Sharm El-Sheikh Summit – Concluding statement/Non-UN document

Sharm El-Sheikh Summit concluding statement by President Clinton, 17 October 2000

The following is the text of a statement made by President Clinton on 17 October 2000, at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, at the conclusion of a Summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PLO Chairman and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, with President Mubarak of Egypt, King Abdullah II of Jordan, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana also in attendance; text as disseminated by The Associated Press

– First, both sides have agreed to issue public statements unequivocally calling for an end of violence. They also agreed to take immediate concrete measures to end the current confrontation, eliminate points of friction, ensure an end to violence and incitement, maintain calm and prevent recurrence of recent events. To accomplish this, both sides will act immediately to return the situation to that which existed previous to the current crisis, in areas such as restoring law and order, redeployment of forces, eliminating points of friction, enhancing security cooperation and ending the closure and opening the Gaza airport. The United States will facilitate security cooperation between the parties as needed.

– Second, the United States will develop with the Israelis and Palestinians, as well as in consultation with the United Nations Secretary-General, a committee of fact-finding on the events of the past several weeks and how to prevent their recurrence. The committee's report will be shared by the US President with the UN Secretary-General and the parties prior to publication. A final report shall be submitted under the auspices of the US President for publication.

– Third, if we are to address the underlying roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there must be a pathway back to negotiations and a resumption of efforts to reach a permanent status agreement based on the UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 and subsequent understandings.

Toward this end, the leaders have agreed that the United States would consult with the parties within the next two weeks about how to move forward.