29 April 2002
Bush Pleased with Agreement to End Siege of Arafat Headquarters
(White House report: Press Secretary Ari Fleischer briefed) (480)
BUSH PLEASED WITH AGREEMENT TO END SIEGE OF ARAFAT HEADQUARTERS
President Bush is pleased with steps taken over the weekend to end the
Israeli siege of the headquarters in Ramallah of Palestinian Authority
Chairman Yasser Arafat, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told
reporters April 29.
Israel and Arafat over the weekend agreed to a U.S. plan for ending
the siege. The plan calls for the transfer to British and U.S. control
of Palestinian prisoners suspected of involvement in the killing last
October of Israel's tourism minister, a pullback of Israel's tanks,
and freedom for Arafat to travel.
"I think everything will happen in very short order, all as
simultaneous as events can be," Fleischer said.
The Palestinian prisoners "will be in Palestinian jails, and
Palestinians will remain involved, but they will do so with United
States and British involvement, which was agreeable to all the
parties," Fleischer said.
He described the weekend agreement as "a real note of hope, a
breakthrough, in a region that has recently been marked by notes of
despair. And a lot of ongoing work will be done, but so far, so good.
And the Palestinian Authority this morning said that they expect,
within a day or two, to transfer custody of the six prisoners, and the
President is pleased with the action over the weekend and pleased with
the initial follow-through.
"But it's going to have to be closely monitored. Nothing in the Middle
East is easy. Nothing stays as hopeful as you'd like it to be for
long. Nevertheless, positive notes have sounded, and the President
wants to keep the environment alive for more positive notes to
follow," Fleischer said.
Asked about the United Nations fact-finding team being set up to
investigate allegations of a massacre in the Palestinian refugee camp
of Jenin, Fleischer said President Bush "continues to believe it's
important to find the facts, to have transparency. That issue is being
worked on very hard at the United Nations. Israel and the U.N. are in
discussion about the exact membership of the fact-finding team. And
the United States and others are being helpful in trying to resolve
it."
Asked about the movement of Israeli tanks into the West Bank city of
Hebron, Fleischer said, "The President looks at events in the Middle
East from the broad perspective that all parties have to remember to
focus on peace. And terrorist attacks clearly don't help the cause of
peace. And the President wants to make certain that all parties
remember the broader vision, which is no violence, reduced violence,
and a focus on peace."
Israel Radio said the object of the incursion was to arrest militants,
not to occupy the city.
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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