(24 Oct 1998) English/Nat
A breakthrough Middle East agreement, mediated by U-S President Bill Clinton over nine torturous days, opens the way for Israel and the Palestinians to enter negotiations for a permanent peace.
But many have expressed concern about the agreement - including Israel's ambassador to America.
Around the world, there have also been critical responses.
After the euphoria of the peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, people are now critically examining the accord.
Even U-S President Bill Clinton has cautioned that even under the best circumstances, a permanent peace accord will be hard to get.
Many hardline Palestinians reject the deal, and Israelis are concerned that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under pressure from America, has sold them out to a peace deal that favours the Palestinians.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We are giving land and getting back words, promises for the future. And we have to be sure that those promises we are getting now, unlike the promises that we got five years ago that weren't implemented in the area, that they will be implemented now. Because we are risking, we are risking our future."
SUPER CAPTION: Shmuel Sisso, Israeli Consul General
But of course Palestinians believe they too are risking a great deal with this agreement, as are perhaps all who sat at this table.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"This is a very small step. Very agonizing small step. It's taken almost two years, nine days of presidential time. The, really, the president's foreign policy team full time, other things couldn't be addressed during these nine days, for a very small step. But it is a good step and it's good that it's been achieved."
SUPER CAPTION: Judith Kipper, Middle East analyst, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies
But despite all of the hard work, the achievement may never happened because of this man, Jonathan Pollard.
Israel was seeking the release of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard from the United States, as goodwill gestures to mark a landmark peace deal.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Having made the effort to get Pollard and having it out in the public already, will serve the prime minister's purposes because he is going back with an agreement in which Israel agrees to give back territory which is extremely unpopular with his own constituency. I think that this was really a political manoeuvre by the Israelis to make this agreement more palatable to Israeli public opinion."
SUPER CAPTION: Judith Kipper, Middle East analyst, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies
Kipper believes the effort to shore up his political standing back home may come at a high price for Netanyahu and Israel.
An already strained relationship with the Clinton administration, strained even further by the Wye Plantation talks, may have further tattered the critical strategic alliance between the U-S and Israel.
And the close cultural ties of American and Israeli Jewish communities makes it all the more riskier for Netanyahu, who must curry favour with both.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I think it has further strained U-S-Israeli relations, and further strained the relationship between the Prime Minister and the President of the United States. And will certainly be an extremely unpopular subject for the American defence and intelligence establishment who are simply up in arms over this."
SUPER CAPTION: Judith Kipper, Middle East analyst, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies
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