Statement by the Press Secretary - Middle East (10/2/00)
                              THE WHITE HOUSE

                       Office of the Press Secretary

___________________________________________________________________________
__
For Immediate Release                                          October 1,
2000


                     STATEMENT BY THE PRESS SECRETARY

     The President spoke to Prime Minister Barak and Chairman Arafat this
weekend to express his deep concern about the escalation of violence and to
convey his condolences to the families of the victims.

     The President called on both sides to exert maximum efforts to restore
calm immediately.  Prime Minister Barak and Chairman Arafat agreed that, as
soon as conditions permit, the United States will chair a meeting of
Israeli and Palestinian security officials for the purpose of fact-finding
and to prevent a reoccurrence of the events of the past few days.  Prior to
that meeting, both sides will conduct their separate reviews and continue
to meet with each other.

     This process is designed to understand what went wrong and to see how
both parties can ensure that the Palestinian and Israeli people not relive
the terrible events of the last few days.

                                 30-30-30


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