ayash is its chief bomb maker and number one on Israel's most wanted list. I went to offer it. I told him, Ayash is in Gaza. Please put your hand on him. Put him in prison. It told me Mr. Perez, he called me your excellency all the time. I'm telling you that he's not in Gaza. I told him, look, he's in Gaza and he's planning more attacks. I'll have to repeat that I'm telling you, I'm sure that he's not in Gaza. But he is. And Israel takes matters into its own hands. On January 5th, 1996, Ayash receives a call on his mobile phone. It is his last. The phone, packed with explosives, kills him instantly. Yes, move off, get out of the heat. Get out of the heat. Get out of the heat. Ayash has declared a Shaheed, a holy mortar and a thousand others vow to follow in his footsteps.
Amid this unrest, the Palestinian Authority holds its first elections, as required by the Oslo Accords. An Arafat victory would endorse the peace process. Hamas calls for a boycott of the elections in protest. Arafat wins an overwhelming victory. His mandate to pursue peace is stronger than ever. But for Hamas, peace with Israel is sacrilege. At a memorial for Yahya Ayash, ten new living Shaheed's suicide bombers are presented. Two weeks later, they strike. Israel is shattered by three suicide attacks, leaving 46 dead and hundreds wounded. Fear, sorrow and anger permeate Israeli society. Many Israelis believe that if Arafat cannot control terrorists, they should not be negotiating with him. The peace process and its principal advocate, Shimon Peres, come under increasing attack. I arrived and I saw Shimon Peres, whom I hadn't seen for ten days, about ten years older. It wasn't an easy experience. They called me Trito, they called me Kila or Malda. Loneliness is when you face hatred and when you face agitation and, you know, in your heart that this is unfair. But those are your people. The next day, another suicide bomber. This time in a Tel Aviv mall, killing 13 and wounding 157 more. All of the dead are under 17 years old. Everything was crumbling. People killed in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. It was also an attempt to further stab the peace process.
Arafat orders his security forces to move against the Islamic militants. They arrested Hamas leaders. Some 2,000 were arrested. 2,000 people were sitting in jail. Hamas saw it as the most intense blow to their organization. This showed how well the security coordination between us and the Palestinians could work.
They killed, I think, 20 of the dead also the different groups that discovered their gifts. But it was too late. Israeli opposition to the peace process coalesces around Benjamin Netanyahu, a brilliant orator who speaks to Israel's fears. As the new leader of the conservative Likud party, Netanyahu is poised to challenge Paris and his labor party in the upcoming election.
Fearing the defeat of Shimon Peres and the demise of the peace process, Egypt and the United States in an unprecedented move, convene world leaders in the Sinai resort town of Shimon Sheikh. The President of Iraq contacted President Clinton and then he contacted Arab leaders and he thought that it was important to us right for saving the peace process to get all these people together. For the first time ever, it was a creation of an anti-terror coalition with empathy towards Israel, having lost people against Arabs fighting.
They call it the summit of peacemakers and hope it will influence the Israeli electorate to support Peres. Everybody gathered in the sheriff. They want the Paris to win the election. And it is this image. They hope we'll do it. What do you tell Hamas tonight? They are not only doing these terrorist activities against the Israelis. It is against the Palestinians, against the peace process, against the Arabs, against the whole region. And it is against God.
Sharmel Sheikh was the beginning. The Middle East is changing. We must not, we will not let terror reverse history. Just six weeks before the elections, violence erupts along Israel's northern border. Hezbollah, a radical Shiite movement based in Lebanon that shares Hamas' disdain for the peace process, fires missiles into Israeli villages and towns. Hezbollah created a situation in the north that was, in my opinion, unbearable.
The state of Israel could not do nothing. A reaction was necessary. Israel launches a massive bombardment of Hezbollah bases in 711. And then on April 18, 1996, in a case of mistaken targeting, Israeli artillery hits a United Nations compound near the village of Qanna, or civilian seek shelter from the attacks. 102 men, women and children are killed. And my full support for the Egyptian.
That same afternoon, Perez and Arafat are in the midst of a press conference about security coordination. When a military aide brings Perez the tragic news. I took the helicopter with Amman Shahak, and we didn't speak one word. I took the helicopter with him, and I took the helicopter with him. I looked down at the sea shore of Israel, knowing that everything would change.
Israeli Arabs are outraged. They had been among the most fervent supporters of Perez and his Labour Party. But now they turn against him. We are not only Israeli citizens. The very prominent factor of us is our Palestinians. We cannot see this kind of massacres. We can punish. We would like to punish Labour Party leaders or the leaders of this country when they are committing this kind of crimes against us.
The punishment comes when Israeli Arabs, 20% of the population, call for a boycott of the election. When the votes are counted, Netanyahu has defeated Perez by a mere one-half of one percent. The Israeli Arab boycott made the difference.
Netanyahu, Israel's youngest prime minister ever at 47, now faces a dilemma. He's obliged to implement the Oslo Accords, agreements that he and much of his Likud Party oppose. You know, the whole world meets in order to prevent Netanyahu's election. And then once he's in office, these same people come to you and start to look, look, he's a pragmatic person. He's not ideologically committed. You can make peace with him. Give him a chance. Don't rush into conclusions.
Don't. And I say, what? I told the chairman that he is very radical. I said then that I'm not sure that he is recognizing the Palestinians as a people, as a nation. And he is focusing only on the Palestinian as a terror issue. The Likud Party, not to forget that they were the majority of them, not all of them, but a big section of them, were against Oslo agreement. I thought it was important to lay down the ground rules.
