From the Center

In meetings and public appearances, Israeli and Palestinian representatives would simply state their official positions and then refuse to engage in dialogue or genuine conversation. At this past July's Camp David summit, Ehud Barak and Yasir Arafat opened a potentially bright new phase in the peace process by discussing the full range of tough issues that separate them, including the borders of a Palestinian state, the fate of Palestinian refugees and Israeli settlements, and the future of Jerusalem. In 1963, at the height of the Cold War, John F. Kennedy wisely remarked at the United Nations that "peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures."