The second session of the autonomy talks was held in Alexandria on 11 and 12 June. In his opening remarks Minister Burg stressed Israel's adherence to the Camp David accords. The Israeli position was that they omitted reference to Jerusalem, settlements, the borders of the autonomy zone, sovereignty and future I.D.F. deployment, hence voting for the Self-Governing Authority was to be only by those residing in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza district. The Israeli view of the autonomy was that it was personal - for the inhabitants of the areas - and not territorial. The administrative council was, accordingly, to be a body dealing with local administration and not have any legislative or judicial functions. Israel insisted on retaining full control over security and internal order. These views were already expressed during the first meeting at Beersheba, and were discussed again in Alexandria. Following are the opening remarks of Dr. Burg:
Prime Minister Khalil, Ambassador Leonard, members of the delegations: First of all, I'd like to express our deep feelings at this moment here in this city, that is not only the city of historic meaning but where we will also try to do today that which will be a start also of historic meaning.
All ancient people and cultures were in this city and now we are looking forward to the future.
Gentlemen, since our first meeting in Beersheba on May 25th, our endeavors for continuity, progress and, ultimately, success, have neither wavered nor ceased.
Less than 96 hours have passed since I left Egypt after constructive preparatory talks I would like to conclude with an historical remark.
In Alexandria of old, the port was divided into two sections - one of which was called in ancient Greek "Eunostos" which denotes as the motif of our negotiations - a return for peace - let us embark upon the journey towards this goal.