A remarkable development over the past year has been that Arafat has been a more welcome person in the White House than the prime minister of Israel, ... This is a key change of historic proportions given the relationship of America and Israel -- and America and the PLO over the last century. |
It's almost as if we know that there will be a war that will convene on a certain date, and [the United States] and other parties are doing much too little to prevent it. |
This is a supremely difficult diplomatic task. It is negotiating with multiple parties, dealing with the Israeli public that is reluctant to make concessions on either track and certainly is reluctant to make simultaneously large concessions on all tracks. |
This is the meeting in which the relationship between the two will be defined, in which any understandings that they will reach on the future of their joint efforts in the peace process will be determined. |