So Arafat would know exactly where I was coming from. The two-thirds of the public supported Oslo at the time. The international community supported it. They really thought that Arafat meant peace. I didn't think that he meant peace. And I said I would honor it under two conditions. One, that Arafat honor it. The second was that I would reduce the dangers in Oslo, reduce the withdrawals, reduce the price that Israel would have to pay.
After the election, Mr. Abu Mazen was brought secretly to Tel Aviv. He came along with the head of the Palestinian security forces. The two gentlemen simply said the following. We have to help us. We don't know anybody in this new regime. We have to start a dialogue with them and we should start immediately.
When the negotiators meet at Arafat's compound early in 1997, the Israeli delegation is made up of fresh Netanyahu appointees from the Likud party. We walk into his living room and we sit down. And I see in front of me a whole group of different PLO advisors, officials, security men all sitting around the living room. Two of us are sitting on the other side. The PLO spokespeople say to us. The last time we came this close to somebody from the Likud government was on the outskirts of Beirut, but these were very different circumstances.
The first thing you know the Rigold wanted to do that night is to change the agreement signed. This was the very distressing beginning we had with the Netanyahu government. At the end of this meeting, Arafat was sure that there will be a real crisis with this government.
Three months after the election, the peace process is stalled. The American Secretary of State Warren Christopher is sent to Jerusalem to pressure Netanyahu to meet with Arafat. Christopher is persuasive. The next month, Arafat and Netanyahu meet at the era's border crossing between Gaza and Israel. The meeting is fraught with tension as Netanyahu sits across from the very man he'd condemned as a terrorist only a few months earlier. But their handshake, though largely ceremonial, is still a symbol of hope. Benjamin Netanyahu, I remember two things he said to President Arafat very clearly. The first thing he said, we should have met a long time ago and the second thing he said, we will make it, Mr. Chairman. We will make it together, Mr. Chairman. We will make peace, Mr. Chairman.
The harmony is short-lived, disrupted by events in the old city of Jerusalem. In an area extremely sensitive to both Muslims and Jews, where the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount sits above the Western Wall, Netanyahu changes the status quo. He opens an ancient tunnel that runs along the wall. This action could be seen as provocative, but Netanyahu has a different explanation. I was actually approached by Palestinian merchants in the Vyodolosa, who wanted me to open the tunnel wall that was abutting the Vyodolosa. About half a million tourists a year were going through this tunnel, coming to the end, touching the Vyodolosa, but instead of getting out there, they had to go back, make a U-turn. And the merchant said, why don't you open the door? And we could get the benefit of all this commerce, all this traffic. But Israeli security officers had foreseen trouble. There was a discussion in the security cabinet, and we expressed a determined opinion that at this time it would be wrong to open the hotel tunnel. We warned against the possible consequences of such an action. I got a telephone call, and Vyodolosa told me we opened the hotel tunnel. I said, what? Why didn't you let me know in advance? It was not a surprise that if Mr. Netanyahu opens the tunnel, the confrontation immediately will come, as touching Jerusalem will burn everything.
Radicals are quick to exploit the situation. Marwan Barghouti, one of Arafat's militia leaders, spearheads the campaign. We organized these demonstrations from the Bierseit University students and other people, and I was there and it started 11 o'clock in the morning. What the Israelis' response, they start to shoot. The soldiers were across the road shooting at the Palestinians, then another wave arrived, and so on, repeatedly. I saw that and said it's inconceivable to expect the Palestinian police with their Kalachnikov guns to just stand there. You're diminishing their authority. They will shoot back. This will not end well. For the first time since Oslo, the Palestinian police used their guns against the Israeli army. I gave an order to move our tank forces into striking positions all across the fronts. Violence leaves 59 Palestinians and 16 Israelis dead. Hundreds more are wounded on both sides. Only active cooperation between Palestinian and Israeli security forces brings an end to the fighting. Bartob-Bristina leadership and Palestinian officials think that everything be achieved only by negotiations without a brochure. I agree with that. I don't think that they really understand the situation. They don't.
For your liberty, for your freedom, for your independence, you should always fight and sacrifice.
为了你们的自由,为了你们的自由,为了你们的独立,你们应该始终战斗并牺牲。
In an attempt to prevent further violence and restart negotiations, Arafat and Netanyahu are summoned to Washington by President Clinton. What I was always concerned about in a case like this, where you have a cycle that takes on a life of its own, you have to find a way to give people a reason to take a step back, to pause, to think, so that things don't continue to spiral out of control. That's what was happening then. So that's why we basically came up with the thought that we would bring them here.
Clinton also asks King Hussein of Jordan to join the talks. Netanyahu, when he came, did not agree to anything other than a negotiating process. I'm a man of peace. I'm not a man of false peace. I'm not a man of suicidal peace. We'd say, all right, we signed any peace agreement, any peace of paper in order to say that we made peace, but at the same time, Arafat will continue the terror and continue telling his people that the goal is to destroy Israel.
To a certain start to interfere, King Hussein delivers a speech very, very critical of Netanyahu. He told him, I remember that line still. I hope that you will grow up to the wisdom and courage for being. But by the end of the summit, it seems like Clinton's chemistry has worked. Netanyahu and Arafat agree to resume talks on further implementation of Oslo.
After four months of difficult negotiations, Israel agrees to withdraw from Hebron, leaving behind only a small enclave of Jewish settlers. Now, Arafat will control all the major cities of the West Bank and Gaza. The Palestinians cheer. But Jewish settlers tear their garments in a ritualistic way.
