Word: wye
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...many respects, a quiet gift: the present called the Wye River Memorandum. Its terms are modest. It provides for the return of a parcel of sparsely inhabited land in the West Bank. It firms up the details of the implementation of accords the P.L.O. and Israel had reached in 1993. Far tougher disputes remain, including the future of Jerusalem and the return of Palestinian refugees. According to the original timetable, all these must be settled by next May--when Arafat has threatened to declare a Palestinian state. But last week's accord, fought for and won over nine tumultuous days...
After a White House send-off on Thursday, Oct. 15, Netanyahu and Arafat settled in at Wye. The two men actually didn't know each other well. Nor had Arafat ever met Ariel Sharon, the hard-liner Netanyahu recently named Foreign Minister. The hulking former general showed up two days late, sweeping into dinner, right past Arafat's gesture of welcome, refusing to shake hands or even look at the man he calls a terrorist and murderer. Instead Sharon focused on some Arafat aides with whom he has held talks this year. While he never did shake Arafat's hand...
...Wednesday, Netanyahu upped the ante. Briefed by Sharon, representatives of Jewish settlers, who oppose trading any land for peace, gave Netanyahu an earful. Netanyahu called American Jewish leaders to ask for backing if he abandoned Wye. "How can we make peace with an organization still calling for the liquidation of Israel?" he lectured. Members of the Israeli delegation placed their bags outside their quarters and issued a press release threatening departure. The threat was timed to make the morning papers back home (where Wye was judged so boring it no longer led the TV news). American officials figured Netanyahu...
...tough as Wye was, a much worse ordeal awaits: final-status talks, where the issues are harder and the parties infinitely further apart. Wye offered no proof the talks would succeed, but there were surprising hints of new life in the peace process. Netanyahu's right-wing coalition partners are outraged at the deal but have nowhere else to go. The Prime Minister seemed to be grasping for a big chunk of the center, whose support depends on continued progress with Arafat. Another factor, the Americans at Wye observed, was how well the next generation of Israeli and Palestinian officials...
...crowd of diplomats gathered in the Wye Plantation's conference room two weeks ago for the ritual photo op that launched the latest Middle East peace talks, two men were missing: CIA Director George Tenet and the agency's Tel Aviv station chief were hiding out upstairs, waiting for the reporters and photographers to clear out so they could slip back into the meeting unnoticed...