I believe this pre-empts and prejudges issues that are reserved for final status negotiations. Any talk of pre-empting and prejudging is counterproductive to the peace process.

We want to agree on preparations to resume final-status talks which should commence in the middle of next month.

The amendments mean pursuing Jewish settlements and not resuming the negotiations from the point where they left off.

If the issues are resolved, ... President Clinton is prepared to invite the parties to launch accelerated final status negotiations.

We didn't get responses on forming a Palestinian-Israeli joint committee to follow up and observe the operation of distributing ballots, voting and the movement of voters as well as candidates.

Of course, Mrs. Arafat did not mean poison gas, but tear gas. We agreed with President Clinton that the Palestinians and Israelis must resolve their differences through dialogue and negotiations.