Key Points Following the Barak-Arafat Meeting
Erez, July 27, 1999
The following statements were made by Prime Minister Barak following his meeting yesterday, July 27, with PA Chairman Yasser Arafat at Erez:
Implementation of the Wye Agreement
I reiterated to the Chairman our commitment to the Wye Agreement and our intention to implement it fully, in parallel with the Palestinian effort to fulfill their part of the agreement, with emphasis, from our perspective, on the importance of the fight against terrorism.
We raised with the Chairman the idea that the continuation of the permanent status talks needs to be considered, stressing the need to assess wisely how to most appropriately incorporate the implementation of Wye with the discussion of the permanent status.
We intend on implementing Wye in any case. It is an agreement signed by the government of Israel.
The Next Step
We left our suggestions with the Chairman. He will consider them, and we will hear his views within about two weeks.
We concluded that our representatives will meet beginning Thursday [July 29] in order to assess all of the outstanding issues concerning the implementation of Wye.
The Framework of the Peace Process
I still think that within fifteen months, we will know in which track, Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese, we have a breakthrough. And we will move forward when there is a breakthrough on any and each of these tracks without preference.