From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Clinton Parameters
The Clinton Parameters
The Clinton Parameters (Hebrew: ,מתווה קלינטוןMitveh and Israel to acknowledge the "moral and material suf-
Clinton, lit. Clinton’s Outline is a term attributed to the
Outline) fering caused to the Palestinian people by the 1948 war,
guidelines for Permanent Status Agreement, that were and the need to assist the international community in ad-
offered by then President of the United States, Bill Clin- dressing the problem". Under the Parameters, an inter-
ton, in late 2000. national commission would be established to implement
The background for ’Clinton’s Parameters’ was the all aspects dealing with refugees as part of a permanent
opening of the Second Intifada, ’al-Aqsa Intifada’, the fail- peace agreement. The Palestinian state would accept all
ure of 2000 Camp David Summit, the up coming Israeli refugees wishing to settle in its territory. The remaining
elections, which polls indicated a possible defeat for then refugees would be rehabilitated in their host countries,
Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and the end of the Clinton immigrate to third-party countries, and a limited num-
presidency, in which Clinton desired to end the eight ber could settle in Israel if it agreed to accept them. Both
years of Peace efforts and Middle East arena in a suc- sides would agree that United Nations General Assembly
cessful note. The proposal was presented in 23 December Resolution 194 has been implemented.[1]
2000. Clinton emphasised that the proposal was a ’take it
or leave it’ plan, in which the Parameters were non-ne- Security
gotiable and served as the basis for a permanent peace Clinton’s Parameters proposed that Israel would retain a
agreement. Each side could accept it or reject it as is, and military presence throughout fixed locations in the Jor-
may not offer any changes to it. dan Valley, under the authority of an international force
for the first 36 months. This period could be reduced in
Issues the event of the diminishing of regional threats to Is-
rael. Israel would also set up three radar facilities in the
West Bank. These facilities would have a Palestinian liai-
Jerusalem
son and would be subject to review after every ten years,
According to the Parameters, Israel would retain sover- with any changes in their status to be mutually agreed by
eignty over the Western Wall. The Palestinians would both parties.
gain sovereignty and Israel would gain "symbolic owner- The Palestinian state would gain sovereignty over its
ship" over the rest of the Temple Mount, with both par- own airspace, with special reservations for Israeli train-
ties sharing sovereignty over the issue of excavations un- ing and operational needs. The Palestinian state would
der the Temple Mount. East Jerusalem and its Old City also be defined as a "non-militarized state", and would
would be divided according to ethnic lines, with Israel re- not possess conventional military forces, but would be al-
taining sovereignty over Jewish neighborhoods, and the lowed to have a "strong security force". The Palestinian
Palestinians gaining sovereignty over Arab neighbor- state would also have an international force for border
hoods.[1] security and deterrence.
In the event of a military threat to Israel’s national
Territory security requiring a state of emergency, Israel would be
The Clinton Parameters proposed that the Palestinians allowed to deploy military forces to certain areas and
gain between 94-96% of the West Bank and the entire routes, according to a pre-drawn map. International
Gaza Strip, with Israel annexing the remaining land, forces would have to be notified prior to any such deploy-
which would include almost all Israeli settlements, con- ments.[1]
taining 80% of the settler population. Israel would cede
1-3% of land to the Palestinians in land swaps to com- End of the Conflict
pensate for the annexations. The Palestinian state would The Parameters required that this agreement put an end
have to be contiguous, and annexed areas along with the to the conflict and any other claims. This could be imple-
number of Palestinians affected would be as minimized mented through a United Nations Security Council Reso-
as possible.[1] lution declaring that Resolutions 242 and 338 have been
implemented.[1]
Refugees
The Parameters required the Palestinians to waive their
claim to an unlimited "right of return" to Israel proper,
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Clinton Parameters
Acceptance References
The Parameters received a mix of support and criticism [1] ^ http://www.peacelobby.org/
within Israel, with some in the Israeli government, as clinton_parameters.htm
well as the Mayor of Jerusalem opposing them. There [2] Ari Shavit, "Eyes Wide Shut," [interview with Ehud