The Palestinians cheer. The Palestinians cheer. But Jewish settlers tear their garments in a ritualistic gesture of mourning. They feel Netanyahu has betrayed them by relinquishing Hebron. The Palestinians cheer. Although Jewish settlements were not mentioned specifically in Oslo, Rabin had promised no additional ones would be built. But on March 18, 1997, Netanyahu allows construction to begin for a new settlement on a contested hill near Jerusalem.
Our commitment to unify Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty is not just a cosmetic commitment. I made it very clear that I would do it, that I was willing to face the music and the music came. The Palestinians are the equivalent to bus exploiting interlevive to Israelis. That's the ultimate threat. It's land, it's future. It's people who want to settlements are put there to stop us from having our future in the Bennett state. Freedom.
Tensions remain high throughout the area. Intellivivah suicide bomber explodes himself in a packed cafe on a busy Friday morning. Four months later, two suicide attacks ripped through Jerusalem's main market within ten minutes of each other. Sixteen are killed, hundreds wounded. In response, Israel limits access in and out of Palestinian territories and enforces a strict curfew. Life in the territories becomes more and more difficult.
The shot is not any of the shot is not going to happen. To try to contain the growing crisis, the new American Secretary of State, Madeline Albright, is dispatched to the area. Feel that it's important to try to make this place safer, because I'd like to do everything I can. With Arafat, it took a while for me to get so that we could actually have good conversations. We had talked on the telephone shortly after I became Secretary of State, and he would be so emotional that I had to hold the phone away from my ear, because he would just get so bad. And then finally, we developed a way that we could actually talk with each other.
The next day, I went to a school for Palestinian students, and it was, I think, of the various meetings as Secretary that I had, one of the hardest, because the Palestinian students were very clear in the way they asked the question, saying, we don't understand what our future is. And I didn't have very good answers for them. The truth is that that meeting really stuck in my head and made me realize that I needed to learn a lot more about the Palestinians' needs.
In September, three more suicide bombers strike at the heart of Jerusalem. Five Israelis are killed and over 200 wounded, many of them teenagers. Netanyahu declares that no more land will be handed over to the Palestinians as long as terror continues. Netanyahu knows that the force behind the suicide bombers is Hamas. He orders the head of the Israeli Mossad, Dani Yatong, to eliminate a top Hamas officer who lives in Amman, Jordan. On September 25, two Mossad agents disguised as Canadian tourists arrive in Amman. Their mission? To inject Khalid Mashal with a chemical that will cause a fatal heart attack.
I was on my way to the office when two Mossad agents assaulted me from the back. One of them had a sophisticated device which discharged poison. The poison entered my skin and the substance reached my brain. And within two hours, I started to feel the effects. They had a lot of cotton.
When I learned about the failure, I wanted to inform King Hussein. The palace was enraged. The king expressed his opinion to me and said it's like inviting a guest to my house. I find out that the guest has raped my daughter. To placate King Hussein, Netanyahu tries to save Mashal's life. I sent Dani Yatong, the head of Mossad, as he was about to leave. I said, Dani, I think you forgot something. He said what? I said, well, the antidote to the poison. By noon, the head of the Israeli Mossad himself is on his way to save the life of a man he sought to kill only two hours earlier.
Jordan also demands the release of Sheikh Ahmed Yasin, the founder and spiritual leader of Hamas, after nine years in an Israeli prison. It's a triumph for the extremists. It's a triumph for Hamas. It's a triumph for Hamas. It's a triumph for Hamas.
Continuing to assert Israeli control over Jerusalem, Netanyahu allows Jewish settlers to buy and occupy houses within Arab sections of the city. Once again changing the status quo. Palestinians demonstrating against Jewish settlers are joined by groups of Israelis who oppose Netanyahu's policies.
We hope that Mr. Netanyahu would realize that he's really pushing Palestinians and Israelis towards the cycle of violence and counter-violence.
我们希望尼坦雅胡先生能够意识到,他的行动实际上正在推动巴勒斯坦人和以色列人走向暴力循环与反暴力。
Early in 1998, Ehud Barak, the leader of Israel's labor party, begins to challenge Netanyahu's leadership. I used the metaphor of the Titanic. I said, it's clear to me that we are heading into an iceberg. And I demanded from Netanyahu's government ministers to open their eyes. They will immediately see the iceberg. If we want to try seriously to solve it, at certain point it will explode and we will be torn from within, since at least part of our own society will believe and say that their own government is responsible.
October 1998. In yet another attempt to revive the peace process, the Americans call a summit meeting at the Y Plantation in Maryland. We wanted to work on how to transfer this percentage of land from the Israelis to the Palestinians and work on some of the issues of security that the Israelis had. Ladies and gentlemen of the Gulf. Ladies and gentlemen of the Gulf. I want to thank you for your time. I want to thank you for your time. I want to thank you for your time. I want to thank you for your time. I want to thank you for your time. I want to thank you for your time. I want to thank you for your time. I want to thank you for your time. I want to thank you for your time. I want to thank you for your time. I want to thank you for your time. I want to thank you for your time. I want to thank you for your time.
Flowers are delivered from Arafat who follows up with a personal phone call. Hello. My name is Ria Tanas. Mr. Chairman, you're very kind. Thank you. The personal basis is very, very much appreciated. Shallam, I think if we work together, maybe we could do more than the intermediaries. But whatever happens, Mr. Chairman, I very much appreciate this gesture and I shall remember. Thank you. Bye-bye.
