America's Ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk, gives his inside view of this round of Middle East peace talks between Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Chairman Arafat of Palestine. Ambassador Indyk explains why this dialogue has been crucial to stopping the region from spiralling into greater violence. This follows excerpts from press conferences given by President Clinton and Prime Minister Netanyahu.
 A RealAudio version of this NewsHour segment is available.
Oct. 1, 1996
Elizabeth Farnsworth moderates a panel discussion with Middle East watchers about Tuesday's meeting between Isreali Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestininian President Arafat.
Sept. 30, 1996
Jim Lehrer talks to a Palestinian-American professor, an Israeli journalist and an Americandiplomat about the prospects for peace.
Sept. 27, 1996
The unrest in Israel is the topic of discussion of former Sec. of State James Baker and former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski.
July 30, 1996
President Mubarak of Egypt discusses his first meeting with Israel's President Netanyahu
May 30, 1996
Netanyahu's victory in the Israeli elections.
May 28, 1996
Charles Krause looks at the political forces that shape how Israeli's vote.
April 16, 1996
After a week of shuttling between Israel and Syria, U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher announced a comprehensive ceasefire to end the hostilities in southern Lebanon.
March 4, 1996
Elizabeth Farnsworth discusses the unraveling peace in the Middle-East with two former U.S. ambassadors to Israel.
November 6, 1995
Israeli political experts look at the political and cultural atmosphere that produced bothYitzhak Rabin and his assassin.
November 6, 1995
After the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin, Charlayne Hunter-Gault hears four views on the future of the Middle East peace process.
October 24, 1995
A Newsmaker interview with Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the PLO.
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JIM LEHRER: The Middle East summit is first tonight. The two days of talks came to an end at the White House this afternoon. President Clinton spoke for all the leaders about what was achieved and what remains to be done. Here's an extended excerpt.
PRESIDENT CLINTON: I'd like to begin by thanking King Hussein, Prime Minister Netanyahu, and Chairman Arafat for coming here to Washington at this critical and very difficult moment for the Middle East peace process. I invited them here with three urgent goals in mind: first to seek to curb the terrible violence and death that we saw last week, second to get the Israelis and Palestinians talking again at the highest levels, and third to help both parties return to the hard work of building peace through negotiations.
Today I can report progress on these goals, first the Israelis and Palestinians clearly are talking again at the highest levels. I believe the calm, constructive, face-to-face meetings Prime Minister Netanyahu and Chairman Arafat have had here will help to build trust between them and promote progress on the issues that still divide them. The Prime Minister and the chairman agree that they are partners in peace, understand that it is vital to take each other--take into account each other's needs and concerns, and realize the importance of removing the frictions between them. 
Second, the Prime Minister and Chairman re-committed themselves to a nonviolent future, to renouncing violence in the resolution of their disputes. Third, they are ready to renew and intensify negotiations on implementing the interim agreement with Hebron as the first priority. They are committed to engaging immediately in talks and to achieving tangible progress quickly.
To assist them in this effort, I am sending Dennis Ross, our special Middle East coordinator, to the region now. The very first meeting will take place on Sunday morning at Ares. They want to resolve the problem of Israeli's deployment from Hebron, and they want to achieve this as soon as possible. I might point out that these talks will be occurring continuously, and these will be the first continuous peace talks that have been held since the Prime Minister assumed office with the Palestinians.
Finally, the leaders also understand they need to make arrangements between their security forces so that cooperation is more reliable and the situation on the ground is stabilized. They are prepared to do what is needed to achieve that as well. Every step is hard. It requires both sides to make difficult decisions, and to keep their eyes fixed on the prize of lasting peace. But the progress they have made has proved to the world that progress is possible and peace is possible. Both sides know there is no turning back, just as there can be no peace without security, there can be no true security without peace.
REPORTER: Mr. President, after these marathon negotiations--we're told they went nonstop through the night--was there any narrowing of differences on the fundamental disputes--you mentioned Hebron, as well as the tunnel in East Jerusalem--or are the problems that exploded last week in violence still festering?
PRESIDENT CLINTON: I would say that the problems that exploded last week in violence--if the problems are still there, the differences are still there. But I believe there is a higher level of understanding and a higher level of trust that existed before these talks began. The agreement that was made here to immediately restart these negotiations and to do them on a full-time basis until agreement is reached on the critical issues, including Hebron, is encouraging to me, and I think that it comes out of the different feeling that they have about dealing with one another, and I hope it does, and also a sense of urgency, given what has happened in the region in the last several days. Yes, sir.
REPORTER: Mr. President, is there a target date for ending the negotiations on the question of Hebron, and also on other outstanding questions between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, or is it negotiations without a target date?
PRESIDENT CLINTON: There was no specific date set, but I think it's important to point out that what they did agree to do was to start immediately on a full-time basis with a priority on speed and a priority on Hebron.
REPORTER: Mr. President, you said one of your goals was to end the cycle of violence in the Middle East, but today, Israeli troops shot to death one Palestinian and wounded five others, and the negotiations that will take place are on issues that were supposedly settled a year ago here in Washington. Have you even--you spoke about progress--but would you say you're back at square one?
