"Presenting history's best on PBS." "Funding for the 50 years war:" "Israel and the Arabs was provided by:" "and PBS viewers like you." "Victory in the war has not brought the hoped-for solution to all the problems in this part of the Middle East." "Egypt, for example, declares that she will not reopen the Suez Canal until Israel gives up Arab territory she has conquered which the Israelis are not prepared to do." "Israel's new Prime Minister, Mrs. Golda Meir, visited troops in the Sinai desert not far from the Suez Canal where the shells continue to fly." "She wanted a chance to inspect and talk to the men who were living face-to-face with the realities of the middle-east situation [captioning sponsored by the corporation for public broadcasting and viewers like you]" "The death of president Gamal Abdel Nasser after 18 years in power devastated Egypt and the entire Arab world." "His successor, vice-president Anwar Sadat was considered little more than a figurehead." "Those in Nasser's inner circle thought they could steer policy on the course set by Nasser." "And they were confident that Sadat would follow the party line." "The funeral was a grand occasion for the leaders of the Arab states and Nasser's Soviet allies." "Nasser had severed relations with America so the representative from Washington assumed he would be ignored." "Then a soldier came into the room weaving his way through the crowd apparently, it turned out, heading for me." "The soldier led Richardson away out of the sight of the world's press and the watchful eye of the KGB." "I was trained to spot anything that was going on but it was difficult in that chaos." "We went down the stairs." "The lower floor was darkened and propped up in a hospital bed was the man who had just inherited the presidency of Egypt." "President Sadat was resting away from the crowds after apparently suffering from heatstroke." "He said that he wanted to take advantage of then to turn a new page in the relationship between our countries." "The next day, Sadat put on a show for the American media." "Egypt was a Soviet client state." "Sadat considered Israel to be an American one." "The United States provide Israel from the loaf of bread to the Phantom to the... to the even deficit in the budget itself." "So it is the vein of life." "Vein of life for Israel goes from the United States." "Sadat didn't want to negotiate with Israel himself." "He wanted the Americans to intervene, to deliver to Egypt the territories lost in 1967." "In the three years since the war" "Israel had established a formidable defense line along the Suez Canal, 70 miles from Cairo." "What are you doing?" "I'm getting ready to blast you Israelis." "Why?" "Because you Israelis occupy our land." "The Suez Canal had been closed since 1967." "Sadat now told the Americans that if Israel moved back a few miles from the Canal he would reopen it even to ships trading with Israel." "Sadat's proposal followed statements made by Moshe Dayan" "Israel's Defense Minister." "Dayan said that the Sinai should eventually be returned to Egypt." "What we say is that we seat there just because the war is going on." "But once you agree to make peace agreement we don't think we should sit on your Suez Canal." "Golda Meir didn't want to negotiate through the Americans." "She wanted direct talks with Sadat." "I'm prepared to go to Cairo, I'm prepared to go to Damascus" "I am prepared to go to Amman" "I am prepared to go to Beirut, anywhere." "You would go to these places?" "Yes, happily..." "To negotiate peace, of course." "In Washington, president Nixon looked for the right person to urge Sadat's proposal on Golda Meir." "He chose Joe Sisco." "I can recall the words to this day." "He said, "Joe, press Golda, press her hard" ""But don't cause a major donnybrook between Israel and the United States"." "Sisco met with the entire Israeli cabinet but only Golda Meir negotiated." "Golda Meir took it upon herself to do all of the talking." "It was interesting to see everyone here all the ministers, nobody opening their mouth." "What they did to release their tension was sending little notes to each other." "I sent Dayan a chit saying, "Listen, Moshe, I think we can get you some support"." "He sent back a very abrupt reply saying sarcastically thank you very much." "But if Golda is not for this then I'm not for it either"." "Sisco saw that something was happening that nobody was supposed to speak there and so- he was a very smart negotiator" "He asked the Prime Minister whether he's permitted to ask the Minister of Defense one question a professional question." "So what could she say?" "I said to him, "Mr. Minister, if we don't do anything what do you think is going to happen?"" "Dayan said, "Well, I cannot imagine" ""That any government will tolerate indefinitely" ""a situation where a strong army is poised at the gates of his capital" - he was exaggerating." "After all, our forces were at a distance of more than a hundred kilometers from Cairo" ""and this will lead to war"." "Golda Meir still insisted on direct talks." "The next day" "I walked up with these flowers rather gingerly and she said to me" ""Oh, Joe, now you're saying it with flowers." "It won't do you any good"." "In Cairo, Israel's rebuff almost brought about the downfall of the man who had proposed the initiative, Anwar Sadat." "So he reversed course and tried a tactic more likely to win Arab support." "War is now inevitable." "Whatever the price, whatever the sacrifice we will not back down." "We will not give up one centimeter of Arab land." "I thought of Sadat as a character out of Aida." "I didn't take him seriously." "He kept making grandiloquent pronouncements and he never acted on them." "So I frankly thought he was bluffing." "Kissinger was too preoccupied with the Vietnam war to give the Middle East much attention..." "Even when Sadat made another offer." "He wanted Israel to return to the '67 borders in return for which Egypt would be willing to make peace which was a big step, because not... no Arab state had as yet ever flatly said that they would make peace." "We were in no position to handle that." "Sadat told me that Kissinger had said" ""If all you have is a problem, I cannot deal with it but if it becomes a crisis, then I can intervene"." "Disappointed with American diplomacy yet still unwilling to talk to Israel directly" "Sadat set out to prepare for war." "The High Command met at Sadat's house in Giza." "Sadat told us, "There is no hope of a peaceful solution" ""and I will not surrender to Israel" "So our only option is war"." "He said, "Get me back just ten centimeters of the Sinai and I will negotiate a miracle"." "Sadat then proposed a secret alliance with president Assad of Syria." "They agreed to plan a joint attack on Israel." "Syria's top generals sailed to Alexandria to meet their Egyptian counterparts." "I went on a Russian ship dressed in civilian clothes." "I had a fake Egyptian passport and was using an alias" " Jamal Hassan." "Once they arrived, they kept up the subterfuge." "In the evenings, we went to a night club, the Mumtaza." "We were drinking and having fun." "We wanted people to think we were just enjoying ourselves and that we did not have a care in the world." "At the hotel, the generals discussed the plans for their joint attack and decided on a special date." "The 6th of October was Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement." "For the Jews it is a holy day, a day of rest." "The Syrians hoped at least to recapture the Golan Heights taken from them in 1967." "To keep Israel's troops tied down they needed Egyptian forces to advance across the Sinai." "But the Egyptians had their own plan." "They intended to limit their advance to territory protected by their anti-aircraft missiles in Egypt." "Our missiles could protect us for up to 12 kilometers." "That would compensate for the inferiority of our Air Force." "Egypt's Chief of Staff urged Sadat to stick to their own plan." "He said, "OK, we'll draw up a plan to show to the Syrians"." "This second plan had us advancing to the Sinai passes, but it was done just for the Syrians." "So it was agreed that the Egyptians would advance to the passes." "They would pause to reorganize and then go forward again." "Meanwhile, we would occupy the Golan Heights." "Whatever plans the Egyptians adopted first they would have to cross the Suez Canal and do it under the gaze of Israeli troops." "The enemy are just 200 meters away." "I can see them, they can see me." "How can I catch them by surprise?" "I must hide my intentions." "We carried out many military exercises." "The aim was to deceive Israeli intelligence." "We wanted them to think we were expecting an attack from Israel." "Now the presidents of Egypt and Syria also set out to deceive their fellow Arab, Jordan's King Hussein." "They claimed Israel was about to attack them." "Sadat and Assad were worried about an attack on Syria that could have one of its hooks come through northern Jordan." "In the final analysis, I assured them that as far as we were concerned no one is going to use our country to attack anyone." "King Hussein smelled a rat." "The last time Egypt and Syria had maneuvered him into a war with Israel he had ended up losing a large slice of his Kingdom." "So he flew off alone telling no one he was going to meet Golda Meir." "I was very concerned and worried that a state of no peace and no war was going to end us up in a serious difficulty." "King Hussein talked about only one thing." "He warned us to expect an attack from Syria and Egypt." "The Prime Minister received the King alone but the Head of Israeli military intelligence was listening as Hussein warned of the Syrian-Egyptian preparations for war." "She was not convinced this information was reliable." "You see, King Hussein himself was not 100% sure." "Instead of mobilizing the Israeli reserves" "Golda Meir kept in place the usual 450 troops along the Canal." "The attack was due on Saturday, October 6." "On the Friday, I went down and looked across the Canal." "On the other side nothing was moving." "I went back and told Sadat, "They can find out now." "I don't care"." "It was not till dawn the next day as most Jews were preparing to go to synagogue for Yom Kippur that Israeli intelligence finally became convinced that Egypt and Syria would attack within hours." "The Israelis heard the call to arms on the radio and from rabbis in their synagogues." "At 2:00 PM, as civilians were reporting for duty" "Egypt opened fire." "Our troops crossed the Canal." "They were shouting, "God is great, God is great"" "And they planted the Egyptian flag on the Sinai itself." "About 6:00 I told my people, my forces:" "Felicitations." "The Israelis has lost their balance." "Sadat's armies drove the Israelis from the Suez Canal." "Israel's air force tried to retaliate but failed to break through Egypt's missile cover." "The Egyptians advanced eight miles into the Sinai and then stopped as planned." "In the north, Syria's attack also caught Israel off balance." "600 Syrian tanks rolled over Israel's defenses and across the Golan Heights." "We weren't ready today." "We came from, uh, the home in the middle of, uh, Yom Kippur." "So who was here?" "That was regular soldiers?" "Yes, only the regular." "So they must have had a hard time." "Oh, yeah, very hard." "Did you have many casualties?" "Well, with such things, we don't always... not allowed to talk about them." "The