[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 29 (Monday, July 24, 2000)]
[Pages 1652-1653]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Excerpt of an Interview With Michael Kramer of the New York Daily 
 News

July 16, 2000

Middle East Peace Summit

    Mr. Kramer. How's it going?
    The President. I'm more optimistic than I was when they got here. 
This is really important. We might make it. I don't know. God it's hard. 
It's like nothing I've ever dealt with--all the negotiations with the 
Irish, all the stuff I've done with the Palestinians before this and 
with the Israelis, the Balkans at Dayton. What's really troubling is 
that they know if they make a peace agreement half of their 
constituencies will have to be angry at them for a while. But I would be 
totally misleading if I said I had an inkling that a deal is at hand. 
That's just not true. But we're slogging.

Group of Eight Summit

    Mr. Kramer. Will you leave for Japan on Wednesday?
    The President. I hope so. I'm gonna do my best to finish here. 
There's been some progress, but I can't say I know we'll succeed. 
They're trying. It's so hard. My heart goes

[[Page 1653]]

out to them. It's really hard. It's the hardest thing I've ever seen.

 Note: The interview began at approximately 5:20 p.m. The President 
spoke by telephone from Camp David, MD. A tape was not available for 
verification of the content of this excerpt.