[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 28 (Monday, July 17, 2000)]
[Pages 1623-1624]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Departure for Camp David, Maryland, and an Exchange With 
Reporters

July 11, 2000

Middle East Peace Summit

    The President.  Good morning. As all of you know, I am now leaving 
for Camp David to join Prime Minister Barak and Chairman

[[Page 1624]]

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.
    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. 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.