World

Fears Of New Middle East Violence

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

July 15, 2000 / 4:11 PM EDT / CBS

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat have returned to the volatile Mideast region with the dark cloud of a failed peace summit hanging over their heads and with a much-disputed deadline for the declaration of a Palestinian state drawing near.

The collapse of the Camp David summit leaves Israel and the Palestinians facing a round of tough new decisions about when—or whether—to return to the bargaining table.

The failure of those talks has also raised fears of a new round of violence, reports CBS News Correspondent David Hawkins..

On the West Bank and in Gaza, demonstrators praised Arafat's refusal to give up Palestinian claims on Jerusalem and called for a new "intifada" or uprising against Israel.

"Intifada will be back again," predicted Abdul Rosul, a Palestinian demonstrator. "They are getting sick from the promises from the Israel leaders."

At Palestinian summer camps, teenagers train for war. The leader of the militant group Hamas says the collapse of the peace talks gives them no other choice but armed struggle.

Jewish settlers, who for the most part oppose Barak's peace efforts, have stockpiled weapons to defend their homes. Israeli troops are on alert, issued orders to try and keep any clashes from getting out of hand.

"If the Palestinian authority would act in the same way there's a good chance to prevent another circle of violence," said Ephraim Sneh, the deputy Israeli Defense Minister.

Promises, But No Peace

In a trilateral statement released after the collapse of the Camp David talks, the U.S., Israel and the Palestinians agree to the need for more talks and lay groundwork for future negotiations.

Click here to read it.

Right-wing Israeli hard liners showed satisfaction after having feared Barak would make too many concessions to the Palestinians.

"You cannot make peace if you divide your own people, and this is what he has done," said Ron Braiman, a representative for Professors for Strong Israel.

While wavering between disappointment and optimism, Israel's doves rallied behind their prime minister even though he wasn't coming home from Camp David with a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

More details of Israel's reported offer to the Palestinians at Camp David emerged while Barak as traveling home. Israel army radio, quoting a senior official on his plane, reported that Barak had offered the Palestinians a capital in east Jerusalem, to be called Al-Quds, the Arabic name for the city, which would include some Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem and other neighborhoods now outside the city.

"I'm afraid it will be very disappointing for the Palestinians in the future if they think that through other means they can achieve more," Israel's Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh told CBS News Wednesday. "Barak went to the maximum that he can go as far at the support of the Israeli people are concerned."

Barak also offered free passage for Arafat to the Temple Mount, one of Islam's holiest sites, and religious freedom there. The word "sovereignty" was avoided, the report said.

Meanwhile, President Clinton plans to give both sides time for reflection, then perhaps send U.S. envoy Dennis Ross back to the Middle East to resume the mediation effort.

The Home Front

In the Middle East, reaction to the end of the summit ranged from grief to glee.

Click here to learn how Hamas fundamentalists, Israel's right wing and the people of Jerusalem reacted.

Despite the 15 days of tense and difficult negotiations, the marathon talks - designed to end a half-century of conflict - collapsed over the hardest issue of sharing sovereignty of Jerusalem.

"They couldn't get there. That's the truth, they couldn't get there," Mr. Clinton said Tuesday morning after the collapse of the talks.

Although disappointed, the president insisted that both sides had made significant progress on significant issues and both leaders vowed to continue hammering out a negotiated settlement that would bridge the gaps that still remain.

"I think they will be bridged because I think the alternative is unthinkable," the president said.

Though there was progress on many issues, one U.S. official told CBS News White House Correspondent Bill Plante that "Jerusalem was the nut we were unable to crack."

The two sides have set a deadline of Sept. 13 to reach an accord.

"In Camp David we laid the foundation to make a deal and today we are much closer to making a deal than any time before," senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Wednesday on The Early Show"I'm not saying we succeeded in reaching an agreement, but we did not fail."

Palestinian sources said there might be an attempt by the parties to regroup sometime in August. However, Barak said he can't say whether there will be another summit before September.