This morning, the Mideast Peace talks at Camp David collapsed. At 10am, the White House announced that the Summit had ended without an agreement. The President was flying back to the White House to make an announcement as this report went to post. The talks broke down over the same stumbling block that had been evident throughout the fifteen days of negotiation -- the status of East Jerusalem. Reportedly, Barak had offered some kind of Palestinian sovereignty over the neighborhoods of East Jerusalem dominated by Palestinians but refused to compromise on sovereignty of the old Walled City which Palestinians see as holy ground and the heart of the Capital of an envisioned Palestinian state. An angry Yasser Arafat sent a letter to Clinton at three in the morning stating that he saw no point in continuing since the Israeli position on Jerusalem could never lead to an agreement. The President had been hoping that some sort of statement of progress might be issued in lieu of an agreement, but representatives of both sides did not see that as a likely result.
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