Syrians were expected to press their advantage." "We must keep on fighting with all our courage, faith and trust as a nation that knows we're fighting for our lives." "And we are fighting for our lives." "Israel's defeat appeared imminent but on the fourth day the Syrians ran into a large Israeli force." "Israel had been able to divert troops to the Syrian front because the Egyptian Army had halted." "Syria's president Assad demanded to know why the Egyptians were not advancing through the Sinai as agreed." "The president kept phoning Sadat and insisting, "This is not what we agreed." "Sadat never gave him a straight answer." "Syria appealed over Sadat's head to the Soviet Union- still Egypt's patron." "The Soviet Prime Minister came to Cairo to sort things out." "Prime Minister Kosygin kept asking Sadat why his forces had stopped without taking the Sinai." "He was infuriated by Sadat's answers." "President Sadat yielded to Soviet pressure and gave the order to advance much to the dismay of his Chief of Staff." "It was doomed to failure from the start." "Israel's air force was much stronger than ours." "Now the war began to swing Israel's way." "In three hours, 250 Egyptian tanks were destroyed" "But Egypt still had two armies in the Sinai." "The Israelis planned a daring coup." "They set out to cut through the gap in the Egyptian lines, create a bridgehead over the Canal and sweep around to isolate the Egyptian third army." "The architect of the plan was general Ariel Sharon." "We slipped through the Egyptian lines without major problems." "But when we reached the Canal, there was a ferocious battle." "Eventually, at 1:00 in the morning the paratroopers crossed to the other side in dinghies." "The next day, Israeli forces raced across the Canal to secure their bridgehead." "I was at the Canal." "I could see the tanks crossing and the trees on the other side." "It was a great feeling." "Israel's troops were now only hours from Cairo." "President Sadat begged the Soviets to arrange a cease-fire." "The Israelis crossed the Canal and about 24 hours later, we got a message from Brezhnev inviting me to come to Moscow." "We thought Kissinger's visit to Moscow would be useful." "He could help us stop the conflict." "We thought it would give the Israelis more time if I went to Moscow because nothing could happen until I got there." "While I was in the air" "Nixon sent a message directly to Brezhnev saying that I was fully authorized to conclude but I frankly wanted to stall." "The Soviets were in such a hurry to end the fighting that General Secretary Brezhnev led the talks with Kissinger himself." "He insisted that the advance be stopped." "In return, Kissinger wanted the Arabs to recognize Israel's right to exist." "What we said was that there should be direct negotiations at some point between the Arabs and Israel." "I told Brezhnev" "I would carefully communicate everything he said to Washington but that there had to be some time interval so that I could get the President's views." "And he said, "No, here's a message"." "And he gave me power of attorney that..." "In effect, power of attorney that the president had given me, which did not thrill me." "The Secretary of State realized he could stall no longer." "While still in Moscow, he agreed to terms for a cease-fire." "But it was another five days before the war ended." "During that time the Israelis encircled the Egyptian third army." "A day later the opposing generals met in the desert to work out how to disentangle their forces." "It was the first formal meeting of Egyptian and Israeli officers in 25 years." "He offered me coffee." "I said, "No, thank you"." "He asked, "Can I get you anything else?"" "I said no." "He said, "It's cold." "Can I get you a coat?"" "I said, "No, thank you"." "That was the end of the first meeting." "It was a week before the Egyptian general began to relax." "We went out and sat on the sand." "We put a map down in front of us and we put stones on it." "We started to talk about how to disengage our forces." "I said, "Look, we have to end" ""the friction between our forces." ""The answer is you go back to the west side of the Canal" "And we will pull back to the east side"." "I went and told Sadat we had reached an agreement." "He was pleased with what we had achieved." "Each side's dead were returned." "And Israel allowed supplies through to the trapped Egyptians." "But Sadat wanted more than a cease-fire and a disengagement." "He wanted the Sinai back." "But once again, he would talk only to the Americans." "He came out in military uniform and said, I need a Kissinger plan." "I agreed to do a shuttle and settle it fast and he said he would make major concessions to make it possible." "Kissinger decided the way forward was to bring all the parties to a peace conference in Geneva." "I never thought you would kiss a woman." "He's Kissinger." "After all, he's Kissinger." "I wonder who's "Kissing her" now." "The Egyptians and Israelis agreed to attend the conference." "And then there was president Assad of Syria." "I had heard he was impossible, but he greeted me with extraordinary politeness and courtesy and I said, "You know, it's amazing." "They all accuse you of being so difficult"." "Whenever Kissinger wanted to change the date or venue" "President Assad agreed." "Kissinger told him, "You are so accommodating." "I got overconfident and I said" ""Is there anything I should have asked you that I didn't?"" "He said, "Yes." "You didn't ask me whether I am going to the conference"." "I said, "Are you?"" "He said, "No"." "Assad did not want to negotiate with Israel." "But Kissinger was able to get the rival armies to disengage." "Sadat then attempted to strengthen his hand by embracing Syrian and Palestinian objectives." "Israel must move on all the fronts:" "The Egyptian front, the Syrian front, the Jordanian front, the Palestinian front." "At a time when Arafat wanted to replace" "Israel with a Palestinian state, Sadat pledged unity." "You see, we are cooperating together and as we have mentioned, we... there are three partners" "Egyptians, Syrians and the Palestinians." "Two restless years passed." "Then Israeli elections brought forth a leader determined to hold on to the West Bank and Gaza." "What occupied territories?" "If you mean Judea, Samaria and the Gaza strip they are liberated territories." "They are part, an integral part, of the land of Israel." "The new Prime Minister made the building of settlements his first priority." "Settlements like the new town of Yamit, where 5000 Jews live in the Sinai." "Begin was highly suspicious of Sadat." "Sadat is an implacable enemy of Israel." "This is also the truth." "He is no fool, but he is an enemy." "Sadat's response would write his name indelibly into the history books." "He announced he would make a keynote speech to the Egyptian Parliament." "He invited the leader of the PLO to attend." "Arafat was happy to be in the Parliament and he was happy that Sadat is paying attention to the Palestinian problem." "Sadat put his text aside but he carried on speaking." "I told the foreign minister" ""He is about to throw a political grenade"." "After seven years of trying everything else but talking to Israel" "Sadat broke the ultimate Arab taboo." "I am willing to go anywhere." "Israel will be surprised to hear that I am ready to go to them even to the Knesset itself and negotiate with them." "The idea that Sadat would negotiate directly with Israel was so unthinkable." "The audience applauded without realizing what he had said." "Everyone was applauding Sadat." "Even Yasser Arafat was clapping." "I know, because he was sitting next to me." "In Tel Aviv, no one was sure if Sadat really meant it." "Sadat then said:" "If Begin invited him, he would come next week." "The next day Prime Minister Begin was hosting a launch at the Hilton hotel." "The head of CBS in Israel wanted Begin's reaction." "Begin was eating at the head table." "I went up and gave him the message." "He said, "Sure, I'll invite Sadat from here"." "Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby invite president Sadat on behalf of the government of Israel to come to Jerusalem and to start negotiations to establish permanent peace between Israel and Egypt." "Before accepting the invitation, Sadat flew to Syria to persuade president Assad that the trip to Jerusalem would not be a betrayal of the Arab cause." "We asked the President to arrest Sadat to stop him going anywhere." "But Assad considered Sadat his guest and preferred to hear him out." "President Assad was trying to make Sadat change his mind." "He told me it will be proved that you are wrong." "I said, "Very well, Assad." ""This is a sacred mission for me" ""and if this is going to be the last mission as a president" "I shall be very happy to fulfill it"." "President Assad was not impressed." "They talked for seven hours." "Assad's ministers urged him to act." "The presidential guard was standing by." "President Assad refused." "He said, "It is against the Arab tradition for a man to arrest his guest"." "President Sadat returned safely to Egypt." "Three days later, he set off for Jerusalem." "I feared for his safety." "We had been enemies for 40 years." "He was putting himself at their mercy." "He would be sleeping there that night." "I was very anxious." "Sadat's plane was late." "I overheard a senior security officer talking." "He was saying, "Hold on." ""Maybe instead of Sadat" ""there is a suicide squad on the plane." "And they will jump out and kill the assembled Israeli leaders"." "When we arrived in Tel Aviv it was like I was coming to out of space." "It was something completely new." "I find myself in a car, sitting near Moshe Dayan and we have to find how to begin a conversation." "And I have read in the book that he was interested in archaeology so I mention that I was interested in archaeology and we begin to talk archaeology." "The Israeli people greeted Sadat's arrival from Egypt as though he were Moses come again." "I come to you today with a firm desire to make peace." "Sadat offered peace, but he was careful not to abandon the other Arab states or the Palestinians." "There are Arab lands still under Israeli occupation." "We insist on complete withdrawal from these territories including Arab Jerusalem." "It was quite a speech, quite disturbing." "I passed a note to Begin saying, "We must be on our guard"." "Ezer Weitzman, the defense minister who was a great advocate for peace said when he heard the speech that maybe we should mobilize the reserves." "The visitors went from the Knesset to a dinner in their honor." "It was a kind of dinner where there was not much talk." "The atmosphere was cool." "President Sadat and Mr. Begin were not speaking to each other." "They were sitting with their backs to each other." "I decided to invite Ezer Weitzman and another minister up to my suite after dinner." "Mustafa Khalil told me, we have to do something otherwise the whole trip will be without any follow-up." "What about having a meeting together?" "I said, no objection." "So now I found myself sitting with our worst enemy at the King David hotel drinking Black Label." "I want to enter directly in the process and mentioning what are the problems of Cairo today and the problems of Egypt and this is why we need peace." "I said, "Let me show you something"." "I took him to the window." "I said, "Take a good look." "Do you really think you can divide this city?"" "Boutros-Ghali:" "I say the solution is direct talk with the leadership of Israel and through this direct talk, direct contact anything will be solved." "It wasn't that simple." "After the trip to Jerusalem the two sides continued to talk for seven months." "I'll see you next week or in two weeks' time." "But Begin would not give an inch." "Sadat confided in the new President of the United States." "Sadat felt that the peace process instead of having been moved forward had actually been almost terminated by a fruitless gesture to go to Jerusalem." "So he was quite discouraged." "I ask President Carter, the Senate, the Congress to take their share as full partners in the dispute that's between us and Israel." "I'm waiting for this moment." "I found myself isolated from all my advisors." "All of them thought that it was a bad idea." "President Carter then set out to resolve 30 years of conflict in a week of talks at the presidential retreat at Camp David." "We arrived by helicopters and we find this kind of small bungalows in the forest" "People quite relaxed, people using bicycles." "It was quite strange for us." "Some of the Americans even brought their children." "The national security advisor challenged Israel's prime minister to a game of chess and got a preview of his negotiating technique." "I was about to make my first move when he dramatically s my hand in midair and looked me straight in the eye and said" "And he's always very serious and formal" "Dr. Brzezinski, do you know when I played my last chess game?"" "And quite frankly, I was a little dismayed because I couldn't care less and he says to me, "September 1940" ""when the NKVD broke into my hiding place in Vilna to arrest me"." "So I said to myself, "Oh, my God"." "And in the midst of the game, Mrs. Begin appears." "She looks at us and says, "Oh, the two of you are playing chess." ""You know, Mr. Brzezinski, Menachem just loves to play." "He just loves to play, he plays all the time"." "When president Carter brought the two leaders together" "Sadat listed the demands:" "The return of the Sinai to Egypt and a Palestinian state in the West Bank with its capital in Jerusalem." "Sadat and I both knew that this was not going to be at all acceptable to me or the Israelis." "We all hit the roof, not just Begin." "They were taking a hard line." "We all said, "This simply won't work"." "They wanted to storm out, to terminate the talks and I jumped up from the desk where I was sitting and writing and got in the door in front of them." "And I wouldn't let them get out of the room until they both agreed to let me try to continue." "And after that the two men never saw each other for the next ten days." "The incompatibilities between the two sides were so intense that some sort of an American document bridging the gap and extracting from each side those relatively few elements on the part of each side that were of a compromise nature seemed to us to be the only way to proceed." "So I carried the same text back and forth." "Begin and Sadat agreed to go with the same text with brackets and modifications and marginal notes." "Carter focused their attention on a clause that would require Israel to give up Gaza and the West Bank to the Palestinians." "Begin simply dug in his heels and says, "This is totally unacceptable"." "As far as he was concerned this was Greater Israel, Eretz Israel and they hadn't acquired territory by force." "It had always been ordained as part of Israel." "Begin remained intransigent so Carter persuaded Sadat to give up his demand for a Palestinian state to the outrage of his advisors." "It was a real shock for us." "Our main preoccupation was to avoid a bilateral agreement between Israel and Egypt" "at the expense of the Palestinians." "But that wasn't enough for the Israelis." "They say, "No, no, no, no." "They are refusing to withdraw from the Sinai, that they want to maintain the three airports, that they want to maintain the settlements." "The Israelis delegated Moshe Dayan to convince Sadat that he would have to compromise on the Sinai too." "Dayan told him, "Mr. President, if anybody has told you" ""that Israel can leave the Sinai settlements they are deluding you"." "President Sadat was so upset that he asked me for airplanes." "He said, "I'm leaving." ""If I cannot even get Sinai back" "Then what is the use of my continuing this peace process?"" "I asked Sadat if he would go back in his cabin and talk to me." "All of his bags were on the front porch." "I told Sadat he had betrayed our friendship." "He had violated a commitment that he made to me." "That he would give me full opportunity to resolve any differences that arose." "And that I thought that his preemptory action in leaving without giving me another chance." "Would also seriously and adversely affect the relationships between our two countries." "Sadat unpacked his bags." "Carter would now have to get the Israeli Prime Minister to yield." "I was about to play tennis" "I was dressed in whites." "Begin was always dressed as if he was about to go to a funeral and we went for a walk in the Camp David woods." "And he says to me very dramatically" ""I want you to understand that my right eye will fall out" ""my right hand will fall off before I ever sign a single scrape of paper" "permitting the dismantling of a single Jewish settlement." "Prime minister Begin had taken a solemn oath before God and the Israeli people" "that he would not dismantle Israeli settlements." "So I had to devise an alternative to that so that he would not do it." "Carter urged Begin's advisors to find a way around their prime minister's solemn oath." "The only way was to let the Knesset make the decision and not him." "Dayan and Weitzman started speaking up to Begin in Hebrew rather than in English as they did in the past." "I said, "We cannot go back empty-handed." "We must find a compromise." "Begin's colleagues concluded that the only way to persuade him that dismantling the settlements would not damage him politically was to get the settlers' champion on the phone." "Prime Minister Begin, god rest his soul, told me" ""There are problems over the Jewish settlements in the Sinai"." "He wanted to know where I stood." "I answered in one sentence" ""I will support any decision you take"." "Prime Minister Begin's phone call opened the way for a White House ceremony." "The Knesset voted to dismantle the Sinai settlements." "Egypt became the first Arab state to recognize Israel's right to exist." "Israel gave back the Sinai." "Let's have a handshake before..." "Sadat and Begin were awarded the Nobel peace prize." "I'm so proud of both of you." "God bless you both." "While we have the ceremony and the different speeches and the different signature we were listening to the Palestinians which were outside and was just shouting to remind us that the Palestinian problem have not been solved." "The peace with Israel that Sadat concluded has lasted to this day." "But many Arabs were enraged." "Two years later, at a military display in Cairo" "Islamic extremists assassinated Anwar Sadat." "The Israelis came 1,500 miles, scored a direct hit on the PLO headquarters based in Tunis and only just missed the PLO leader, Yasser Arafat." "It was a revenge raid by the Israelis following last week's attack on an Israeli yacht in Cyprus." "Three people were killed by a PLO unit from Tunisia." "As a matter of principle, it is our view that it is legitimate self defense to respond appropriately to acts of terrorism." "As terrorist warfare continued a planeload of Israelis arrived at Heathrow airport." "The passengers had no idea that among them was their Foreign Minister on a top-secret mission." "I came disguised in a wig and glasses." "When I got to passport control he asked, "On holiday or business?"" "I didn't know what to say." "Finally I said, "On business"." "Shimon Peres wanted to extend the peace with Egypt to Jordan and the Palestinians." "That same day" "King Hussein of Jordan piloted his own plane to London." "He had been invited to meet Peres by a mutual friend." "King Hussein:" "I had many questions in my mind about it" "But he didn't give me any detail." "He just told me that he had contacts with Peres which were a beginning of talk about what could be done." "The British lawyer, lord Mishcon had provided the meeting place and given his staff the day off." "King Hussein said, "We'll wash up the dishes." "I immediately agreed." "But Mrs. Mishcon said, "No"." "She wouldn't dream of letting a King do her dishes." "They now settled down to work out how to begin the process of negotiations." "Israel still didn't want to negotiate with the PLO which it saw as a terrorist organization dedicated to its destruction." "We discussed the impasse." "The problem was how to get the Palestinians to the negotiating table." "Against Israeli opposition, against American opposition." "Hussein said, "If you were clever" ""You would recognize the PLO." ""That would show everyone the truth- the PLO is just unwilling to negotiate"." "Israel was willing to negotiate only with those Palestinians recognizing the right of Israel to exist." "Peace talks with Palestinians who accepted Israel's right to exist would exclude the PLO." "I took a bit of time to think about it at the same time to, uh..." "To see if I had any last thoughts before such a monumental decision was taken." "And then I decided, all right, fine, we'll go." "The idea they came up with was a peace conference that excluded the PLO." "Back in Israel, Shimon Peres faced a difficult meeting with his Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir." "Peres's moderate labor party was part of a coalition that straddled the divide of Israeli politics." "Shamir, a hard-liner, opposed the conference." "He wanted to negotiate separately with each Arab country and didn't want to deal with the Palestinians at all." "He said he'd agreed with King Hussein to hold an international conference." "An international conference?" "For me, that would be as bad as a pig in the temple." "Shamir mistrusted Peres." "He feared Israel would be outnumbered by the Arab states at the conference." "Peres assured him the conference would quickly adjourn into individual talks with each Arab state." "And the PLO would not be invited." "I said, "Leave the text, I'll read it later"." "I said, "No, I can't leave he agreement." ""Your staff might leak it and spoil my plan." "It has to look like it comes from the Americans"." "Peres and King Hussein agreed that only America had the clout to get everyone to attend." "So Peres then contacted the American Secretary of State." "What he proposed now was that I take this on board as my proposal and then present it to the Israeli government." "I saw danger even in a visit from Shultz." "I decided to send an envoy to America." "I sent our former ambassador." "And I told Shultz very plainly that the subject of the international conference was a subject of divided opinion in Israel mainly between the Likud and the Labor party and that if he were to come to Israel to provide his support for the agreement" "that Peres had arrived at he would be entering Israeli domestic politics." "And he said, "I'm not going to make the trip"." "Trying to keep the process going" "Peres persuaded Shamir to meet with Jordan's King Hussein." "The King invited Shamir to his house in London." "Hussein explained that he could represent the Palestinians." "The King was very