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Israel Urged to Contribute to Success of Three-way Summit
The implementation of the relevant international resolutions would help render successful the upcoming U.S.-Israeli-Palestinian summit slated for next Tuesday at Camp David near Washington, said a senior Palestinian official Wednesday.
In an interview with Israel Radio, Palestinian cabinet Minister of International Cooperation Nabil Shaath said he could not predict the results of the summit. However, he believed that U.S. President Bill Clinton would do his best to make the anticipated summit successful.
Clinton announced Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat would meet him next Tuesday at Camp David in a bid to bring closer the positions of the two sides on the final status issues.
The Palestinian side is ready to attend the summit, said Shaath, reiterating that the summit should be centered on peace only.
He also blamed the Israeli side for blocking the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians following a recent visit by U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to the region.
The Palestinian side holds good intentions to move the peace talks forward with a view to peace with the Jewish state.
"It would be better to properly prepare for this summit in order to head off fiasco as happened during the Geneva summit between Clinton and late President Hafez al-Assad of Syria," he said.
The Palestinians crossed their fingers that an agreement will be reached ahead of the summit, said Shaath, calling on the Israeli side to be earnest in making the summit a success, and to abide by the international resolutions especially the U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which may help the expected summit produce results.
Israel and the Palestinians are racing against time in working out a framework agreement on permanent peace ahead of the self-imposed deadline of September 13.
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