The next day President Clinton thrusts his full weight behind the negotiations. After a marathon 21-hour session, the sides agree to what becomes known as the Y Accords. It really did show what can happen when a president with the kind of knowledge that Bill Clinton had on this issue and understanding of both sides and his ability to listen and then to kind of take the issues out of the box and rearrange them, that there is a role for an American president who to bring the parties together.
Then when everything seems to be going well, Netanyahu demands the release of American-born Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard. Securing his release would help Netanyahu with his right wing back home. At 4.30 or 5.30 in the morning, as we were concluding, I hear voices. And then I see that there was no finger pointing between President Clinton and Netanyahu. Everything was more or less finished, ready to be concluded and signed. And I admit the president and I said, well, what about Pollard? When will he be released? And he explained that he could not carry out his promise because he had a threat of mass resignations in his defense establishment. The two of them had a very different impression of their conversation.
I recall talking to Danie Navey and Yitzig Mohole afterwards when I went down to see them when we were stuck in the morning. And I said, look, one thing is clear, you can't hold up the whole agreement on Pollard. It won't be understandable. It won't be understandable in this country because no one will see their relationship. And even in Israel, you will be sacrificing an agreement that is heavily focused on Israeli security for the sake of Pollard. It's not tenable. You can't do it. And what they said to me was, it's, Beebe's in a very difficult political position because he was counting on this to be able to sell the agreement.
Netanyahu in the end made a very important decision. After a lot of difficulty, he really, I think we all felt a sense of admiration for him when we arrived at the White House for the signing ceremony. This agreement is designed to rebuild trust and renew hope for peace between the parties. Now both sides must build on that hope, carry out their commitments, begin the difficult but urgent journey toward a permanent settlement. It was very important.
No doubt. No doubt that Netanyahu and Cheryl, they were together. In the end, both of us accepted the agreement.
毫无疑问。毫无疑问,内塔尼亚胡和谢丽尔他们在一起。最终,我们俩都接受了协议。
The White Agreement allows for the construction of an international airport for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. It opens on November 24, 1998. Israel agrees to pull back its forces from an additional 13 percent of the West Bank. But only about half of this would be done. Israel also agrees to release 750 Palestinian prisoners without blood on their hands. But only 250 would be released. The Palestinian Authority agrees to combat terrorist organizations to arrest those involved in terrorist activities and to collect all illegal weapons and explosives. But in fact, little or none of this would be done. The Palestinian Authority agrees to combat terrorist attacks.
The Palestinian Authority agrees to combat terrorist attacks. The Palestinian Authority agrees to combat terrorist attacks. Seven weeks after the White Meetings, in an extraordinary gesture, President Clinton comes to Gaza to lend his prestige to the implementation of portions of the agreement. It is seen as a state visit, affording Arafat and the Palestinian Authority defacto national recognition. In Clinton's presence, the Palestinian National Council takes a historic step. They vote to rescind the clause in the PLO Charter that calls for the destruction of the state of Israel. It was a stunning moment. They raised their hands and they stood up still holding up their hands just to be sure that everyone could see that their hands were raised. And three quarters of that audience responded. And this sort of brought into focus this incredible sense that here is the beginning of genuine reconciliation. Here is the beginning of those who've rejected the very idea piece, understanding this is over. It's passed.
But it is not to be. The very extremist Arafat is supposed to control stage violent protests against the recognition of Israel. And in Israel, the very people that had brought Netanyahu into power see the handover of more territory as an act of betrayal. And begin to work for his downfall.
On January 4, 1999, the Knesset convenes in an extraordinary session to decide the future of the government. Netanyahu has a hard time making his case. And the President has a hard time making his case. And the President has a hard time making his case. And the President has a hard time making his case. Over two-thirds of the members of the Knesset, from all across the political spectrum, rebuke Netanyahu and call for new elections.
The President has a hard time making his case. And the President has a hard time making his case. And the President has a hard time making his case. And the President has a hard time making his case. And the President has a hard time making his case. And the President has a hard time making his case. And the President has a hard time making his case. And the President has a hard time making his case. And the President has a hard time making his case. And the President has a hard time making his case.
On May 17, 1999, Ehud Barak wins a landslide victory, becoming Israel's 14th Prime Minister. The President has a hard time making his case. The President has a hard time making his case. And the President has a hard time making his case. And the President has a hard time making his case. And the President has a hard time making his claim.
As our commanders, we will bring this our final AM�ie, maybe see our last meeting. That's great. And at the same time, very moving since it was clear to me that I'm about to continue the legacy of Robin that had been cut at this very place a very short time ago. It was clear to me that we have a major interest in trying to disengage ourselves, to separate ourselves from the Palestinians, to have two states or two nations. And it was clear to me that without taking active steps, it will erupt. You cannot stretch this waning of other people for another generation. That night, I just went through the screen of 1996 till 1999, Netanyahu's year, Sharon's year, Moon Haïr's. And we're getting rid of this.
In a deeply symbolic act, Barack pays his first official visit to Egypt, the most powerful Arab state, and one that has been at peace with Israel for over two decades. Barack also wants to enlist Egypt's help in advancing the peace process. He said that he's determined to work for peace and that he had the support of the people. And although he was not quite confident of the intentions of the Palestinian Authority and Chairman Arafat, but to tell them that we would be with him on the peace process with help, with maybe it.
Good morning, welcome Prime Minister of the United States. While his mandate is strong, Barack wants to push for a permanent agreement quickly, skipping the interim redeployments called for in the wire cords. He envisions a two-state solution that will finally put an end to the conflict.