critical of the Americans." "He said, "They made promises they didn't honor." ""They promised Jordan would get back the land" "Israel had occupied, but this hasn't happened"." "I thought to myself, "I'm responsible for that"." "He was very blunt." "There was not very much room for putting any of the ideas or hopes or aspirations that I had in mind." "I refused point blank to discuss an international conference." "So there wasn't much that we could really speak about or agree about." "The next morning, I flew back to Jerusalem." "None of my colleagues knew where I'd been or who I'd been meeting." "We got a report from that meeting from Shamir who was very happy about it." "The King was so courteous." "He served a kosher meal." "He was..." "listened to me, and we had..." "He was warm and so on." "We got a report from king Hussein who said" ""Well, we had the meeting, it was terribly discouraging" ""Because it's obvious to me that the Prime Minister is not willing to give any ground at all"." "Shamir rejected Hussein as a representative of the Palestinians and repeated his unwillingness to negotiate with the PLO." "Meanwhile, the Palestinians, squeezed into the Gaza strip for the last 20 years under Israeli rule grew increasingly frustrated." "On December 8, 1987, an Israeli truck accidentally hit a car carrying four Palestinian laborers." "All the people in the car were killed." "We thought, "This was no accident." "It was done on purpose by the Israelis"." "Angry crowds soon gathered." "An 18-year-old Palestinian threw a stone at some Israeli soldiers." "When they fired back, the boy was killed." "The Israeli security forces then stepped up their presence in the occupied territories." "A group of young activists seized the opportunity to prepare a leaflet calling for an uprising." "Early in the morning, our leaflet was ready." "We had cars standing by." "We asked children and pregnant women to help." "They could slip past the Israelis at the checkpoint." "Palestinian workers were urged to go on strike." "Shopkeepers were told to shut their businesses." "The Intifada had begun." "Yasser Arafat and the PLO leadership still in exile in Tunis learned about the Intifada from a newscast." "It is the resistance and revolution of all our children, all our women all our people, all your men." "This is the accumulation of the revolution." "In fact, we didn't know who issued the leaflets." "We were worried." "We wanted to know who was behind all this." "From the other end of the Mediterranean, the PLO Could provide little day-to-day guidance to the Intifada organizers" "The demonstrations, which began in Gaza now spread to East Jerusalem and the West Bank." "The Palestinian flag, an illegal symbol under Israeli rule began to appear all over the occupied territories." "Now even the bourgeoisie, everyone joined the Intifada." "This really encouraged us." "To keep the Intifada going one young activist sought guidance from Faisal Husseini the Head of one of the oldest Palestinian families." "Husseini had spent the last few years in and out of Israeli jails for his political activities." "I told him, "The Intifada must not change tactics." ""Don't use weapons or guns." ""Don't give the Israelis an excuse to use their technology." "We want to tie down as many soldiers as we can"." "The strategy of minimum force caught the Israelis off-guard." "We are facing now a new form of warfare against us." "It means the attempt to destroy our existence by violent demonstrations." "The Israelis tried to break the morale of the protesters with mass arrests." "They blew up the homes of convicted terrorists." "It is not a nice picture to witness blowing a house." "I forced myself to be with the soldiers understanding that they feel as I feel." "When the Israeli cabinet met members of the coalition argued" "about how best to end the Intifada." "Ariel Sharon spoke up." "In essence he said, "Mr. Prime Minister" ""we must order the army to suppress the Intifada." "The army will find a way"." "Some of the ministers made horrifying suggestions." "They suggested, "Send in the tanks." ""Kill a thousand and it will collapse." "Order will be restored to Israel"." "We knew if we killed a thousand it would get worse and we would be branded war criminals." "The cabinet rejected all of this but told the defense minister, Yitzhak Rabin to find a way to end the Intifada." "Rabin stood in front of the soldiers and said" ""Gentlemen, don't just stand there." ""Use your hands, use your clubs." ""Beat the demonstrators." "Restore order"." "Trying to restore order without shooting the demonstrators" "Rabin told his soldiers to club them instead." "Scenes like this were broadcast around the world." "They are facing the punishment of the Israelis by their hands, by their stones, not more." "Till now, in all over the occupied territories in every town and village or refugee camp in all the demonstrations no one had used a gun or a hand grenade." "Abu Jihad, the PLO's military leader in Tunis had gained control of the Intifada." "He also directed the PLO's terrorist operations." "In the middle of the Intifada" "Abu Jihad ordered an attack on an Israeli bus carrying people home from work." "Three were killed and six wounded." "All were in a state of shock." "Those women who had been on the bus and had got away had not escaped the emotional trauma." "A month later an elite Israeli commando unit landed on a beach in Tunis." "Mossad agents guided the commandos to the home of Abu Jihad." "I was woken by the sound of people breaking into the house." "Then I heard screams." "I was terrified." "I heard Abu Jihad moving running from the desk to the cupboard where he took his pistol." "I saw three masked men with machine guns." "One of the men opened fire on Abu Jihad." "They shot him in his arm... and his heart." "Abu Jihad was a leader of the Intifada." "Although he was out of the country he was fighting against us." "He was one of their most popular commanders." "He fell just like many others, like people on our side." "But in the intensity of the conflict both sides were learning something about each other." "For the 40th anniversary of Israel we had a huge military parade." "A few days later, I was in the West Bank." "I came across a group of young Palestinians, they knew me from TV..." "And one of them said" ""Yesterday, I saw all your fighter aircraft." ""You're so strong up there." "But what can you do against stone-throwers down here?"" "This was our problem and the young people's power." "You know that if you beat them and shoot them and do whatever you want to them, they won't stop." "We train to fight against other soldiers." "Now we fight against people." "It's difficult." "Increasingly, Israelis asked themselves whether they could rule more than a million Palestinians in the occupied territories forever." "We can't solve this problem." "It's the government." "It's the politician have to solve this problem, not we are." "The Intifada vented Palestinian frustration but it also demonstrated that neither terrorism nor street revolt would solve their political problems." "In Tunis one PLO leader discussed what to do next with a colleague." "We sat there alone." "I said, "I want to talk about something" ""I've never mentioned before." "Can I raise a taboo subject?" "He said, "Be my guest"." "The PLO had been created to reclaim all of Israel for the Palestinians." "Now Abu Mazen suggested that they be realistic." "That the only way to get back Gaza and the West Bank was to accept what they rejected 40 years ago" "The partition of Palestine." "I asked him, "Should we consider recognizing Israel?"" "He said yes." "Yasser Arafat was eventually convinced that the PLO would have to compromise." "But the other PLO leaders were harder to persuade." "Like Sadat, the PLO preferred to negotiate through the Americans." "But the Americans laid down a condition:" "Yasser Arafat, the world's most famous guerrilla leader would have to renounce terrorism." "He's got to get up in front of a television camera in some public way and say for in everybody to see him saying it out of his own mouth these things." "The UN General Assembly gathered in Geneva for a special session to hear Arafat." "But not all the factions of the PLO were willing to negotiate." "We did not accept the decision to recognize Israel." "We would accept no further compromise." "Arafat's UN speech would be a difficult balancing act." "I hereby once more declare that I condemn the terrorism in all its forms." "That was for the Americans and in a pattern that was to characterize the whole speech the next phrase was for the PLO radicals." "And at the same time salute those sitting before me in this hall" "who in the days when they fought to free their countries from the yoke of colonialism, were accused of terrorism." "He concluded his speech" "Convinced he had pleased everyone." "I reviewed it with president Reagan" "Who was following this closely and I said, "Well, Mr. President" ""In one part of his statement he said 'unc, unc, unc'" ""and the other part of his statement" ""he said 'cle, cle, cle,' but nowhere did he say 'uncle'" "So, no, it's not satisfactory"." "Word soon came that the Americans had rejected the balancing act." "Arafat's closest advisers implored him to say exactly what Shultz demanded." "I saw that Arafat had a dilemma:" "whether to say it or not." "Should he sit tight or should he try again?" "The next morning, Arafat called a press conference." "I repeat for the record that we totally and absolutely renounce all forms of terrorism." "I view this development as one more step toward the beginning of direct negotiations between the parties which alone can lead to such a peace." "But Israel's prime minister was unimpressed." "Shamir made a gesture." "It meant, "This isn't important." "Let's not waste time analyzing what Arafat said"." "We cannot trust." "They are criminals, they are liars." "They are enemies of our people." "Shamir's view of Arafat was reinforced 18 months later." "On august 2, 1990" "Iraq's Saddam Hussein sent his army into Kuwait." "He boasted that in a war, Israel would end up in flames." "Saddam's only support came from Libya, Sudan and the PLO." "You know the war will not be only in Baghdad." "This war, if it started, will be in the whole area." "For this it will be a real catastrophe." "Israel prepared for an attack." "As president Bush set out to build a coalition to force Saddam out of Kuwait he traveled to Damascus to bring Syria into the fold." "But president Assad, a firm Arab nationalist was not easy to convince." "President Assad made very clear to me that he blamed Israel for everything." "I'm not sure he blamed them for Iraq going into Kuwait but he got almost everything - everything was all about Israel." "I made clear to him that we didn't want to link any Middle East peace process talks to whipping Saddam Hussein." "But I made clear to him also that we would be involved in trying to be a catalyst" "for peace for Arabs and Israelis." "As the war started" "Saddam ordered an attack on Israel with Scud missiles." "Saddam hoped that by attacking Israel he would get the support of other Arab countries." "If Israel retaliated he might be able to undermine the coalition against him." "Iraq's missiles were aimed indiscriminately at Israel's largest cities the repeated attacks over many nights were nerve-wracking." "The Israeli press reported that Palestinians celebrated