Chicago Tribune · Chicago, Illinois · 5 November 1991
CP-1991-039
At Madrid conference, Palestinians seized the day
By Tom Hundley
Transcribed from the clipping
MADRID—For years Israeli politicians have been dining on senior statesman Abba Eban’s famous line: “The Palestinians have never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity.” But in Madrid last week it was the Palestinians who finally seized the opportunity, and the Israelis and Syrians who let it slip through their fingers.
While the Israeli and Syrian delegations—trading recriminations to the bitter end—quickly slipped out of town within hours of U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III’s departure early Monday, the Palestinians seemed to want to linger a bit, to savor their successes in Madrid.
One key decision made by the delegation was to buck Syria’s wishes and quickly agree to enter the bilateral phase with Israel.
Despite the bad blood between the Israelis and Syrians, and despite the inability of Israel or any of its Arab adversaries to reach agreement on the seemingly simple question of where to hold the next round of talks, it appears the peace process still is breathing.
Baker said the next step will be up to the participants, but it is clear the next step will have to be Baker’s—to break the deadlock on the question of venue. The Israelis want the talks to be held in the Middle East, alternating between Arab and Israeli cities. The Arabs say the talks should be held at a neutral site.
A possible compromise choice mentioned by both sides is Washington. For Palestinians, however, that debate receded to the background Monday as they tried to focus on the meaning of what they had accomplished in Madrid.
In little more than a week, the Palestinians had assembled a new political and diplomatic infrastructure from scratch, formulated a new political agenda and reincarnated themselves as the good guys on the stage of world opinion.
How this transcription was made
Read from the scan by a machine looking at the image of the page, not by optical character recognition and not by a person. The printed date on the page agrees with the date recorded here.
Cite this clipping
"At Madrid conference, Palestinians seized the day," Chicago Tribune, 5 November 1991, p. 4. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1991-039. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1991-039
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Last updated 2 November 2026
This record is part of Covering Palestine, an archive of American newspaper clippings about Palestinians, 1724 to 2023. Researched and assembled by Maria Robles.
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