On July 11th, he flies to the era's crossing on the Israel-Gaza border for his first official meeting with the Palestinian leadership. I remember Barack said greatly that he would make tough decisions, courageous decisions. It's we who will make these decisions for your generations and my generations. The Palestinians expect to obtain a commitment from Barack to immediately implement the long-delayed third redeployment. And then Barack jumped to say, we don't need to waste our time and little issues. We don't need to concentrate on the third phase of the further redeployment. We should go at it to get the whole thing done. And at that moment of history, the third phase of the further redeployment constituted the most cardinal point in Palestinian politics and Palestinian thinking and Palestinian relations with the Israelis.
Representative Al-Fad was so much touched negatively by Barack that first meeting. I told him, let us suggest an alternative. There is nothing to win by stretching the conflicts of another generation. We will have to bury our, they will have to bury their dead, and we will end up with the same topography, the same demography, the same problems on the table, and an open way toward Kosovo, Belfaz type situation which we don't need.
Gillard Cher is Israel's new principal negotiator. It's now his turn to work with Saab Erikaat, who has headed the Palestinian delegation since the process began. Cher represents the fourth Israeli administration Erikaat has had to deal with.
Our first meeting was a meeting of setting our minds together to the possibility of concluding peace agreements with our neighbors. I sense a level of trust, developing between us, and I hope that this trust will go to the level of Mr. Barack and President Arafat.
When you talk eye to eye with your interlocutor, with your counterpart, and when he knows, after a couple of times, that even the most difficult things that you have to tell him is done with sincerity, you never lie to him, then you gain his confidence. And Arafat knows that.
I hope that one day, very soon, within a year, we can have a Palestinian state next to Israel, and this is not a dream now. It's a fact. I hope that once I get to this point here, because that's what the Sabrettes, the Bereting Line of 97, I hope that I will go visit my Israeli friends and present my passport at the center and see her going from East Jerusalem to East Jerusalem.
After five weeks of negotiations, they would read on a framework and timetable for the final peace agreement. The Palestinian and Israeli delegations assembled in Egypt at Shamil Sheikh to celebrate the fruits of Arafat and Sheikh's efforts. It's the first time. You could have felt the hope in the air, in Jolyville, this hotel in Shamil Sheikh. It seems the peace process is back on track.
As a confidence-building measure, Israel agrees to release 350 security prisoners in two phases. The Palestinians, for their part, agree to enforce the existing security understandings. Then suddenly, the very next day, three suicide bombers strike in Haifa and Tiberia. Miraculously, only the bombers themselves are killed.
Despite the terror attacks, Barack releases 199 Palestinian prisoners as planned. The President of the United States, accompanied by the Prime Minister of Israel and the Foreign Minister of Syria. Barack now shifts his attention away from the Palestinians to Syria. Israel's longtime enemy to the north.
Good morning. For the first time in history, there is a chance of a comprehensive peace between Israel and Syria and indeed all its neighbors. We'll do everything we possibly can to help the parties succeed. For a comprehensive peace in the Middle East is vital not only to the region. It is also vital to the world.
But after two months of effort, the talks between Israel and Syria break down. All the while, Arafat has been suspicious of Barack's overtures to the Syrians, concerned that a deal with Syria will ease the pressure on Barack to compromise with the Palestinians. Any agreement with any other countries will not stop us. But he used it to lose time.
We're looking around us asking who are our counterparts in the Israeli side for the interim negotiations and for the pyramid's negotiations. And the settlements, still expanding under Barack, become the main issues when negotiations resume. What will happen to the 180,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank and Gaza? How much land will the Israelis seed to the Palestinians? How much land will they want to keep?
The settlement policies continue. We were supposed to start talking about the future of the land. And our counterpart, the Israeli, was determining unilaterally through the confiscation of land the future of the land.
Israeli negotiator Odediran asks Barack to present the Palestinians with a map to show how they propose to divide the West Bank. He agreed. And I was authorized to show the Palestinians a scheme. It wasn't a map. It was just a general outline. The Palestinians had constantly been saying, we need to see a map. We need to see a map. Oded had not been allowed to show a map by Barack. He was allowed to show a drawing, basically. And what happened here was what the Palestinians saw was an approach that basically would have in their mind carved up the West Bank. Cutting West Bank into three. Even inside each one of these small canteons, there will be holes of settlements. So if this is this situation, they know that we will not accept it. We will not accept it at all. They were enraged. They were really, really angry. And one of them opened the barrage of almost 10 minutes of cursing and in Arabic and in English, in Hebrew. The Palestinians walked away from the room. And I went to them and I said, do you want to be angry with him? It's fine. You don't like what he presented? It's fine. But you don't walk out on me. You walk out on me. You want me to be here for negotiations? You stay in the negotiations.
Then I said, why did you leave? I was going to ask him questions about it. I told him, OK, you can ask him questions by lettering, but not in front of us. And what kind of questions? And he said, one question I wanted to ask is why the Israeli area here is so big. Why it's not smaller? Thank you very much for this question. I keep this question for yourself. I will not accept this question even to be asked in my presence.
Meanwhile, a secret negotiation in Stockholm deals with another contentious issue, the Palestinian refugees, three million displaced people who demand the right to return, a number equaling roughly half the population of Israel. Their return would alter the nature of the Jewish state.
We felt that we were making progress. We were in the managing to turn the highly emotional and historically awesome problem into a mechanism. We were differing about numbers. We say that Israel will be ready to absorb a minimal number, in fact, symbolic number of refugees, but only within a scheme of family reunification, humanitarian purposes. I know how difficult it is for them, but they should know how it is difficult for us. We cannot go for any agreement supported by half of our people, or less than half of our people. Any agreement should be supported from the majority of the Palestinian people. And without solving the refugee problem, there would be no agreement. The refugee problem would continue to haunt the negotiations.