as the missiles flew over the West Bank on the way to Tel Aviv." "Chemical traces in one of the missiles even raised the possibility of a deadly chemical attack." "We would like to see that threat removed and we will take the protections that are necessary to remove it." "I cannot tell you when, I cannot tell you where." "In the end, Israel did not retaliate but its leaders had learned a hard lesson about their vulnerability." "Shamir was also absolutely convinced that given the opportunity" "Israel's Arab enemies would try to destroy it." "When the war with Iraq ended president Bush looked towards the future." "Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States!" "We must do all that we can to close the gap between Israel and the Arab states and between Israelis and Palestinians." "There can be no substitute for diplomacy." "The time has come to put an end to Arab Israeli conflict." "The idea was the President, at the height of his prestige sending the Secretary of the State at the height of his prestige, to the Middle East." "And what we basically hoped was that no one would have the nerve to say no to the United States at that moment." "Bush instructed Secretary of State James Baker to persuade the Arabs and Israelis to attend a new peace conference." "Well the whole idea that we came up with was to give the Arabs what they needed and give the Israelis what they needed." "The bone of contention between Israel and Syria was still the Golan Heights captured by Israel 20 years earlier." "In Damascus, Baker suggested to president Assad that if he came to the conference" "Israel might negotiate a withdrawal from the Golan Heights." "We are not negotiating whether the Golan would come back or not" "Whether a part of it would stay under the Israeli control or not." "The whole of the Syrian Golan should come back to Syria." "Having gotten nowhere with the Syrians" "Baker then tried to tempt Yitzhak Shamir to the peace conference." "I remember saying it's going to be one big meeting that is going to lead, then, to bilateral negotiations" "So that the Israeli government could say" ""Well, this is really not an international conference"." "I wouldn't even consider it." "It meant negotiating with PLO terrorists." "Baker promised Shamir he would not invite the PLO to the conference." "Baker then went to meet" "Palestinian leaders from the West Bank and Gaza." "We in the PLO leadership opposed them meeting Baker." "For us, this meeting was pointless." "We thought it would not advance the Palestinian cause." "Some comrades argued that the Americans wanted to create an alternative leadership to replace the PLO." "For five nights, Abu Mazen urged the PLO leadership to let Palestinians from the occupied territories meet with Baker." "Finally, Yasser Arafat decided he had nothing to lose." "Only it is a meeting..." "Exploratory?" "Exploratory meeting, nothing more." "If things would proceed positively then the leadership would take the credit." "If things did not work out then we as individuals would take the blame." "When the Palestinians met Baker in Jerusalem" "The PLO Insisted that each Palestinian delegate be approved in writing by Arafat." "I said to him" ""Mr. Secretary, this meeting could not have taken place" ""without the authorization of president Arafat personally"." "And I took the letter out of my pocket, showed it to him." "I reminded them that the PLO " "Their organization and their chairman- had made a serious mistake in backing Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War." "He sat like this." "I pulled my chair round and faced him." "We confronted each other just like two fighting cocks." "He was so angry and, uh..." "Said, "We feel if we make you angry, what can you do" ""We don't have assets in bank to be frozen by you." ""We don't have airlines to be grounded by you." ""We don't have anything in the world that you can threaten us with." ""So court us, and we're willing to play positively." "But as a major player"." "The Palestinians refused to repudiate the PLO and Baker knew this would be unacceptable to Shamir." "After 12 weeks of shuttle diplomacy, Baker was stuck." "The only leverage a Secretary of State has in this kind of situation is the ability to blame one party or the other for the collapse of the peace process." "Baker came and told president Assad" "It is, your position is very important." "I mean, if you accept" "If you feel that this is good for you and you accept the American initiative" "Then the whole world will stand by Syria and will put the blame on Israel." "Assad decided to go along." "And I am pleased to report that Syria has agreed to the proposals that we have made including coming to a peace conference." "Full of confidence, Baker returned to Israel." "There was no way that an Israeli Prime Minister could appear to be less interested in peace than a Syrian president." "Especially when the Syrian president accepted coming to this conference on terms that were essentially defined by Israel." "But Shamir put more obstacle s in Baker's path." "Every time the American team arrived in the Middle East" "Israel announced the construction of a new Jewish settlement in the occupied territories" "Land the Arabs claimed was theirs." "Each new Jewish home made Israeli withdrawal more difficult." "Furious, Baker went public." "It is easier to obstruct peace than it is to promote it." "And that the establishment, uh..." "of these settlements certainly does not help the efforts of those of us who are interested in peace." "The Palestinian reaction was predictable." "I remember Faisal Husseini at almost every meeting, he would pull out this map." "I brought him maps of the West Bank and Gaza." "The first map showed the situation before 1967." "The second one showed the situation today with the settlements all marked in orange." "And, uh..." "I finally said, "Faisal, let's get..." ""Let's talk about what's important here." ""Let's talk about how we're going to get a negotiation going" ""because if we don't, we're going to keep meeting like this" ""and pretty soon you're going to bring me a map that's totally orange"." "He actually told us, you have no other alternative." "He said, "Name any way in which you can stop settlements other than through the peace process"." "The local Palestinians were afraid to talk to Israelis without permission from the PLO In Tunis." "A meeting of the Palestine National Council was called." "Our delegation asked Baker, could the refugees return?" "He said no." "Will there be a Palestinian state?" "He said no." "Will the PLO be on the delegation to speak for us?" "He said no." "Chairman Arafat knows that these answers are accurate." "They are "No", "No", and "No"." "I told the conference," ""If we don't get on the peace train it will pass through our station." "We will never have another chance"." "I said, "We don't want to be passive victims of history." ""We want to challenge, to intervene, to intrude" ""to participate and to present our own narrative." "To speak for ourselves, and this is a forum"." "It was a forum Arafat himself had wanted to attend." "Reluctantly he agreed" "That the team from the occupied territories, not the PLO, would represent the Palestinians." "But Shamir had another demand." "He asked the Americans to guarantee a loan of ten billion dollars to help absorb the Soviet immigrants who were now pouring into Israel." "I don't want to interfere in the American interior affair." "But I would like, uh..." "to inform everybody that not to forget that they are using these billions, uh... in building more illegal settlements on our land." "This was our way to build up our country." "What is the Zionist ideal?" "It is to gather the Jewish people into this small country." "So we must set up more and more homes." "Large and small communities." "What are the settlements?" "They are just communities." "No Arabs lived on that land." "It is not on their property." "The Americans were unable to stop the Israelis from building settlements." "To save the conference, president Bush delayed the loan." "American Jewish leaders urged him to reconsider." "I was approached by the leaders" "Of some of the biggest Jewish organizations." "A republican was head of AIPAC which is a very strong American Israel" "Political Action Committee." "And he told me that I was making a huge mistake politically." "President Bush wouldn't give in." "For the first time in history the vision of Israelis sitting with their Arab neighbors to talk peace is a real prospect." "Nothing should be done that might interfere with this prospect and if necessary I will use my veto power." "We saw the President on television." "He took a stand against the American Jews." "I got really angry." "This hurt me just as it hurt many others." "Bush had faced down Shamir." "A few weeks later, Israelis, Arabs, Americans and Russians assembled in Madrid." "For the first time, Palestinians were invited to participate." "Today we have made a major step forward." "There is a recognition of the Palestinian national identity." "The Palestinians are speaking out for themselves for the first time in history." "The delegates gathered at the royal palace." "I will never forget the emotion I felt when, with Gorbachev next to me we walked into this room in Madrid and there across the table sat Arabs and Israelis." "We come to Madrid on a mission of hope." "Everyone expected each Middle East delegation to be led by its foreign minister." "But Shamir had a better idea." "I thought, "Maybe I should go to Madrid myself"." "Shamir had devoted his life to fighting for Israel doing whatever he thought necessary to establish, maintain and defend the state." "As he got up to speak, the conference waited to hear if he was now ready to make peace." "I could go on and recite a litany of facts that demonstrate the extent to which Syria merits the dubious honor of being one of the most oppressive, tyrannical regimes in the world." "But this is not what we have come here for." "He attacked Syria bitterly and accused Syria of being on the list of terrorism and I was very angry." "I looked over and I saw Farouk Shar'a's face." "He just froze and he called one of his aides over." "So immediately his face changed and he smiled." "He said, "Okay, go back, I will write my speech"." "I told him, "Mr. Minister, it's 15 minutes left." "Yesterday we spent seven hours to prepare your speech"." "He said, "Don't worry, I will write headlines"." "So I lay aside my prepared speech and said openly." ""He is the last one to have the right to speak about terrorism because he himself was a wanted terrorist"." "I shall just show you if I may a photograph an old photograph of Mr. Shamir." "Why was this picture distributed?" "It was distributed because he was wanted." "He helped in the assassination of count Bernadotte the UN Mediator in Palestine, as I recall, in 1948." "He kills peace mediators." "I remember the faces of the Israeli delegation." "They were colorless." "One Palestinian delegate then tried to demonstrate that no matter what Shamir thought he was really negotiating with the PLO." "So I said, the only thing that symbolizes Palestinians" "Is the black-and-white keffiyeh which president Arafat wears all the time." "So I decided to put it on my shoulders." "And the angle of my seat came directly looking Shamir on the eye." "It was engineered by God." "It was just perfect." "And I looked at him and I said to him" "I