Ehud Barak,
Israeli Prime Minister

The talks collapsed after the Syrians demanded a full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights as a precondition to any other deals. Domestic developments also conspired to make the any peace deal more difficult, with the approval of a bill that called for a special majority in any referendum on the handover of Golan. Despite Mr Barak's opposition to the bill, which called for the neutralisation of any simple majority created by the votes of the country's 20% Arab population, three of the government parties voted in favour. Negotiations with the Palestinians seemed to be progressing more successfully, with Mr Barak promising, on a visit to Cairo in March, to hand over another piece of territory. However, the Palestinians disputed the areas that Israel was to hand over. The talks remained deadlocked for over a month, before the two sides agreed to resume talks in Washington. In just over a week, the Israeli cabinet approved the handover of more than 6% of the West Bank to Palestinian control and the handover began on the same day that the Pope arrived in Israel.

The spirit of reconciliation in the Middle East had been given a boost by the news of a planned visit by Pope John Paul II. In his Easter message, the Pope had made a public request for forgiveness for the past sins and errors of the Catholic Church, including its treatment of Jews, heretics and women. On 21 March, Pope John Paul became the first Pope in 35 years to visit the region and he appealed for greater dialogue between Christians, Jews and Muslims, and stressed the urgent need for peace in the region. He met with Mr Barak and Mr Arafat during his visit. At the same time, President Mubarak of Egypt made optimistic comments about the possibility of a deal between Syria and Israel. However, Mr Barak announced in April that construction on the Golan Heights was to resume as Syria refused to budge from its position of demanding a withdrawal from Golan in advance of talks. Mr Barak said that the door to peace with Syria was all but closed.

May saw an intensification of security problems in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, as Palestinian protestors clashed with Israeli security forces. The Israeli cabinet approved the transfer of two West Bank villages, near Jerusalem, to the control of the Palestinian Authority, despite the threat of the National Religious Party to pull out of the coalition and Israeli and Palestinian officials held peace talks in Sweden. However, the transfer of the villages was postponed and the negotiations were cut short by Mr Barak as the violence continued.

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