[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book II)]
[July 11, 2000]
[Pages 1412-1413]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks on the Middle East Peace Summit and an Exchange With Reporters
July 11, 2000

    The President.  Good morning. As all of you know, I am now leaving 
for Camp David to join Prime Minister Barak 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. The road to peace, as always, is a two-
way street. Both leaders feel the weight of history, but both, I 
believe, recognize this is a moment in history which they can seize. We 
have an opportunity to bring about a just and enduring end to the 
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That is the key to lasting peace in the 
entire Middle East. Of course, there is no guarantee of success, but not 
to try is to guarantee failure.
    The path ahead builds on the journey already taken from the first 
Camp David summit to Madrid to Oslo to the first handshake on the lawn 
between Prime Minister Rabin and Chairman Arafat to the peace between 
Israel and Jordan and the agreement at Wye River. The parties have 
proven that peace is possible when they are determined to make it.
    In the process, they have passed the point of no return. The only 
way forward now is forward. Both sides must find a way to resolve 
competing claims, to give their children the gift of peace. It will take 
patience and creativity and courage. But Prime Minister Barak and Chairman Arafat have those 
qualities, or they would not have come this far. They will also have the 
unstinting and unequivocal support of the United States.
    I'll do everything I can over the coming days to see that this 
moment of promise is fulfilled. And I hope that those leaders will have the thoughts 
and prayers and support of all Americans.
    Thank you very much.

Israeli Knesset Vote

    Q.  Mr. President, having barely survived the no confidence vote, 
does Prime Minister Barak come here with a handicap? Can he negotiate 
with the full weight of the Knesset and the Israeli people behind him?
    The President.  First of all, I'll say what I said yesterday. The 
polls show, in Israel, that well over half the people support his coming here and believe he ought to work for peace. 
Secondly, he has promised to put whatever agreement is reached here, if 
an agreement is reached, to a vote of the people. So they have nothing 
to lose. They'll have final say anyway. There ought to be 100 percent 
support for his coming here, because the people will be the ultimate 
deciders on the question. So I think that that is fine. And yes, he had 
an eight-vote margin yesterday; I would remind you that on most of the 
days when Yitzhak Rabin came here, he had a one-vote margin in the 
Knesset.

[[Page 1413]]

    So I think we're in as good a shape as we're ever going to get, and 
we might as well just go to work.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 10:38 a.m. on the South Lawn at the White 
House prior to departure for Camp David, MD. In his remarks, he referred 
to Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel and Chairman Yasser Arafat of the 
Palestinian Authority. A portion of these remarks could not be verified 
because the tape was incomplete.