Ministry of education of azerbaijan republic sumgayit state university

CAMP DAVID SUMMIT (2000) AND ITS FAILURE

 
Mirzazade A.K. 
Baku Slavic University 
E-mail:
 
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After successful Camp David negotiations with the United States mediation, held in Camp David, 
Maryland, and concluded with signed agreements between Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime 
minister Menachem Begin on 17 September 1978, once again the United States intended to take over its 
mediator role and achieve an agreement this time between Israel and Palestine.The United States president 
Bill Clinton announced his invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Chairman of Palestinian 
Liberation Organization Yasser Arafat on 5 July 2000 to come to Camp David to maintain the Middle East 
peace process and end the long-lasted conflict between the parties. As a chairman of PLO, Yasser Arafat was 
trying to postpone the date of the summit to at least August to allow both parties to hold pre-summit 
negotiations and get prepared. But U.S. president Bill Clinton and Israeli PM Ehud Barak hastened to hold 
the date of the summit, and president Clinton promised that there would not be any blames if things did not 
go well. The parties agreed on the date of the summit at last. The summit started on 11 July 2000 and 
continued till 25 July 2000.The entire two-week negotiation process was mostly oral. There were no written 
official documents, records but only a negotiation text. The list of main issues that were meant to be agreed 
on is stated below: 1. Border and security matters; 2. Status of Jerusalem; 3. Refugees . 
The Palestinian side demanded full sovereignty over the entire West Bank and the Gaza Strip and the 
return of Israel to the June 4, 1967 borders, as previously indicated in UN SC resolution 242. Instead of these 
demands, the Israeli delegation refused to accept this interpretation of resolution 242 and considered full 
retreating from these areas as a threat to Israel. In response, PM Ehud Barak made his proposal to the 
Palestinian side, which consisted of a 9 % annexation of the West Bank in exchange for 1% territory in the 
Gaza Strip and part of the Jordan valley. Besides, the prime minister demanded full control of Israel over 
Palestinian airspace, deployment of Israeli soldiers in case of an emergency, and demilitarization of 
Palestinians along borders to ensure the state security of Israel. None of these requests were accepted by the 
Palestinian delegation. 

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