Hassan Abdel Rahman, who was with Arafat at Camp David, was asked at a recent conference in Washington why Arafat and the Palestinians hadn't told their story to the world. He replied:

I'm going to tell you a story why we did not do it. At the conclusion of Camp David, President Arafat met with President Clinton and urged him to consider this summit as part of a process that we would continue discussions. And President Clinton also promised him, yes, there will be other efforts by Clinton.

I met and then I accompanied Arafat to Andrews Air Base. There were so many members of the press. At that time, Barak was holding a press conference blaming Arafat for rejecting what was offered at Camp David. In fact, he was really lying, in other words.

I told Arafat, I told him, "Mr. Barak and President Clinton are blaming you. Why don't you address the media and explain your position?" And he told me, "Listen, I am not interested in dispute with President Clinton. We are going to work together in the future. He needs it," because his wife was running for election in New York and his vice president was running for the president of the United States.

So Yasser Arafat really did not—and I say it very honestly and frankly—did not understand what was the agenda, neither of Barak nor Clinton. He thought that this was part of their propaganda, and they needed it, and that we will come back, and we will start negotiations ... So, listen, Yasser Arafat might have been very naive ... but that does not justify the lies that has been made by many officials in the Clinton administration and by many supporters of Israel in this town who took this and made it a pretext for brutalizing the Palestinians in the way they are doing now.