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Speaking on CNN Sunday afternoon (8 October 2000) Jerome M. Segal, president of the Jewish Peace Lobby and Senior Research Scholar at the University of Maryland's center for International and Security Studies, called on President Clinton to immediately make an address to the Israeli and Palestinian people in which he would detail an American proposal for a permanent settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Dr. Segal said that the Administration has for some time been preparing its "bridging proposals" on the full range of issues, but that rather than continuing along the pre-existing diplomatic track, it was now essential that the Administration's ideas be publicly presented as a "Clinton Plan" and that Arafat and Barak be called back to Camp David for negotiations based on this plan.
Dr. Segal argued that the sides are in fact very, very close. "We are in a paradoxical position of being closer than we have ever been to a final peace agreement, and yet at the same time, we are standing at the edge of an abyss that will end the peace process, and quite possibly send the region into unchecked conflict."
"While it is essential that the Palestinian leadership take immediate steps to end confrontations with the Israeli military, it is equally essential that the Palestinian public understand just how close we are to an agreement through which they will attain:
-A Palestinian State
-Sovereignty over all Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem
-Sovereign parity with Israel on the Temple Mount
-Resolution of the Refugee problem
-Israeli withdrawal from almost all of the West Bank and Gaza."
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