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                         White House Press Release

     Remarks By The President On Announcing Middle East Summit Meeting

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                           The White House

                    Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                      September 29, 1996


                      Remarks By The President
              On Announcing Middle East Summit Meeting


                          The Rose Garden

8:50 A.M. Edt


             The President:  Good morning.  The loss of life and the
tragedy of the violence in the Middle East this week have been a
terrible development for the Israeli and the Palestinian people, a
blow to all those who work for a lasting peace; an encouragement to
those who oppose a lasting peace.

             Earlier this week I called on Israelis and Palestinians
to end the cycle of violence, to restore calm, to recommit themselves
to the hard work of building peace through negotiations.  There has
been some progress since then toward ending the confrontation, but
not enough.  Therefore, after consulting with Secretary Christopher,
who has literally been working around the clock with the regional
leaders to resolve this problem, I have invited Prime Minister
Netanyahu and Chairman Arafat to come to Washington as soon as
possible.

             They have accepted my invitation, as has King Hussein of
Jordan.  I've also invited President Mubarak of Egypt; he is seeing
whether it is possible for him to attend.  I expect the meetings to
take place early this week.

             The United States has often played a pivotal role in
bringing Arabs and Israelis together to work out their differences in
peace.  It is our responsibility to do whatever we can to protect the
peace process and to help move it forward.  This is such a moment.

             The events of this week are all the more shocking
because the Israelis and the Palestinians have taken so many giant
steps toward peace in the last couple of years.  They have shown the
world that they want peace.  They know they must make hard choices to
achieve that goal.

             I'm prepared to do everything in my power to help the
Israelis and the Palestinians end the violence and begin the peace
process again in earnest.  We have to return to the path of peace
along which they have already traveled so far.

             Q    Mr. President, do you think that Israeli is ready
to abide by its promise to keep previous peace agreements made by
other governments?

             The President:  Well, President -- excuse me -- Prime
Minister Netanyahu says that he will abide by all previous agreements
and that is an understanding that he has reached with Chairman
Arafat.  We will be discussing the relevant issues here to the recent
violence and what can be done to really get the peace process back on
track when they come here.

             Q    What do you think made them decide to come to
Washington?  They seem so adamantly opposed before.

             The President:  I believe that -- I think they're both
concerned about the way events spun out of control, about the loss of
life, the injury, the eruption of old tensions and bitterness.  And I
believe they want to try to get beyond that and go back to moving
toward the path of peace.  I don't think they would be coming here if
they didn't.

             Q    What would you ask them to do?

             The President:  Well, I firmly believe that one of the
reasons for the success we have had in the last three years is that
the United States has not presumed to speak publicly for either one
of them and we have been very careful about what we say, particularly
in advance of these meetings.  I'm going to do everything I can to
facilitate a resolution of this, and I don't want to say anything
before they get here that would complicate that.

             The Press:  Thank you.

             The President:  Thank you.

             Q    The tunnel is open again.  What's your reaction?

             End                          8:53 A.M. Edt



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