#timeline #History

The Camp David Papers

Key takeaways

content: "@haniehCampDavidPapers2001" -file:@haniehCampDavidPapers2001

Reading notes

• Road to the Summit

• June 2000 Dennis Ross entered the region before a US committee to probe the utility of a Trilateral summit

• Arafat was clear

• The time was not yet ripe

• He was clear to secretary Albright that if the US invited him to a summit it would have a harmful impact for achieving peace

• The same night she had a meeting with PM Barak and with her own team advised Clinton to send the invitations

• The Israelis alongside some on the American side argued that the Palestinian leadership required a win such as statehood and were thus going to pay a high price for such a thing

• Also believed they did not have enough support from arab states to withstand pressure

• Rules of the Game at Camp David

• There were to be no formal attire at the summit

• Meals were taken together

• Leisure time allowed for informal meetings

• American hosts invited the delegations to movies and basketball games (no Palestinians turned up)

• Total media blackout

• Israelis intentionally leaked a lot of news (though nothing of serious importance)

• Palestinian and Israeli legal advisers and experts were transported to and from the compound giving adivce were needed

• There were full committee meetings consisting of two delegates from each side and meetings with each delegate and Albright on specific topics

• The Search for an Honest Broker

• Clintons personality had a huge impact on negotiations

• Twice sitting with the Palestinian delegation for dinner etc

• Connected with Arafat since 13 September 1993

• Clinton operated the traditional American role in the conflict;

• Washington exercises its role according to the needs of the current Israeli administration ''the Israeli government will fall if x is agreed''

• Washington accepts Israel's demands as a given without opening them for questioning

• The administration required any flexibility on one side to be given to the other as well. Forgetting Palestinians were victims.

• The peace process as defined by 1991 Madrid- UN resolutions 242 and 338 and land for peace were destroyed at camp David

• No proposal from the American to Palestinian side was proposed without getting clearance from Israel first

• President Arafat had objected, “Excuse me, these are not American ideas. They are Israeli ideas I received unofficially from the Israelis hours before I received them from you.”

• The American delegation placed all its pressure upon the Palestinian delegation

• Peace by Gallup Poll

• Concerns about protecting Knesset seats was obvious

• Barak showed not the slightest understanding of Palestinian demands and rights

• The Israeli proposals made no mention of international legality

• Israeli negotiators hardly negotiated at all

• Refugees

• The Israeli delegation spent the refugee summit attempting to convene the Palestinians that there had been no massacres in 1948

• Land, Borders, and Security

• Israelis came to restructure and legalise the 1967 occupations by linking annexed land through Palestinian territory that was linked to strategic water sources

• Jerusalem

• Israel's insistence on sovereignty over the haram al-sharif was a constant ideally israel would like a Jerusalem with no arab inhabitants

• Fragmentation and division would follow Jerusalem

• The Summit According to Jerusalem Time

• Arafat consistently attacked the idea of segregation and division in Jerusalem by arguing no inch of Palestinian, Muslim, or Christian land ought be given over to the Israelis

• Palestinian conclusions:

• Camp David acted as a dress rehearsal for the real talks

• Camp David offered the first time for Palestinian issues to be addressed directly to the US president

• Showed America to not be an honest broker

• American envoys had lost all credibility with Palestinians