Meanwhile, Barack moves to fulfill a campaign promise and end Israel's 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon. He had hoped to do it as part of an agreement with Syria, but now he decides to act unilaterally. Undercover of darkness, Israeli forces withdraw. Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim fundamentalist militia that had been fighting the Israeli army in Lebanon for years, sees Israel's flight as a massive victory. A few alarmed guerrillas have made the mighty Israeli army retreat. Many Palestinians now believe they too can achieve their aims by fighting rather than negotiating. The minute the Palestinian people see your soldiers running away and allowing the Lebanese to liberate themselves, they ask, why don't we do it their way? And we are all going to see them. With us, the Israeli negotiated a deal. Four years we gave them security, killed Palestinians in cooperation with them, for Israeli security, and virtually got nothing except a postponed redeployment in terms of land. His Barack killed Israeli soldiers, and now they are measuring the force of June 67 He says the message to every Palestinian will be clear, kill and get the land.
We were very worried that violence would come, and we wanted to avoid it, and maybe by going into the permanent status issues, we were going to be able to do that. And our Fats said, I want them to deliver things to me, don't talk about resolving everything. So we focused on trying to create a package of things that would allow us to address our Fats concerns on the one hand and pave the way to a summit on the other.
At home, Barack faces intense political pressure. He is under fire for his lack of success with Syria, for his withdrawal from Lebanon, and for being ineffectual with the Palestinians. He urges President Clinton to hold a summit to resolve everything once and for all. Barack's strategy before Camp David was either there will be an agreement that will bring peace and the end of the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, or it will be a failure that will lead to violent confrontation. I remember I asked him, what if there is only some progress, but we don't have an agreement? He would Barack held a pencil in his hand. He told me, Gadi, do you see this pencil? It stands because I am holding it. Either we will find a way to anchor it, because there is a peace agreement. Or if not, I take off my hand and the pencil falls.
On July 10, 2000, the leaders head off to a hastily prepared summit at Camp David. I am now leaving for Camp David to join Prime Minister Barack and Chairman Arafat in their effort to reach agreement on the core issues that have divided Israelis and Palestinians for half a century now. The two leaders face profound and wrenching questions, and there can be no success without principled compromise. Both leaders feel the weight of history, but both I believe recognize this as a moment in history which they can seize. The road to peace, as always, is a two-way street. Thank you.
Camp David broke open the nut that had never been opened before, the final status issues, Jerusalem, statehood, boundaries, security, refugees. Those issues had never been discussed at senior levels between Israelis and Palestinians, and suddenly they were sitting there out there on the table.
They want 11% of the West Bank, which is the same figure I heard on June 25th in the Central House. It was a shock and a big surprise to see the same map in Camp David.
In Camp David, the leaders is there, President Arafat, Prime Minister Barack, President Clinton is there, and to bring the same maps. Abuela, I didn't like what he saw, but he didn't want to talk about it, and so he got pretty angry, and then President Clinton got quite angry at him. It all came. Listen, this is not the general assembly. I didn't come here to waste my time. Let us be pragmatic. Let us put ideas on the table. Do you accept the concept of border modifications? We do not have to accept the map that Mr. Ben-Amé put on the table. Come with an alternative map. Negotiate. Work on the subject. Don't give speeches.
President Clinton, at that room, he was a mediator, or a facilitator. And therefore, the mediator or the facilitator to show any support to one side against the other is not fair. To break the impasse, Clinton suggests a land swap since Israel wants to keep part of the West Bank for settlers. Arafat accepts border modification in principle, but wants other usable land in exchange. I accept, but to make swap. In the value and in the area. Not only to give me desert.
Barack said, I'm ready to explore these ideas subject to Arafat's similar acceptance. Prime Minister Barack was a man with great vision, but also a man who played things very close to his vest. We did not know going into Camp David where Barack's bottom line was.
After listening to both sides, Clinton proposes a compromise. Israel would return almost all of the West Bank and Gaza to the Palestinians. They would swap small parcels of land important to each other, and they would agree to share control of Jerusalem. Barack uses Clinton's proposal as a starting point and suggests several changes. Arafat never replies. Barack then refuses to negotiate with him directly.
Arafat had asked in front of me three or four times, where is the other guy? One of these dinners he shook hands with Arafat in a very, I would say, bluntly unpolite way. And when we sat at the table, he put his hands over his face, and he took his hands away from his face only to eat. We are talking here about the toughest and more sensitive issues that humankind has ever dealt with. It's not only nationalism, stathood, refurgism, colonization, or settlements as it were. Holiness, sanctity, religion, Islam versus Judaism, and what holiness, Jerusalem, and not only Jerusalem, Temple Mount, is anybody going to change his positions because of personal relations?
Nine days into the summit, President Clinton has to leave for a meeting in Okinawa, and Barack, having heard nothing more from Arafat, tells his people to prepare to leave. Delegates on both sides are distraught. They fear that the collapse of the Camp David Talks will lead inevitably to war. Some team members thought we hadn't explored all the options for continuing the dialogue. And that we're about to return to the people of Israel with a negative result, when we can't honestly claim to have tried everything. We are not going to do this, but we are going to do this.
There was a very strong sentiment that we should stay and continue the effort, and the dramatic efforts of Clinton going back and forth between Barack and Arafat around midnight of that evening eventually led to the fact that they reached some kind of understanding that they allowed us to stay in Camp David. By that time, we were all very hungry. So all of us walked down to have a late night dinner. When we got there, the Palestinian team was already there, and those on our side, and those on the Palestinian side, that felt that we should have stayed practically hugged each other. It was a very emotional moment.
