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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.

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