For some time, the Institute for Palestine Studies (IPS) has been holding quarterly "brainstorming sessions" attended by senior editorial and research staff from its offices in Beirut, London, Paris, and Washington, as well as from its Jerusalem affiliate, the Institute for Jerusalem Studies, and occasionally one or more guests. The seminars generally last two days and address topics that have ranged from specific final status issues (Jerusalem, refugees, borders) to developments of the previous quarter. The following are excerpts from the summary of the meeting held 30 September to 1 October 1996, in the immediate wake of the fighting in the occupied territories triggered by the tunnel opening and on the eve of the Washington summit called by President Clinton to deal with these events (see the Chronology and Peace Monitor for details). The meeting, chaired by Walid Khalidi, was attended by Hussein Agha, Taher Kanaan, Ahmad Khalidi, Ahmad Khalifeh, Camille Mansour, Philip Mattar, Hisham Nashabeh, Elias Sanbar, Mahmoud Soueid, and Salim Tamari. Linda Butler was the rapporteur. The extracts included below involve discussion of the tunnel crisis, particularly its security implications.
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