nodded my head, I said.." "He shook his head like this." "I smiled." "Really he moved his head this way." "So I winked to him and he just do this." "And then after the session was over everyone is surrounding me." "So I said, "Why the sensitivities?" "We are the key to peace" "To your peace process as Palestinians" "And you must realize the new facts of life." "Amid mutual recriminations, the conference broke into one-to-one talks between Israel and the Arab states." "We and the Syrians moved to opposite sides of this big table." "We sat frozen like robots." "The Americans and Russians got out as quickly as they could." "They were glad to escape." "It was difficult half an hour." "For me, for example, this will be the first time I sit face-to-face with the Israelis." "The Syrians wanted us to commit to a withdrawal from the Golan Heights." "We didn't want to get into all that." "The withdrawal should not be a question for negotiation." "The withdrawal is, either there will be a withdrawal, full withdrawal, or there will be no peace." "The moment we would have said that we were ready to withdraw this might have ended the whole thing and the Syrians would have avoided the main question for us." "That was the character of peace, the end of terrorism, the terrorist organizations with their headquarters in Damascus." "And what about Hezbollah and Lebanon under Syrian occupation?" "All these topics were raised and every time we tried to break this dogma of the Syrians." "When they finished the Israeli's returned to their hotel telling the waiting press that all their suggestions to try to build trust had been flatly rejected." "There had been no handshakes, no smiles, little personal contact." "I don't want to say that they were a complete failure because the very fact that we were sitting and talking is in itself already an achievement." "But the substance was, as I said, futile." "The Syrians, too, were unimpressed by their meeting." "I would like to express our regret for leaving... this city, Madrid without having tangible results from the bilateral talks that our delegation held yesterday with the Israeli delegation." "Israeli talks with the Palestinian and Jordanian delegation were so positive that they could be crowned with public handshakes afterwards." "Both sides here, at least, confident of meeting again soon." "America had finally brought the warring parties to the conference table." "But it would take another breakthrough to convert fighters into peacemakers." "Yitzhak Rabin's stunning election victory brought the Labor party back into power." "Rabin had promised to accelerate peace talks with the Arabs." "I believe that agreement will be reached within less than one year." "You can say nine months, less or between nine and 12." "Israel's old enemy, Yasser Arafat still claimed to lead the Palestinian people." "But exiled in Tunis and cut off from his homeland" "Arafat was more willing to compromise with the Israelis." "In London in December 1992 a PLO representative from Tunis was on assignment." "I had never met an Israeli before..." "Not one." "All the way to the meeting" "I was looking left and right and behind me." "I was afraid of being seen" "The Israeli who initiated the meeting was waiting for him." "He was an academic with unofficial connections to Israel's new Labor government." "It was a moment of truth." "Meeting a PLO man was against the law." "The Israeli's cover for meeting a member of the PLO was provided by a fellow social scientist from Oslo." "I simply suggested that Hirschfeld and myself had breakfast and then that when Abu Ala arrived in the lobby." "I should simply, discreetly slip away from the table and Abu Ala should take my place." "We spoke about the conflict, which had no end in sight." "It had been raging for the whole century so how could we end it?" "PLO headquarters in Tunis awaited his report." "Abu Ala told us what had happened." "I said, "If they ask you to go again, go"." "He asked, "What's the point of talking to these people?"" "I said, "Well, there must be something behind it"." "At the same time, official peace negotiations begun in Madrid continued in Washington where a delegation of west-bank Palestinians were getting nowhere." "Bypassing the delegation to talk directly to the PLO was thought by some Israelis as a better way around the impasse." "But even the PLO did not speak for all Palestinians." "The fundamentalist group Hamas had just kidnapped an Israeli police officer and murdered him." "We have to take a measure that will speak not by words, but by deeds." "Rabin ordered Israeli security forces to round up and deport 415 Hamas activists." "The expulsion from the West Bank created a crisis in Washington." "If they do deport the Palestinians this morning then I don't think the Israeli delegation tomorrow morning will find a Palestinian delegation to negotiate with." "The public opinion at home was, you know..." "Boiling." "It was so volatile that we knew we couldn't proceed with the discussions with the negotiations." "The Palestinian delegation walked out of the Washington talks." "Arafat now had no links to the Israelis." "He sent for the Norwegian social scientist who had set up the secret breakfast in London." "Arafat told me that the talks in Washington were completely stuck and that was why he felt there was a need of a back channel and thought that the research institute Oslo which I was heading should be the sort of front organization for the talks" "because both the PLO and Israel needed deniability for having such talks." "The fish was hooked, and they were off to Oslo." "We were nearly arrested when we landed." "We didn't have visas." "Nobody met us." "Instead of being treated as VIPs we were grilled for two hours by the Norwegians." "We had to be so careful that we did not even inform the Norwegian secret police about their arrival." "Abu Ala, with two fellow Palestinians was driven through the snow to a country mansion near Oslo." "Here he and the Israeli professor got down to business." "I said to Abu Ala" ""We must focus on topics where agreement is possible." ""We must put to one side subjects we know we can't resolve"." "In dispute were the Palestinian territories ruled by Israel" "Gaza and the West Bank- and most disputed of all, Jerusalem." "I said, "We won't agree about Jerusalem"." "He talked about Palestinian control of the entire West Bank." "I said, "Listen, we won't agree to that." "Let's focus on Gaza first." "Every Palestinian was suspicious about "Gaza first"." "The Israelis wanted to get rid of Gaza." "For them, Gaza was just a factory of problems and the Intifada." "Back in Tunis after the first Oslo meeting" "Abu Ala voiced his concern about the idea of "Gaza first"." "Abu Mazen said, "If any Palestinian land is offered" ""we should take it." "Why reject Gaza?"" "Then Arafat said, "I want Jericho as well"." "I asked him, "Why Jericho?" "He said, "To get a foothold in the West Bank." "Gaza is a dead end, but Jericho leads somewhere." "Jerusalem, the Israeli's capital had always been claimed by the Palestinians as their capital, too." "The PLO indicated that they now saw the wisdom of deferring their demand." "But Israel's Prime Minister" "Had not yet been told about the Oslo talks." "It's pointless talking to Arafat and the PLO." "The only Palestinians we deal with are the delegation in Washington." "The Foreign Ministry decided it was time to tell Rabin about the secret back channel." "Though skeptical, Rabin thought it could be useful." "The Palestinian delegation was still boycotting the Washington talks and he was determined to force them back to the negotiating table." "We had orders for the next session in March." "As we left Oslo, we told Abu Ala we wouldn't be coming back unless the Washington talk s were resumed." "It was an ultimatum." "Arafat now had to resuscitate the Washington negotiations." "He summoned Hanan Ashrawi and her colleagues to tell them they must go back." "He said, "We cannot afford to pay the price of walking out"." ""Don't live in your small worlds." ""You want to be the heroes." ""You are considering only yourselves." ""You don't consider the six million Palestinians." ""You don't consider the peace process." ""If you don't go, you break the peace process." ""You'll break your people." "Come on, get down to earth!"" "And he stood up and he left us." "He walked on us." "So we followed him to the other room." "He was so furious." "Abu Ala told me later" ""You really set the cat among the pigeons." "Arafat and I had to talk the whole Washington team round." "He said, "They were all against going back." ""We couldn't tell them why they had to." "We gave them lots of reasons, all completely fictitious." "We came back by clear-cut orders from Yasser Arafat: "Go!"" "Soon afterwards, Israel's Oslo team brought home a draft which the two sides called "A Declaration of Principles"." "They came back very excited and said, "We have a draft"." "It was obviously still rough, but they said" ""Look, the PLO are willing to play ball"." "But with the Washington talks resumed" "Rabin had no further use for the Oslo talks" "And ordered them suspended." "The Foreign Ministry, desperate to keep them going placed the Oslo declaration before a lawyer Rabin trusted." "I thought that the document was lousy and needed to be started from scratch." "I said to him, "Look, the real breakthrough in Oslo" ""is that the PLO have agreed to go one step at a time." "This means that we retain Israeli control"." "Yossi Beilin drove with his boss" "Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, to see Rabin." "I was squeezed between the two of them, and as we were driving" "Yossi Beilin whispered into my ear." "He said, "Well, I don't want to put you under too much pressure." ""But you should know" ""that the entire fate of the Oslo negotiations now is on your shoulders"." "And with this statement ringing in my ear we entered Rabin's office." "At the beginning, the drafts were very, very bad to Israel." "He was suspicious that the PLO was using the Oslo track in order to somehow trick Israel into concessions and then using what was said in Oslo against Israel in Washington." "I said, "Yitzhak, forget Washington"." "Maybe the PLO was trying to tell us that they were prepared to be more flexible than the official positions expressed in Washington." "I had my doubts, but I said, "Go ahead, try"." "Rabin asked the lawyer to join the talks in Oslo alongside a top government official appointed to show the PLO that Israel now meant business." "Joel arrives and starts to cross-examine Abu Ala." "I asked them, "There are the settlements" ""I mean, in the agreement you wrote" ""that you will have jurisdiction all over the West Bank." ""This is what is written here." ""Now, what about the settlements?" ""Do you intend to go into the settlements" ""to send your tax collectors into the settlement and collect taxes?"" "They said, "No, we wouldn't..." "We wouldn't do that"." "I said, "Do you intend to use Palestinian teachers" ""to teach the Israeli kids in the settlement schools under Palestinian curricula?" "They said, "No, no, no, no"." "So I said, "So you mean that the settlements will not be under your authority?" "They said, "Certainly not." "I said, "Okay, not the settlements." ""Now, as to Jerusalem will Israel continue to govern Jerusalem?"" "They said, "Yes"." "I said, "Okay, it was not clear in the document." "Joel said, "Let's