Camp David Final Talks
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The Camp David final talks refers to the Middle East peace negotiations held at Camp David in the final days of the Clinton administration, which came extraordinarily close to a comprehensive agreement before Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat withdrew.

John Kiriakou described a first-hand account of the talks as relayed to him by a close friend who was a very senior officer on the National Security Council and present at Camp David throughout the final week of Clinton's presidency.

The Sharpie map

In the room were President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, the NSC officer, Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas, and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres along with his deputy. The centerpiece of the session was an enormous map of Jerusalem laid out on a table. Using a Sharpie marker, the parties went through the map dividing the city block by block, negotiating which neighborhoods and zones would fall under which sovereignty.

When the division was complete, Gore said: "My God, we have peace."

Arafat's withdrawal

Arafat responded: "I can never sell this to the Palestinian people." He walked out of the room.

Gore ran after him and said: "After all this, you can't just quit. If there's something you don't like, let's renegotiate it." Arafat said: "I can never sell any deal to the Palestinian people." And that was the end of it.

Clinton's retrospective assessment

Kiriakou noted that Clinton alluded to the breakdown in his memoir. Clinton's stated view: he should have pulled Secretary of State Madeleine Albright out of the North Korea negotiations, which were going nowhere, and put her in the room alongside Gore to apply additional pressure to Arafat.

See also

- John Kiriakou
- MOSSAD
