Issued by Department of Foreign Affairs
26 July 2000
President Thabo Mbeki has expressed disappointment at the collapse of the Camp David Summit between Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, facilitated by US President Bill Clinton. "I don't believe either the Israelis or the Palestinians are being served by the absence of an agreement", he said. The President encouraged the two sides to continue with the process of negotiations. "The fact that they failed today does not mean that they will fail tomorrow", he said.
Against the background that South Africans, by virtue of their own recent history, have an understanding of the need for painful compromise in any effort at negotiated peace making, President Mbeki said that "it is important for South Africans to see a just and stable resolution of that conflict."
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