Middle East Peace Summit: Officials Say Talks Relaxed and Informal
WOODRUFF: President Clinton is meeting for a second day with the leaders of Israel and the Palestinians in talks that could decide the future of peace in the Middle East. CNN senior White House correspondent John King has the latest -- John.</s>JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Judy, those meetings under way at the secluded Camp David presidential retreat. Day one was about atmospherics, a senior administration official telling CNN, saying the talks were going along informally. But this official saying they have not really embraced the substantive issues yet, obviously, the major divides between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Mr. Clinton was briefed by his immediate Mideast peace team this morning. He is meeting individually with the prime minister of Israel, Ehud Barak, then the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. As of this hour, no three-way negotiating sessions planned, although U.S. officials say they may try to arrange one of those for later in the day. A short time ago, the president's spokesman, Joe Lockhart, telling reporters up near Camp David that the atmosphere is informal, folks are getting along, using golf carts to travel around the camp, but he said the issues, still very difficult.</s>JOE LOCKHART, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: To the extent that we went into this knowing it would be a struggle, we have not been disappointed by that. This is a very difficult process in a short time frame with a very difficult issues, and there they are working in a very serious way. But we certainly know that this effort from the beginning will be a struggle.</s>KING: In a somewhat related development, the Israeli government informing the United States today it is canceling plans to sell an airborne radar system to China. That had been an irritant in U.S. relations and had brought threats from Congress that it would halt or at least freeze U.S. assistance to Israel -- Judy.</s>WOODRUFF: All right, John King at the White House.