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The guests waiting for the host to return |
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July 24, 2000
THURMONT, Maryland(AP) - President Bill Clinton says Mideast negotiators "have not wasted their time" while he attended the annual Group of Eight summit in Japan, but he declined to say whether the Israelis and Palestinians had come any closer toward resolving their differences. On Saturday, the 12th day of the Mideast summit, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had lunch with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, while lower-level officials held discussions on a range of issues. The pace of the discussions was slowed because of the Jewish Sabbath. Clinton, who left the talks last Wednesday to travel to Japan, moved up his departure time Sunday so he could get back to the Mideast talks sooner. "The president is not stopping to unpack and will head directly to Camp David and get to work," said Jake Siewert, White House deputy press secretary. Clinton headed straight from the Okinawa summit for the airport in a driving rain, watched a troupe of Okinawan children perform a dance routine at his departure, then boarded Air Force One for the 15-hour journey back to Washington. After a stopover at Elmensdorf Air Force Base in Alaska early Sunday morning, Clinton was scheduled to arrive at Andrews Air Force Base about 4:35 p.m. EDT (2035 GMT). In Okinawa, Clinton was asked during a brief joint appearance with British Prime Minister Tony Blair whether any progress had been made in the Mideast negotiations while he was in Asia. He said he couldn't disclose much because of the news blackout on the talks. "There is a rhythm in every one of these things I've ever been involved in. Some of them start off with a bang and you go from there," Clinton said. "Some of them never get off the ground. Some of them - most of them - there's a lot of feeling around until you get your bearings. "But I can say they have not wasted their time. They have really worked," the president said. "Whether we get an agreement or not I can't tell, but they have really worked. Since I left ... there has been a lot more sort of systematic effort in the groups on a lot of the issues. So whatever happens, I think they have continued to make headway." The core issues at the talks include the boundaries of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip or the fate of several million Palestinian refugees. But the real deal-breaker, by all accounts, was Jerusalem, the ancient city claimed by both sides as their capital. On the Net: State Department Mideast summit site: http://www.state.gov/www/regions/nea/cdavid-summit.html
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