say we leave your towns." "We will have to move our troops somewhere"." "He said, "Is it clear that only we can decide where they go and only we can define the security zones?"" "All those questions were really about their security." "Even when we discussed the transfer of powers it was always against the background of security" "How they would control security." "Everything was about security." "And Abu Ala says, "Yes, as long as you don't make the whole West Bank a security zone"." "And when they came out of that meeting, Abu Ala came up to me and said, "They turned the Declaration of Principles" ""completely upside down." ""This is absolutely crazy." "We cannot continue like this"." "But then also he smiled at the end of his outburst, and he said" ""but I learned a hell of a lot from those questions"." "At the next session, the lawyer handed back to the Palestinians the Declaration of Principles with all their verbal concessions spelled out in cold print." "I told Singer straight out:" ""You seem to have come with a mission." ""You are here to destroy the peace process." ""You're full of hostility to Palestinians." ""You're living in the past" ""You have a fear complex." ""You're still living in the ghetto." "You can't make the break and see the way forward"." "His eyes were shining with anger." "And I said, "Listen, everything that I added" ""I took from your answers to my questions." ""These are your words." "Look at your notes!"" "Next, the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Johan Holst accompanied by Terje Larsen, flew to Tunis to visit Arafat." "It was now Arafat's turn to raise the stakes." "He went into a side room" "And got out a map of Gaza, West Bank and Israel and started pointing at different borderlines that we were discussing and then at a certain point in time, he said" ""And I want kissing points"." "And I couldn't really..." "I thought, "What does he mean?"" "And I turned to Holst, and I saw that he was completely puzzled." "So Holst said then" ""You mean 'crossing points,' or 'checkpoints' maybe?"" ""No, no, no," said Arafat" ""I mean 'kissing points,' like.. "." "And what he really meant was there should be a kissing point between Gaza and the West Bank." "There had to be an interconnection by way of communication." "To my surprise, Arafat now came up with a tougher stance." "It did not reflect the current compromise." "He asked for a road from Gaza to the West Bank." "He revived old PLO demands which reopened issues we had already agreed to in Oslo." "The Palestinian-controlled road between Gaza and the West Bank that Arafat was asking for would cut Israel in two." "And now Arafat wanted not just Jericho but the surrounding district as well." "He also insisted that Jerusalem be put back on the agenda." "Arafat always thought that if he was getting something he might as well ask for more." "I told Arafat, at the end of the meeting" ""All right, I shall do as you ask." ""But I know these people." ""They won't accept it." ""If we proceed with this line the Israelis will end the talks"." "But Arafat insisted on his stand." "He said, "These are my instructions..." "They can take it or leave it"." "Back in Norway, the Palestinian-Israeli relationship was strained by the new demands." "Abu Ala, the chief PLO negotiator presented the new hard line." "The Israelis were stunned." "I said, "Gentlemen, you are pulling it all apart" ""all that you promised, all we negotiated." ""You know the ground rules we agreed to." ""But if we take your proposals back to Jerusalem" "We can kiss the peace talk good-bye"." "And I was about to put my things away." "Suddenly, Abu Ala asked us to remain seated at the table." "He wanted to make a personal announcement." "I informed them that I would be resigning." "I hoped my brothers in Tunis would continue with Oslo." "If they did, I wished my replacement every success." ""Good-bye, my friends." "I will always remember you"." "We all wondered whether this experienced negotiator was pulling some kind of trick... or whether he meant it." "Abu Ala walked out into the surrounding woods" "He'd hurt his foot so I got a stick for him with a silver handle." "So he was walking around with an air of superiority towards the Israelis refusing to talk to them." "And then he came over to me and said, "It's all over"." "This was the moment of crisis" "When you either pull the plug or do something drastic." "We decided to try something drastic." "The Israelis had prepared an alternative idea for just such a moment." "We said, "Listen, the fact" ""that we are talking with the PLO" ""will eventually leak out." ""I think that we should have another agreement" ""In which the PLO undertakes to do a number of things" ""and in return, Israel recognizes the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people." "Singer's point was that if you negotiate with the PLO you're virtually recognizing them." "Recognition was the key." "It would put the PLO on the map." "Now in Oslo the moment to raise the issue of recognition had come." "The Israeli found Abu Ala in a small drawing room." "Abu Ala was leaning on a stick, like this." "He raised his eyes to me and I asked him, "How are you?"" "And he said "Very bad..." "Very bad"." "I wasn't acting, I was genuinely angry." "If you've been negotiating for six or seven months and people suddenly start coming up with new ideas it's impossible to go on." "I said, "Listen, Abu Ala, if we can't have our modest agreement let's go for something really big"." "He looked up and said, "What do you mean?"" "Uri raised the idea of mutual recognition between the PLO and the Israeli government." "He dictated some conditions." "The main points were that the PLO would recognize Israel's right to exist." "Renounce terrorism and violence, and change the PLO Charter to reflect the new reality." "I said, "Listen." ""if you persuade Mr. Arafat to accept all these conditions" ""I promise I'll try to persuade our Prime Minister" ""and our Foreign Minister to recognize the PLO "" "And then these two gentlemen, Uri Savir and Abu Ala came suddenly bursting out of the room, laughing and joking and they had solved the basic problem." "It was the breakthrough they were looking for." "It seemed the PLO Would now become an official partner in the peace process." "Who knows?" "If they will elect me" "I'll be the President again of this Palestinian state." "If not, I'll..." "I would like to return back to work as a civil engineer." "It was now up to Prime Minister Rabin to decide whether to accept the Oslo agreement." "His chief military adviser argued instead for a deal with Syria." "I advised him to try for peace with Syria first and then go to the Palestinians." "Peace with Syria would bring the Arab Israeli conflict to an end." "If Syria could be persuaded to sign a peace treaty its client state Lebanon would follow and the Palestinians and Jordan would have little choice but to fall in line." "It was in the interest of both us and the Syrians and it would reduce the Palestinians' scope for haggling." "An agreement with Syria will make a positive strategic difference to Israel." "An agreement with the Palestinians would just be public relations." "Since the Six Day War in 1967" "Israel had occupied a strategic corner of Syria:" "the Golan Heights, overlooking northern Israel." "Successive Israeli leaders had refused to withdraw without peace." "We knew that Syria would not make a deal with Israel would not make peace with Israel for less than full withdrawal." "And, of course,?" "For any Israeli Prime Minister" "For Rabin in particular - to make the decision to go for full withdrawal was agonizing, was wrenching." "But before making the decision that Prime Minister had to know what was being given in return." "What the Syrian package consisted of." "At this moment a new American Secretary of State came to Jerusalem" "We were trying to give some propulsion, some momentum to the track involving the Syrians." "Christopher came to meet with Rabin." "The four of us came into the room and sat clustered around..." "around a small table." "And after some give and take Rabin suddenly surprised us all with... with a very dramatic gambit." "He did give me a very important message to take to Syria to take to president Assad and that was he said, "Ask Assad, if I am able to give him what he needs" "Will he really go all out for peace?"" "In other words, if Rabin withdrew from the Golan Heights" "Would president Assad accept alternative ways to safeguard Israel's border." "Would Syria agree to full peace." "Stop support of terrorism from Lebanon and establish diplomatic and trade relations with Israel?" "Christopher left the room with the knowledge that he was holding a very significant mandate in his pocket." "When he arrived in Damascus" "Christopher presented Israel's offer of withdrawal to president Assad." "His mistrust of the Israelis was such that he always took every concept and turned it over and looked at it from all different sides and that's what he was doing with the concept of withdrawal." "And he did it by asking me questions not impolite questions, but very aggressive questions." ""Now, you have to tell me, Mr. Christopher" ""What the Prime Minister means by withdrawal." ""That's just an empty term." "I really don't know what it means"." "Christopher then shuttled back to Jerusalem." "I met with the Prime Minister again." "He was disappointed that Assad had not been more forthcoming." "Had not shown more appreciation for Rabin's willingness to consider full withdrawal." "On almost every detail there was an essentially negative answer or an answer that suggested that a very protracted process of bargaining would have to... to begin." "Rabin could not wait for president Assad." "He had promised his voters a peace agreement within a year." "So he now settled for the deal that was available- with the PLO in Oslo." "But premature disclosure could ditch the deal and the media were getting close to the story." "Is the stage being set for a meeting between yourself and the PLO leadership perhaps even with Arafat himself?" "Not in the foreseeable future." "Before the next election at least?" "I hope not." "Rabin had to act fast." "He gave the go-ahead to Foreign Minister Shimon Peres." "Shimon Peres told me" ""Joel, take all your documents, come with me." "We are going to conclude the agreement"." "Peres set off for Scandinavia." "To clinch the deal, he needed a smokescreen." "He met Norwegian foreign minister Johan Holst secretly in Stockholm, and asked him to be his mouthpiece in case anyone was listening in as they telephoned Arafat in Tunis." "I called Arafat and I got him immediately on the line." "And I told him that, in the code we used at the time" ""Abu Ammar", which is Arafat's nom de guerre" ""I have the two fathers here"" "That was the code for foreign ministers" ""my father and the other father"." "And he immediately understood what I meant." "And I said, "and they want to finish everything tonight"." "We went through the last disputed points one by one" "The phone's loudspeaker was turned on so all of us could here Holst on the other end." "I was listening in for perhaps four or five hours." "At around midnight" "Shimon Peres went to sleep" "And he told me, "If you need my approval if you want to go beyond the general instructions that we have agreed on with Rabin back at home, wake me up"." "At issue were the withdrawal of Israel's military