News Blackout on Day 2 of Mideast Summit

T H U R M O N T, Md., July 12, 2000 -- Mideast leaders meeting at a historic summit at Camp David have put on the table all the “core issues” of a final status agreement during “a busy day” of negotiations, the White House said today.

That means Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat are discussing the future of Jerusalem as a capital city — an emotionally charged subject that peacemakers had avoided raising until now.

“It’s been a busy day,” White House spokesman Joe Lockhart told reporters late this afternoon. “There has been real engagement among the parties.”

Lockhart gave these glimpses into the summit at two press conferences today — but he didn’t reveal much more.

Mindful of news leaks that have plagued Mideast summits in the past, the White House has stressed that no information would be forthcoming about the substance of the talks.

Earlier, Lockhart told journalists he had “no intention over the next few days to provide progress reports,”

“The delegations know each other well; they know the issues well,” he said. “And I think the best thing to do is allow the parties to try to work through thosedifferences.”

The White House emphasized the difficulty of trying to narrow differences that have led to more than a half-century of conflict.

“They are working in a very serious way,” Lockhart said. “But we certainly know that this effort from the beginning will be a struggle.”

Enhanced by Informality

Lockhart, who as the official spokesman is living in a cabin at Camp David during the summit, made a point of explaining that the informal atmoshpere at the rustic compound enhanced contact among the delegations.

But he added that he was not trying to play down “the seriousness and the problems they face here.”

He said food is served virtually around the clock in Laurel Lodge cabin, but the dining room is deliberately set with only three large communal tables so diplomats are encouraged to sit in groups. As Lockhart ate breakfast today, he shared a table with three Palestinian and two Israeli negotiators.

On Tuesday, Clinton held separate talks with Barak and Arafat on the back porch of the presidential cabin. Afterward, all three leaders and their aides gathered for 30 minutes at a long rectangular conference table in a weathered cottage at the retreat.

Afterward, Clinton and all three delegations, about 40 people, dined together at round tables inside Laurel Lodge Tuesday night, according to Lockhart.

Barak and Arafat joined Clinton for a meal that included beef tenderloin and salmon fillet. Afterward, the president had a brief meeting with Arafat.

This morning, the president talked to Barak after meeting with members of his negotiating team. He then took a walk around the Camp David grounds with Arafat, Lockhart said. The three delegations and their leaders also made plans to meet for a big dinner in Laurel Lodge, as they did last night.

Clinton is waiting to decide whether to spend tonight at Camp David or return to Washington, D.C., Lockhart said.

A Light Moment

On Tuesday, as the leaders met at the doorway to Laurel Lodge, where the joint talks began, there was a light, if awkward moment as each leader held back, trying to let the other enter first.

Arafat and Barak went back and forth several times, laughing as each one tried to push the other in first (see video, left).

Arafat wound up going in first, followed by Barak.

But just beyond the display of manners lie five decades of animosity between the Palestinians and Israelis.

“Both leaders feel the weight of history but both, I believe, recognize this as a moment in history which they can seize,” Clinton said on Tuesday.

Barak is staying in Dogwood Cottage, the cabin occupied by then-Egyptian President Anwar Sadat at the first Camp David summit in 1978. Arafat is staying in Birch Cottage, which in 1978 was used by then-Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.

A Goal in a BridgeClinton’s goal for the summit is to bridge the broaddifferences remaining for a final Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

Key issues include the future of Jerusalem, the nature and borders of a Palestinian state, and the fate of Palestinian refugees.

Barak has signaled a willingness to expand considerably the 40percent of the West Bank that Israel already has agreed tosurrender and to abandon some settlements in the territory. Fewdoubt a Palestinian state will emerge in any accord.

But Arafat is holding out for virtually all the West Bank andsovereignty over part of Jerusalem as the capital for a Palestinianstate. He has vowed to declare statehood if Israel does not agreeto a state by mid-September, the deadline the two sides have setfor a settlement.

Barak has signaled through emissaries that he would be willingto expand Palestinian local control in areas of Jerusalem toArab-populated suburbs. In exchange, he is looking to absorb someclose-in Jewish settlements into the western part of the city.

ABCNEWS’ Rebecca Cooper in Thurmont, Md., and Lisa Sylvester in Washington, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.