Far less Palestinians and Israelis were killed during the Clinton administration, former President Bill Clinton said on Wednesday during a lecture at Georgetown University. On the backdrop of the recently collapsed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, the former president spoke about his own experiences trying to bring the two sides to an agreement. Clinton spoke about the Camp David Summit of 2000 between then Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, which he had called a "roaring success." It appeared that Israelis and the Palestinians were closer to reach an accord back then, and Clinton's lecture revealed that even on the contentious issue of dividing Jerusalem there had been progress. "The Israelis offered to give it [the Temple Mount] to the Palestinians," he said. "They disagreed about only 16 meters of the Western Wall," which included the entrance to the Western Wall tunnels under Palestinian control. Israel refused to give up those 50 feet stating that the tunnels would allow access to the remains of the Jewish temples. Clinton said that in retrospect, "Israel was right. ... If you got in, you could do mayhem to the ruins of the temples." "Did we fail [in the peace talks]? You tell me? In the four years after I left office, three times as many Palestinians and Israelis were killed in violent acts than in the eight years I was there. We always need to get caught trying -- fewer people will die," he said. Wednesday marked the end of the nine month negotiation period set on by Israel and the Palestinians for the U.S.-brokered peace talks. The U.S. refuses to say that the talks collapsed, and said the peace process is currently in a "holding period." U.S. officials told Agence France-Presse that Secretary of State John Kerry "has no regrets about the energy he poured into his failed Middle East peace bid and is ready to dive back in again if asked." "The original negotiating period was set to run until April 29th, today. There's nothing special about that date now," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on Tuesday. "We've reached a point ... where a pause is necessary ... a holding period, where parties will figure out what they want to do next," she said. Kerry said Monday he had chosen the wrong word in describing Israel's potential future, after coming under withering criticism for saying Israel could become an "apartheid state" if it did not reach a peace deal with the Palestinians.
