23 October 1998, Washington, D.C. & New York City, U-S - and file
US Pool
1. Medium view of Yasser Arafat, King Hussein, Bill Clinton and Benjamin Netanyahu entering East Room.
2. Close views of Arafat, Hussein, Clinton, Netanyahu.
APTN
3. Medium view of Israeli Consul General Shmuel Sisso (standing right) in offices of Israeli Counsul General.
4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Shmuel Sisso, Israeli Consul General.
US Pool
5. Medium view of Arafat, Hussein, Clinton and Netanyahu signing agreement.
6. Wide view of audience watching.
7. Close view of Clinton and Arafat signing agreement.
8. Medium view of Arafat, Hussein, Clinton and Netanyahu shaking hands.
APTN
9. Medium view of Judith Kipper.
10. SOUNDBITE: (English) Judith Kipper, Middle East analyst, the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
(1986 File video)
11. Close view of Jonathan Pollard being taken to jail in car.
(1998 AP photo)
12. AP still photo of Pollard.
APTN
13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Judith Kipper, Middle East analyst, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
US Pool
14. Medium view of Netanyahu speaking.
15. Close view of Netanyahu.
16. Close view of Clinton.
APTN
17. SOUNDBITE: (English) Judith Kipper, Middle East analyst, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
US Pool
18. Medium view of Arafat, Hussein, Clinton and Netanyahu at the White House.
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
Regardless of the price paid by the key players here, Clinton says he will join with them again in the Middle East this December in a bid to move the process forward once again.