PRESIDENT CLINTON: Well, I wouldn't say that. There's been a clear commitment not to renegotiate agreements by which both sides are bound, but instead to talk about the implementation steps necessary to implement those agreements, uh, and I think that there is a clear distinction there for a second--the level of violence at least, thank God, has declined in the last several days, and they are committed to take it down as close to zero as they can. I believe you will see progress on that, as they go back home. I believe that we--when we compare where we are today with where we were a week ago, are we in better shape, yes, are we where I'd like to be, no, but we will get there, I think, if we keep working. Yes.
REPORTER: Mr. President, as Gene mentioned earlier, some of these things have been agreed upon before, and I'm wondering whether you think it is fair to say not that the process has broken down but that there has been a major setback here from which you have not yet at least fully recovered?
PRESIDENT CLINTON: Well, what I think has happened is that we have not made as much progress as I wish we had. But the Israeli government has made it very clear that they have no intention of renegotiating the Oslo agreements, the interim agreements; everything that the government is bound by, by previous action, they intend to honor. But we are now in a stage which we would have been in any way, talking about how to implement this. The question is: Can we get the negotiations on a track so that they can be implemented in a hurry? That is the issue. Yes.
REPORTER: You mentioned--your statement about the issue with Jerusalem and the tunnel and that started the whole situation. Has there been any talk or any agreement that Israel will not do anything to change the status of Jerusalem before the final state of negotiations start? Thank you.
PRESIDENT CLINTON: Well, there might be a--let me say first of all the tunnel was discussed at some length by the parties and all the aspects of it, all the various elements of a controversy were discussed. No agreement was reached between them about that issue, and that's why it is not in my statement.
REPORTER: When we see the three leaders sitting here behind you, you say you want to urge everyone in the Middle East to be reassured to calm down, to take this process seriously, but this news conference is being seen in the Middle East, all over the world, and when we don't hear your guests describe their feelings, we can only assume that they so disagree on these fundamental issues that this--these two days of negotiations have been a failure.
PRESIDENT CLINTON: Well, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll tell you what I'll do. I'm telling you, the only reason that they asked me to do this is because you've asked me some very interesting, difficult questions, some of which would be even more difficult for them to answer than for me, so they wanted me to answer it so we wouldn't, any of us, say anything that would wreck what we're trying to do Sunday morning, but if they would like to come up--and since I've answered my last question--if any of them would like to come up and make a brief statement or all of them would, I would be happy to have them make a brief statement. Anybody want to go? Now, this is a miracle. (laughter in room) I am not--I didn't part the waters, but I silenced the voices. Thank you very much. Thank you.
JIM LEHRER: After leaving the White House, Netanyahu held a news conference at a Washington hotel.
PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, Israel: I cannot say--no one can say what would have happened in these two days had Mr. Arafat and myself, had we not come here to Washington. And I think that we can say that very, very bad things didn't happen while we were here, seeking to create a new start. And I think we've had a good start because we established a greater degree of mutual trust. I think this was a first step to break down certain barriers that were there, of lack of confidence in one another.
I cannot say that we now know each other fully well and so on, but we did spend several hours together discussing all the issues openly and in a very cordial environment, and I think this will facilitate trust. I think we accomplished a significant improvement in that area. I say that when you have trust, all sorts of things that are problematic can be solved, and when you don't have trust, everything becomes a problem.
We've accomplished quite a few things, and I think the most important one is to cement the principle that the path to peace is through negotiations and not through violence, i.e., that the principle that we must cease any forms of violence and that if anyone has a grievance, he brings it to the negotiating table and nowhere else. I think that is a central principle by which we can guide peace. I want to assure you about our commitment to peace. This is our compass. It's our map. It's our hope for our children and for the children of the Palestinians as well. We know that such a peace is inextricably bound with security, and that peace can progress as long as security holds. Last week, we had a breakdown in security and the peace collapsed. And what we need and have committed to do is to rebuild the foundations of security, the old ones that were there, that need refurbishing, but also new ones because we recognize that a new situation now exists, something has happened, and we need additional security arrangements to address the new, new situation that exists, and I think everyone recognizes that, and President Clinton alluded to that.
We are also in the pursuit of peace. We've made it very clear that we are committed to the redeployment in Hebron. We said it continuously. We said it again. We're not reluctant to do it. We're prepared to do it, but in such a way as to avoid a breakdown that would collapse the peace process, not only in Hebron but altogether. And this too will require intensive negotiations. This is perhaps the most important practical thing that we have decided, to begin as early as possible on Sunday simultaneous negotiations on Hebron and on security and to continue those negotiations until completion. I'm absolutely committed to it.
And I've decided that Chairman Arafat, that we will have our senior people engaged in it. If there's a problem, they should be able to address it, and if they can't, then we will sit down together and finish it. I think that these two days will give us that beginning, that new beginning that I hope will achieve progress. I don't have any illusions whatsoever about the difficulties ahead. It's a very tense period, fraught with dangers right now, until we restore peace to its peaceful track, and until we, we convince each other that these new sentiments of confidence have the back-up in deed and action on both sides, but in my heart, I know that the children of Israel are safer tonight because of these consultations that we have here, and I want to thank again President Clinton for his very good offices.
JIM LEHRER: Arafat did not have a news conference.
