There are more than two players at the summit. The Arab world continues to be in conflict with Israel and has invested much in the Camp David meeting. Just behind are the Western powers, which have benefited from arms sales to the region and are hurt by the prospect of oil embargos and trade boycotts.

Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza Strip as well as other territories in the 1967 war. In 1982, Israel completed its withdrawal from the entire Sinai peninsula as part of the peace treaty with Egypt. Since 1994, Israel has staged a series of withdrawals from the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Today, the Palestinian Authority controls about two-thirds of the Gaza Strip and 40 percent of the West Bank.

Israel, established in 1948, is a parliamentary democracy with a Jewish majority. It has a significant Arab minority of about 20 percent. The state's chief ally is the United States.

PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY

The Palestinian Authority was established in 1994 under agreement with Israel. It quickly turned into an extension of the ruling Fatah faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization, chaired by Yasser Arafat. More than 2 million Palestinians live under PA rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Informally, the PA has significant influence in eastern Jerusalem and among the Arab population in Israel.

The PA has a legislative council and a court system but is actually closer to a fiefdom run by Arafat. Arafat has ignored legislation passed by the council, rulings issued by the court and until recently has concealed hundreds of millions of dollars meant for the Palestinian government.

UNITED STATES

As the leading economic and military power in the world, the United States has been the most active party in trying to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict. Washington has been the key to every Israeli-Palestinian agreement since the 1993 Oslo accord. President Bill Clinton has met often with Arafat and Israeli leaders and his administration has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the PA and pledged even more to Israel.

For Clinton, the next six months represent his last chance to conclude a process that began during his presidency -- the process of negotiations between Arafat and Israel and the formation of a Palestinian entity. Clinton can be expected to work until his last day in office on Jan. 20 and probably after his presidency.

JORDAN

Jordan will be affected more than any neighbor of Israel and the Palestinians by an agreement signed at the summit. Seventy percent of the population of the Hashemite kingdom is of Palestinian descent -- with many of them living in refugee camps. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has considerable clout in Jordan and his critics who oppose any reconciliation with Israel have even greater influence.

Jordan also has close defense relations with Israel, although over the last year this has been kept from the public. Amman is also a close ally of the United States and has become increasingly dependent on aid from Washington.

In 1979, Egypt became the first Arab country to have signed a peace agreement with Israel. The accord provided Egypt with $2.1 billion a year in economic and military aid. After a brief period of tension, Egypt and Palestinian leader Arafat reconciled and Arafat is said to rely on Cairo more than on anybody else. Egypt has supported Palestinian demands both in talks with Israel and the United States.

Egypt has pledged to provide political and even military aid in any crisis between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Egypt has the largest military in the Arab world and is a rival of Israel.

Syria has been the bane of Yasser Arafat. Syria has sponsored Palestinian critics of Arafat, who have tried to torpedo any prospect of reconciliation with Israel. Damascus is home to a dozen anti-Arafat groups which regard the summit as anathema.

At the same time, Syria is moving towards reconciliation with the United States and does not want to be seen as the country that torpedoes the summit. Damascus under the regime of President Bashar Assad badly needs U.S. and Western aid to prop up its collapsing economy.

Syria's ally, Iran, will try to torpedo the summit. But it, too, is undergoing a quiet process of reconciliation with the United States and does not want to destroy this effort.

The European Union has long supported the establishment of a Palestinian state. The Oslo process has restrained the enthusiasm of this position and now the EU coordinates with the United States on this and other issues. The EU has pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians to complete a peace treaty. The EU has been more vocal of its support for the Palestinians, particularly for their demand to establish a capital in Jerusalem.

Inside Camp David - Headlines
The Issues
The Goals of the Key Players