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Revealed: how candid statesmen discussed peace process hopes

Made public at last, the full and frank conversations in which Bill Clinton and Tony Blair debated Israeli-Palestinian relations, Holocaust survivors and their fellow leaders

January 15, 2016 17:23
On hand: the hundreds of transcripts of calls between Bill Clinton and Tony Blair reveal the pair's level of political co-operation - and friendship

By

Josh Jackman,

Josh Jackman

3 min read

The personalities behind one of the most promising periods of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process have been uncovered in newly-released conversations between Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bill Clinton.

The telephone transcripts, declassified by the Clinton Presidential Library, cover the period between the start of Mr Blair's election in May 1997 and the end of Mr Clinton's presidency in 2001.

Elie Wiesel's view on the Kosovo War and Mr Clinton's condemnation of the media's treatment of Holocaust survivors during the 2000 presidential election -- which saw Joe Lieberman become the first Jewish vice-presidential candidate - were also included in the 530-pages released last Thursday.

Mr Clinton oversaw the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993 between Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat, and worked towards establishing a permanent peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians before he left the White House.

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