were also fears that the Parameters would not be ap- Barak] Ha’aretz, September 6, 2002
proved in a public referendum, and that the Palestinians [3] Swisher, Clayton: The Truth about Camp David: The
might violate their terms of the agreements. Untold Story about the Collapse of the Middle East Peace
Despite some provisions on Jerusalem being contrary Process
to the election promises of Prime Minister Ehud Barak, [4] Dennis Ross, The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the
the Parameters received wide support in the Israeli cab- Fight for Middle East Peace (New York: Farrar, Straus,
inet, which voted to accept them, with Cabinet Minister, & Giroux), p. 756
Roni Milo, being the only one to resign over his objection [5] Jeremy Pressman, "Visions in Collision: What
to the Cabinet’s approval of the plan. Although he chose Happened at Camp David and Taba?" International
to accept the plan, Prime Minister Barak sent Clinton Security, vol 28, no. 2, Fall 2003, p. 20, PDF
a 20-page letter of "reservations". The two main points
were that he "would not sign any document that trans-
fers sovereignty on the Temple Mount to the Palestini-
External links
ans", and that "no Israeli prime minister will accept even • Clinton Parameters, The Jewish Peace Lobby website,
one refugee on the basis of the right of return."[2] Minor full text (English)
reservations were also made with regard to security • "Clinton Outline" and the Arab Initiative for solving
arrangements, deployment areas, and control over pas- the Israeli-Arab Conflict, a background document,
sages. In a phone conversation with Clinton, Prime Min- Knesset (Israeli parliament) website (full text in
ister Barak also demanded that Israel be allowed to retain Hebrew of the ’Clinton Outline’)
sovereignty over the "sacred basin" - the whole area out- • The “Clinton Parameters”, Jewish Virtual Library,
side the Old City that includes the City of David and the President Clinton’s Remarks to the Israeli Policy
Tombs of the Prophets on the road to the Mount of Forum
Olives, which was not mentioned in the Parameters.[3] • TEXT: Clinton speech on Mideast Peace Parameters,
PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat formally accepted the January 8, 2001, US Embassy in Israel website
Parameters on January 3, 2001. He too sent a letter of • Comparing the Clinton Paramters and the
reservations to President Clinton, in which he demanded Nusseibeh-Ayalon Statement of Principles, The
complete sovereignty over all of the West Bank, Gaza Jewish Peace Lobby wesite (table comparison)
Strip and East Jerusalem, the dismantlement of all Israeli • Official Palestinian Response to The Clinton
settlements in those areas, further negotiations on the Parameters (and letter to the international
permanent status of the entire city of Jerusalem, an un- community, January 1, 2001), PLO negotiations
limited right of return for all Palestinian refugees who Affairs Department - Negotiations & The peace
chose to do so, and financial compensation to both the Process
refugees for material losses and to the Palestinian gov- • Bill Clinton Reflects on 2000 Camp David Summit
ernment.[citation needed] (2005), Jewish Virtual Library, quoting from
According to Clinton and Ross, Israel’s reservations President Bill Clinton’s autobiography, “My Life,” on
were "within" the Parameters, and Arafat’s reservations the events of December 23, 2000 and his parameters.
were "outside" them, and Arafat never formally accepted
each of the conditions contained in the parameters.[4] A
different view is that both Israeli and Palestinian reserva-
tions questioned fundamental aspects of the Clinton pa-
rameters.[5]
Additional attempts to reach a compromise in Taba
Summit were unsuccessful, although some progress was
made. In Israel, The Prime Minister’s opponents claimed
that his government lacks the support of the Israeli pub-
lic, the Knesset (Israeli parliament) and the polls, and
that he was submitting Israel to a "liquidation sale".
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Clinton_Parameters&oldid=459030004"
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Clinton Parameters
Categories:
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
• History of Israel
• Israeli–Palestinian peace efforts
• Middle East peace efforts
• Arab–Israeli conflict
• Israel–United States relations
This page was last modified on 4 November 2011 at 20:39. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-
ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of use for details. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of
the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.Contact us
Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers Mobile view
3