Epstein Secrets

cent of the Golan Heights, it still fell short of Assad’s demand for a return to the 4 June 1967 lines, a

President Clinton hosts summit meeting with Israel’s Prime Minister Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister al-Shara, followed by rounds of peace talks in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, in January 2000. 5 March 2000 Government of Israel’s resolution to withdraw from Lebanon. 26 March 2000 Bill Clinton and Hafez al-A

Resolu- tions 425 and 426. 18 June 2000 The UN Security Council confirms Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in a Presidential Statement. 10 July 2000 Bashar al-Assad is elected President of Syria in a nationwide referendum. 11-25 July 2000 Camp David II negotiations between Ehud Barak and Yasir Arafat. 25 July 2

rian peace deal that was not to come. Despite Barak offering Syrian President Hafez al-Assad 99 per cent of the Golan Heights, it still fell short of Assad’s demand for a return to the 4 June 1967 lines, and the Syria track subsequently crumbled. This put Arafat on the spot: how could he now, in front of

process, described it, with only a little hyperbole, as "a wacko agenda that bordered on the megalomaniacal." The history of how it went wrong, in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, with the Syrians and at Camp David with Yasir Arafat, has been written and rewritten countless times from all perspectives. There i

reveal a deeply divided society and a government that appears to equate (and confuse) majority rule with democracy. By contrast, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime is likely to have been ousted before the year's end. But, as we have seen elsewhere in the region, it will prove far more difficult to put

mocracy. By contrast, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime is likely to have been ousted before th

ved, if the talks were going to have a chance. In the end, the Americans settled on a beautiful, and undeniably remote, town in West Virginia called Shepherdstown. But from the outset, I was worried it couldn’t provide the kind of environment we needed. As soon as our plane landed at Andrews Air Force base outs

It was an attempt to engage with Syria. He asked me about the talks under Rabin and Peres, and my views on the possibility of a deal with President Assad. He also wanted my assessment about whether the army could work out arrangements to safeguard the country’s security if we handed back most, if not a

ill by now.” In fact, Assad would die of leukemia barely two months later. His immediate focus was on ensuring an uncontested succession to his son, Bashar. When Dennis Ross came to see me in Jerusalem, I think he expected to find me more distraught than I felt. Of course, I was disappointed. But I told

eved, if the talks were going to have a chance. In the end, the Americans settled on a beautiful, and undeniably remote, town in West Virginia called Shepherdstown. But from the outset, I was worried it couldn't provide the kind of environment we needed. As soon as our plane landed at Andrews Air Force base outs

. It was an attempt to engage with Syria. He asked me about the talks under Rabin and Peres, and my views on the possibility of a deal with President Assad. He also wanted my assessment about whether the army could work out arrangements to safeguard the country's security if we handed back most, if not a

ill by now." In fact, Assad would die of leukemia barely two months later. His immediate focus was on ensuring an uncontested succession to his son, Bashar. When Dennis Ross came to see me in Jerusalem, I think he expected to find me more distraught than I felt. Of course, I was disappointed. But I told