Israel-Palestinian Joint Statement

By the end of August the Interim Agreement was taking shape. It dealt with some 40 civilian spheres apart from military arrangements. Of the 40, 25 were agreed upon and there remained 15 to be hammered out. There has been no progress on the issue of redeployment in Hebron, on prisoners release and security in certain areas. Smaller working groups will deal with these issues in early September. Text:

The two heads of delegations - Mr. Abu Ala and Mr. Savir - issued a joint statement today, 25.08.95, at the conclusion of this week's round of negotiations on the Palestinian-Israeli interim agreement. The two delegations have reached a merged version of the full interim agreement and its various annexes - which deal with redeployment and security, elections and civil affairs - while also progressing towards the finalization of the legal and cooperation annexes (altogether approximately 260 pages).

In all these issues, various working groups have made substantial progress towards a detailed and balanced agreement, as well as towards the creation of effective implementation and cooperation mechanisms in forty civilian spheres, the various working groups have reaches merged versions and agreed on approximately 25 spheres. Important progress was made in the spheres of telecommunications and water. In the redeployment and the security annex, substantial progress has been made, although on the important issue of Hebron, no progress has been reached. In next week's agenda, the two delegations will discuss the annexes on Hebron and the release of the Palestinian prisoners, as well as issues in the security and civilian spheres. The two delegations will reconvene next week in small working groups, in order to overcome the outstanding issues. Over the weekend, the two delegations will report to their respective leaders, in order to receive instructions that may help in overcoming the obstacles.