Middle East Peace Summit: Clinton Pushing Hard For Agreement Before Japan Trip; Barak Facing Divided Nation on Return to Israel
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: After a week of bargaining in the Maryland mountains, the coming hours may be telling for the Camp David peace talks. President Clinton is set to leave the negotiations in about 36 hours for an overseas trip, and he's pushing hard for an agreement before he boards Air Force One. CNN's Kelly Wallace begins our coverage.</s>KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The latest photos released from the White House show a solemn-looking Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak talking with President Clinton Sunday night, and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright walking hand- in-hand with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, the only word from the leaders coming from Mr.Clinton himself. In an interview with the "New York Daily News," he says, quote, "There's been some progress, but I can't say I know we'll succeed...It's really hard. It's the hardest thing I've ever seen." Harder, Mr. Clinton says, than trying to resolve differences in Northern Ireland and the Balkans. Both Palestinian and Israeli sources agree with the president's assessment. Israelis say the gaps on the key issues remain wide. Avrum Burg, speaker of the Knesset, spoke with Prime Minister Barak Monday.</s>AVRUM BURG, KNESSET SPEAKER: It is very, very difficult. We are not yet touching the hard core of the issues, the symbolic items of the -- with the potential crisis elements there. And the prime minister is not yet optimistic.</s>WALLACE: Palestinians say there's been some progress on issues. Jerusalem remains one of the toughest to resolve. Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future Palestinian state.</s>IYAD SARRAJ, PALESTINIAN COMMISSION FOR CITIZENS' RIGHTS: Simply no, no Palestinian leader can go back to the Palestinians, to the Arabs and Muslims, and say that, I come back to you without Jerusalem. It's impossible.</s>WALLACE: Another issue: the fate of Jewish settlements. These Jewish settlers traveled from the West Bank to rally near the Camp David talks.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We came here to basically give our prime minister a message that we don't like the business that he's been doing here, deciding to give our homes away.</s>WALLACE: The White House is working against its own deadline trying to get an agreement before Mr. Clinton departs Wednesday for Japan to attend a summit of the most industrialized nations.</s>JOE LOCKHART, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The plan is to complete this process before the president goes.</s>WALLACE: But if there is no agreement in the next two days and the president doesn't change his schedule, he will have to make some decisions: whether to leave the leaders and their negotiating teams behind at Camp David or schedule another round of talks. Kelly Wallace, CNN, reporting live from near Camp David, Maryland.</s>PHILLIPS: The peace summit is taking place in a serene mountain setting, but half a world away it's helping generate new political convulsions. Here's CNN's Jerusalem bureau chief Mike Hanna.</s>MIKE HANNA, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Demonstrators in Gaza making their position clear, calling for the release from Israeli custody of Palestinians they regard as political prisoners. This just one of the many issues being discussed by the negotiators at Camp David. Evident in this demonstration, support for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. But his negotiating partner, Prime Minister Ehud Barak, faced strong opposition in an Israeli protest Sunday night. The organizers of the protest against the Camp David talks say it was the largest demonstration ever held in Israel. There was more opposition to Mr. Barak in the country's Knesset or parliament Monday, where a no-confidence motion was introduced by one member. Many parliamentarians objected to a no-confidence debate taking place while the prime minister was out of the country, and only six people in the 120-seat Knesset voted. However, said some members, the question of no-confidence would again be raised when Mr. Barak returned.</s>YURI EDELSTEIN, ISRAEL B'ALYAH PARTY: The prime minister, in order to strike a deal, needs a strong parliamentarian support. It was possible to organize it. Now I think it's too late. And once he comes back, he'll face a no-confidence vote here.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Knesset say it clearly: We don't agree with you.</s>HANNA: The speaker of the Knesset says Israel is now in the eye of the storm.</s>BURG: We are waiting to see what will come out of Camp David. If there will be an agreement, it's a different political setup in Israel. If there won't be an agreement, it's, again, a different political setup in Israel, and everybody now is waiting.</s>HANNA: And while waiting, many Israelis have taken a position in support of or in opposition to the government of Ehud Barak. (on camera): Regardless of the outcome at Camp David, the prime minister will return to an Israel that is as if not more divided than when he left. Mike Hanna, CNN, Jerusalem.