Original sentence: "We made progress, substantial progress.At the closing press conference, the parties issued this joint statement: 'The sides declare that they have never been closer to reaching an agreement and it is thus our shared belief that the remaining gaps could be bridged with the resumption of negotiations following the Israeli election.Evidence to support this view is provided by David Matz in the Palestine - Israel Journal of Politics, Economics and Culture.He ordered his men to break off and return home.Saeb Erekat, Palestinian chief negotiator, said, "My heart aches because I know we were so close.The breakdown is often attributed to the political circumstances posed by Israeli elections and changeover in leadership in the United States:  But they had run out of political time.The issue of who ended the negotiations is disputed.There is no consensus and myriad perspectives.They couldn't conclude an agreement with Clinton now out of office and Barak standing for reelection in two weeks.Uri Avnery of the Israeli peace group Gush Shalom attributed the failure to a decision by Barak, claiming that : "It was not Arafat who broke off the talks at this critical moment, when the light at the end of the tunnel was clearly visible to the negotiators, but Barak.We are closer than ever to the possibility of striking a final deal," said Shlomo Ben-Ami, Israel's negotiator.We need six more weeks to conclude the drafting of the agreement.concerning a joint statement  He notes that, "The Taba negotiation began on Sunday evening, January 21, and ended on Saturday afternoon, January 27 [2001]