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The signatures "Y. Arafat", "Y. Rabin" and "Bill Clinton" on a White House program dated to the landmark 1993 Palestinian-Israel peace accord are on auction starting at 50,000 dollars on the US eBay website.
Melinda Bates, a White House staff member under then-president Clinton, obtained the autographs of Clinton, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin together as the three leaders marked the historical accord on September 13, 1993.
"As a Special Assistant to the President, I helped organize and carry out this event. This ceremony is the one memorialized by the famous photo of President Clinton with his arms extended to Mr. Rabin on one side and Mr. Arafat on the other, with the White House behind them," the web page featuring Bates' document says.
Bates points out that the program includes a misspelling, with the word "Isreal" under Rabin's name. "Because the event was decided on a Friday, to take place on Monday, all the arrangements were done in a great rush. The State Department was responsible for creating the program, and in its hurry was careless with editing ... Oops!" she said.
After Arafat died last November, Clinton recalled the date as the highest moment in the Palestinian leader's career.
But the historical document's value may have suffered over time along with the ill-fated peace deal. With a starting price for the auction set at 50,000 dollars, no bids had been received by mid-Thursday after a day on the block.
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US-Palestinian-Arafat-Rabin-Clinton-history-auction
AFP 161950 GMT 03 06
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