government and how and when they would deal with difficult issues like Jerusalem." "Twice I had to wake Shimon Peres up." "The second and last time he woke Peres up was over the issue of who would control the bridges between the West Bank and Jordan." "We wanted to be able to control people entering and exiting from the autonomous areas to see that they are not you know, concealing weapons and the like." "We wanted the crossing points to be under our control." "I said to Holst" ""Tell him we will not retreat from our positions." ""Tell them if we don't settle it tonight" "It might never get settled"." "We agreed that the crossing points be jointly controlled." "It was 5:00 in the morning after seven hours on the telephone they finally had an agreement." "I think the phone bill was paid by the Swedish government." "We still owe them the money." "President Clinton agreed to host a signing ceremony." "Then with everyone gathering in Washington and on their way to the White House" "Yasser Arafat noticed something missing from the document:" "The name "PLO"." "He said, "I cannot sign this document." ""I'm the chairman of the PLO" ""Not the Head of the Palestinian delegation" ""and Israel has recognized the PLO" ""so what are the Israelis up to?" "Sort it out"." "Ahmed Tibi rang me." "He said, "There's a small matter to be sorted out." "If it isn't sorted out the ceremony is off and the Chairman is going home"." "I saw Arafat ordering the plane to be, to be ready to leave Washington if they don't accept the PLO." "I said, "Listen, all the documents are printed and ready." "It's just an hour before the signing"." "Less than half an hour before the signing ceremony" "Peres called Arafat's representative to his hotel." "He suggested that the phrase "The PLO team"" "Be added to the document." "I said, "I'll ring Arafat." "I said to Arafat, "Peres says, 'how about the PLO team?" "'"" "Arafat said, "In all of the text?"" "I said, "In all the text"." "He said, "Okay, two kisses, one for you and one for Peres"." "Ladies and gentlemen:" "Mr. Arafat, Chairman of the executive council of the Palestine Liberation Organization;" "His Excellency Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister of Israel;" "The President of the United States." "The moment I saw Arafat walking out from the White House with Rabin next to him and Clinton and so on..." "Imagine this White House that said bye-bye to the PLO, that branded Arafat as a terrorist." "Rabin, the Chief of Staff who occupied the West Bank and Jerusalem and..." "It was electrifying." "Rabin didn't want to look at Arafat." "It was terrible." "The whole world is watching his body language and he keeps moving his head not to look at Arafat." "And I did not think that they will shake hands." "He hesitated a little bit but I insisted and I continued stretching my hand to him." "And then the way president Clinton pulled it..." "It was evident that it wasn't planned." "Arafat just wouldn't let go of his hand." "He's a great expert at such things." "It was a..." "A moment that we recall as long as we live, I think." "After he finished shaking his hands, Rabin turned to me." "He whispered, "Now it's your turn"." "He went through this hell, now it was my turn." "But the agreement did not bring peace." "In the occupied territories a large number of Palestinians vowed to continue the fight." "In Israel, too, the opposition was fierce." "We think that this endangers Israel and what I would do as Prime Minister is to do anything responsible, within the rule of law to stop and nullify the dangers that emanate from this agreement with the PLO to Israel's security." "What Arafat led now was not quite a state but for the first time in history the Palestinians had a government at they own." "Among the Arab countries now Jordan would join Egypt in making a deal with the Israelis." "King Hussein was at last able to sign the peace treaty he had wanted." "What we have accomplished and what we are committed to is the end of the state of war between Jordan and Israel." "But between Syria and Israel, the state of war continued." "In an effort to broaden the Middle East peace," "President Clinton came to Damascus." "President Clinton told president Assad that, well, Rabin presented to you full withdrawal to the line of 4 June and we expect from you to now to move the next step." "Clinton pressed Assad to send his top military commander to meet his Israeli counterpart and work out the practicalities of ending their state of war." "It was big decision for Syria to send our Chief of Staff for the first time in history to meet the Israeli Chief of Staff." "It's a very heavy and big decision." "Assad held back." "First, he wanted his ambassador to Washington to meet the Israeli Chief of Staff." "We wore wigs so that we wouldn't be recognized on the El Al flight." "We arrived at the meeting place in Washington." "Only then could we breathe freely take off our wigs." "I took a last look at myself in the mirror." "Whenever I wear a wig, I look like my mother." "The Israeli commander began the meeting by speaking of a military withdrawal without specifying the precise frontier." "I insisted that withdrawal has to be to the line of 4 June 1967." "I repeat this word more than 20 times during the talk with Barak." "Like a parrot, he repeated their demand to withdraw to the June fourth border." "The Israeli wanted a more informal exchange." "During breaks we walked in the garden." "There, we were off the record." "And we spoke frankly whether they are committed to settlement with Syria or not." "Whether they understand what it requires." "On the patio, there were these arched doorways." "I compared peace between us to the keystone of the arch." "At the end, you feel that he wants to make it." "He wants to find a solution, he wants to give his blessing." "This encouraging start led Assad to send his Chief of Staff to join the talks." "They discussed military safeguards." "For example, the future of Israel's early warning station in the Golan." "Talks progressed in fits and starts." "On the night Syria and Israel agreed to begin a new round of talks the Israeli peacemakers held a rally in Tel Aviv." "We sang, the three of us" "The singer Miri Aloni, Yitzhak and myself." "Yitzhak and I are not such great singers." "He had the words of the peace song on a sheet of paper." "After we sang, out of tune" "Yitzhak folded it and put it in the pocket of his jacket." "On the way to his car he was shot dead by an Israeli extremist." "Three bullets went through his heart and through the song." "The government of Israel, with shock and sorrow announces the death of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin who was murdered by an assassin tonight in Tel Aviv." "Why?" "Why have they done this?" "I am very sad and very shocked for this awful and terrible crime against one of the brave leaders of Israel and the peacemakers." "We went to the room where he was lying on the bed." "His body was covered with a sheet up to here." "On his face was an expression of peace, and maybe irony." "It was his typical Rabin smile." "I kissed his forehead and said good-bye." "Peres now became Prime Minister." "President Clinton was determined to see that Rabin's commitment to seeking peace with Syria didn't die with him." "The Americans still wanted Israel to keep Rabin's promise" "To withdraw from the Golan Heights." "Rabin had held the Syrian track rather closely to himself so when he was assassinated all of a sudden it became very important to pass on to now Prime Minister Peres what had happened, been happening." "President Clinton said, "Here are the promises Yitzhak gave"." "He asked if these promises committed me." "I said, "Whatever Yitzhak was committed to" "I am committed to"." "Peres asked the Americans to arrange a summit with president Assad so that Peres could repeat his Oslo triumph and bring the negotiations with Syria to a quick conclusion." "I told him to ask Assad" ""Do you want to fly high and fast or low and slow?"" "We are ready to fly high and fast in one condition" "To know when we land and where we land." "President Assad, in my judgment, missed a historic opportunity because he wasn't prepared to take a greater risk for peace." "Peres had set a date for the next general election." "But then, four days later, Palestinian terrorist attacks changed Israel's political landscape." "It was a ferocious blast." "The suicide bomber detonated ten kilos of explosives in the middle of a crowded commuter bus." "24 Israelis were killed." "A week later a Palestinian terrorist planted another bomb on a bus." "This time, 19 died." "The promises of peace and reconciliation seemed hollow." "As new elections approached" "Many voters cared more about security than peace." "These terrorist attacks lost us 20% in the polls." "It was catastrophic." "I knew another bomb would end the whole thing." "The terrorists struck again." "In Tel Aviv's busiest shopping street 14 died and over a hundred were injured." "Together, the Israeli electorate and Palestinian extremists had brought fourth a new, more mistrustful Israeli leader." "The major decision took place before the elections when I said that I would honor the Oslo accords even though I thought they were..." "They contained many flaws." "Nevertheless, Netanyahu agreed to partial Palestinian control of Hebron but for 18 months afterwards the peace process was paralyzed." "In October 1998, under considerable American pressure" "Israelis and Palestinians met in a hotel outside Washington." "On the table was a proposal for an Israeli withdrawal from additional territory on the West Bank in return for new security guarantees and the annulment of all clauses in the Palestinian Charter calling for the destruction of Israel." "One peacemaker was general Ariel Sharon whose fierce reputation as a warrior helped provide credibility to the process." "Nine days of diplomatic urging, cajoling, intervening and arm-twisting by president Clinton finally produced results." "This agreement is good for Israel's security." "The commitments made by the Palestinians were very strong." "As strong as any we have ever seen." "We are more secure today because for the first time since the signing of the Oslo accords we will see concrete and verifiable commitments carried out." "This agreement is good for the political and economic well-being of Palestinians it significantly expands areas under Palestinian authority to some 40% of the West Bank." "We will never go back." "We will never leave the peace process and we will never go back to violence and confrontation" "No return to confrontation and violence." "To support the agreement" "King Hussein left his hospital bed where he was being treated for cancer." "He went right to the heart of the matter." "We quarrel, we agree." "We are friendly, we are not friendly." "But we have no right to dictate through irresponsible action or narrow-mindedness the future of our children and their children's children." "There has been enough destruction." "Enough death, enough waste." "And it's time that together, we occupy a place beyond ourselves, our peoples" "That is worthy of them under the sun" "The descendants of the children of Abraham." "After 50 years of war and suffering a halting, tentative partition of Palestine was underway." "Funding for the 50 years war:" "Israel and the Arabs" "Was provided by:" "And PBS viewers like you." "This is history's best on PBS."