But in Israel, anti-Barak protests boil over, as news from Camp David hits the street. A quarter of a million people gather at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, the largest right-wing demonstration in the history of Israel. And in the West Bank in Gaza, unrest grows among Palestinians as news spreads that land compromises are being considered.
When Clinton returns to Camp David, Jerusalem is again put on the table. Immediately there is a problem. Arafat argues that the Jews have no claim at all to the area of the Temple Mount. They had excavated everywhere, and no one single stone from the Temple had been found. Only some stones of Herodot's temple. This is not something that we've invented in light of the negotiations, or put as an argument in front of our friends of the Palestinians. This is a fact.
A fact? Today. There is no such a thing as a Temple Mount in existence today. There is a mosque. This is the most ancient, holiest place that we have in our history. And we do not reject the Palestinians' management, administration, religious custodianship over the mosques and over the Esplanade. But we do think that our proposal to have a shared sovereignty, to have a spiritual sovereignty, to have sovereignty by God, to have anything that is together. We're dealing with realities. There is no such thing called sovereignty over history. History is in our books, our memories. Okay?
On the last night of the talks, Clinton offers a new bridging proposal that covers all the issues, including the main stumbling block, East Jerusalem. But Herodot refuses any compromise over the Temple Mount. That last night, Sab Schlomo Benomie, the president and I sat for two and a half hours. And, you know, we tried coming up with every conceivable approach. Sab to his credit was quite honest. I told him this is not going to fly. He said, Sab, I'm not negotiating with you. I'm asking you to carry a message to you earlier, though. And to come back with an answer. And I replied to him in details about what can be done from our side, which will be accepted by the Arab nation and by the Christians and by the Muslims.
Arafat said clearly, well, look, do you want to attend my funeral? Yes, he said to Clinton. You want me to be a traitor? Are you serious? The problem with Arafat had come, David. Whatever criticism was I have of Barack. Barack in the end was prepared to confront history and mythology. And you can't ask more of a leader than that. He was. Arafat was prepared to confront neither history nor the mythology, and he created a new mythology by saying that Temple doesn't exist there. It was the only new idea he raised in 15 days at Camp David. Arafat basically, for whatever reason, walked away from what is one of the best deals he could ever have, and it always brings back to mind the Abba Ybond statement is that the Palestinians never lose an opportunity to lose an opportunity.
Arafat sees major problems. He's concerned with limits on sovereignty for the new Palestinian entity. There are some points which can, if you are in my workplace, you will not accept it. I will give you the control of the airspace. What does that mean, if you are. .and also, they are insisting to have big military bases with all armaments in Jordan Valley under their control? What does that mean? And also, the border between us and the Egyptians. Who can accept that? It can followron healthier Combined. However, this squadron member knew enough to Dragon Wolf. HeMoreover Mansoul was a good man by the attacks of Subsyntaahives He is an Alright glitch, and only 24-year girl with, a healthy docker, really with adventure.
The city of El Aene, the city of Valomar, the city of Haqul, the city of Liminoa, and Arafat returns to a hero's welcome. In the streets, calls for an uprising. A new Intifada are heavy in the air. The city of Valomar, the city of Valomar, the city of Valomar. Despite the official demise of the talks, Arafat and Barak approve a new series of secret meetings between the negotiators. Today will be our 34th secret meetings. You're the only one who managed to get us. And I believe we. This fragile piece processes the only vehicle to bring about two owners. The Israelis need an end of conflict from us. They need an end of claims from us. They cannot have an agreement without these two elements. These are the two cars in our hands. Since come, David, we are trying to. bridge. Whichever gaps are still existent in the different issues, on the core matters between us.
At this meeting, they agree that Arafat will visit Barak at the Prime Minister's private residence the next day. It was a meeting on the 25th of September. Barak was there. It was the host. His wife was there another. And comes Arafat with all the Palestinian leadership. And the people who are in the middle of the building, the people who are in the building. All of them there.
We had the most congenial, friendly meeting between Palestinians in Israel. You can't ever imagine. With Barak and Arafat behaving like two lovers. Barak and Arafat went on a jet and sat together with no note takers. With no one else present except for the two of them. And in the middle of this delightful meeting and delightful dinner, they speak on the telephone with Clinton. And Barak says to Clinton, I'm going to be the partner of this man in a way better than Rabin. They've kind of blessed us as negotiators. You always Allah and make the agreement. Make it possible. Do it and we'll come and sign.
At the end of the evening, Arafat makes a request of Barak that Ariel Sharon, the head of Israel's right-wing party, be denied permission to visit the Temple Mount as he'd planned. I told him that this visit will make a big story, not only with us, with all the Muslims all over the world. He didn't listen to me.
Barak cannot prevent Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount. He coordinates with the Palestinian Authority who agreed to try to keep peace in the area.
巴拉克无法阻止沙龙去参观圣殿山。他与巴勒斯坦政府进行协调,后者同意努力维持该地区的和平。
I came here with a message of peace. I believe that we can live together with the Palestinians. I came here to the holiest place of the Jewish people in order to see what happens here, and really to have the feeling that how we need to move forward. Mr. Sharon is a provocateur. He and all the people who joined him. He came here in order to build up the area. I landed that morning in Israel from New York.
The chief of police in Jerusalem, Jairitsake, was hit by a stone in his head, and he was taken to the hospital. His second in command ordered his people to confront the mob. The next day, Friday, the Muslim Day of Prayer, the Al-Aqsa Intifada is born. By day's end, seven protesters are dead and 160 wounded. The first day of the day, the first day of the day, the first day of the day, the second day of the day, the second day of the day. He fell into his hands as a white kind of a foot, becoming a very kind of natural excuse for him. You know that we are now, essentially, the only people who are under occupation? Who can accept this? Our thought has a very hard time seeing himself, actually, as the president of a country, that in his own head he is always the liberation fighter.
Our thought, for whatever his reasons, has not really taken the steps to condition the people for peace. The riots spread quickly throughout the West Bank and Gaza. This footage of 12-year-old Muhammad al-Dura shocks the world and comes to symbolize the Intifada. The Our people saw these pictures in the TV. So the picture of Muhammad al-Dura directly killed. We decided to demonstrate. riots and engulf the Israeli Arab community as well. The reaction of the Israeli police was unprecedented. They shot 13 of us and killed them. After a week, 50 Palestinians and five Israelis are dead.
October 12, 2000. Two Israeli reservists accidentally stray into Palestinian territory and are arrested by the police. Soon they are lynched by a Palestinian mob. Israel The Palestinian Authority The Israeli Israel blames the Palestinian Authority for the murders. And within hours attack helicopters destroy the police station. Israel also launches massive attacks on other targets in Gaza and the West Bank. What is your response? My response is our people continuing their road to Jerusalem, the capital of our independent Palestinian state. To accept or not to accept, let them go to hell. You said all right.
Each new day reaps its crop of victims. Oslo has never seemed more remote. In Israel, Barak's policies are blamed for the rapidly deteriorating situation. A political pressure on a hood Barak mounts. Even among his staunchest supporters, many now distrust Palestinian intentions. On December 9, Barak announces his resignation. This will give him a window of 60 days to try and regain support before standing for re-election. But the violence has made his pro-negotiation stance difficult to defend. His people blame the Palestinians. You've destroyed the peace campaign Israel. That's unfair.
Tony Tapart is these four months of violence. It's four months now. Yeah, well, you've been crying for the last month. What do you think you're going to stop it a week after it's started? Two weeks after it's started. One month after it started. Agree? Catch it. Yes, you know. It's a chapter. It's a chapter. Barak now is a new chapter in a Greek tragedy. And you're playing the principle of holding it. Oh, yes. Oh, do we have a sheet list of mistakes? Do you want to do it? No, but that's the main one. Basically, the main one.
Likud leader Ariel Sharon, a hard-line former general, is running on a platform of security and is far ahead in the polls. Barak's only hope is to conclude a deal with the Palestinians quickly. Then he might win the election. He still believes the Israeli people want peace. In a desperate attempt to reach agreement before the election, the negotiators meet in the resort town of Tabah. In Tabah, the most important progress is being achieved there. And the negotiation, when you are stuck on the principles, there are no progress. When you accept the principle and move to the details, there are a tangible progress. They move rapidly toward reconciling the differences allowed for in a framework created by President Clinton. We have made substantial progress. Today, we are closer than ever to the possibility of striking a final deal between us and the Palestinians. By late January 2001, they've run out of political time. They'll never be able to conclude an agreement with Clinton now out of office and Barak standing for re-election in two weeks. My heart aches because I know we were so close. I know we needed six more weeks to conclude the drafting of the agreement. The President The President The President The President The President
On February 6, 2001, Ario Sharon is elected Prime Minister of Israel, defeating Barak in a landslide. Now, two leaders who harbor deep mutual animosity and mistrust will shape the next chapter in the tumultuous history of the Middle East. The political process stops. The old cycle of violence and counter-violence continues. Palestinian suicide bombing becomes an almost daily event, sometimes twice a day. Israeli retaliation leaves hundreds of Palestinians dead. Then on the eve of Passover, a suicide bomber explodes himself just as people sit down for the holiday meal. Thirty are killed, including entire families. On March 29, 2002, Israel launches Operation Defensive Shield. With overwhelming force, Israel reenters Palestinian cities and refugee camps, hunting down terrorists and their infrastructure, often leaving massive destruction in their wake. And in Ramallah, Israeli forces enter Arafat's compound and hold him captive and isolated for 31 days. Sharon had taken the war to Arafat's doorstep. When Israeli forces eventually pull back, the peace process lies in ruins. The dream of Oslo is shattered.
How can we live like this? All the world is opening to each other. The world has become one entity. You are becoming one entity. The cultural barriers are breaking. Everybody is living with everybody. So why don't we become one thing together, one whole thing together? And all these stupid, religious barriers, or national barriers, or all these non-human barriers will disappear. I'm not a political person, you know that. So I'm not saying we don't have a partner. We have a partner. It's a Palestinian people. We have a partner. It's a Palestinian leadership. And let me tell you, I don't know if you know that. I believe that with any one of the members of the Palestinian leadership, six, seven, eight, ten people, there could have been an agreement. Maybe what we lacked is not only time. It is also a fundamental readiness, ripeness of the parties to reconcile themselves with the most vital myth of the other. At the end of the day, I know it's doable. And I know Palestinians and Israelis can make peace. If it's not next year, if it's not in ten years, the day will come. When Palestinians and Israelis will build on what I, my colleagues, and Israelis achieved in the negotiations of permit status. I don't think they will ever reinvent the wheel. And the difference between this moment and until the moment of reaching an agreement. There will be how many names Palestinians and Israelis will be added to the lists of death and agony. At the end of the day, there will be peace.
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