White House Daily Briefing, Tuesday, October 10, 2000
THE WHITE HOUSE
OFFICE OF THE PRESS SECRETARY
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2000
PRESS BRIEFING BY JAKE SIEWERT
THE JAMES S. BRADY PRESS BRIEFING ROOM
1:20 P.M. EDT
MR. SIEWERT: Well, for those of you who weren't here over the weekend,
the President was deeply engaged since Friday evening in a diplomatic
initiative to break the cycle of violence in the Mideast. He's spoken
to numerous leaders in the region, and continues to do so today, in
his efforts to find ways to stop the violence.
This morning he spoke with Prime Minister Barak and Chairman Arafat to
discuss steps that we can take to -- that they can take in the region
to end the cycle of violence. And I expect there will be some
follow-up to those calls by the President's foreign policy team today,
and I think the President will also be in touch with Secretary General
Annan to see how his meetings went and get an update from him and
discuss the diplomacy that he's undertaken in the region to end the
violence. And we'll keep you up to date on that as these discussions
proceed.
Q: Does the President see an utility in going to the Middle East?
MR. SIEWERT: That's a judgment that we'll be assessing and reassessing
as the day goes on.
Q: As the day goes on?
MR. SIEWERT: As the day goes on. We said yesterday that we had made a
--
Q: Sounds like you're very positive.
MR. SIEWERT: Ultimately, we'll make a decision about what we think is
most effective and how the President's time can best be used. I think
that there's no doubt that the press likes to focus on meetings and
logistics, in some instances, that might be involved in a trip. But we
are focused essentially on substance and what we can do, concrete
steps that the parties can take to create the conditions on the ground
that would make those kinds of talks constructive.
Q: Jake, did the President discuss the idea of a summit there in the
region with Barak and Arafat today?
MR. SIEWERT: We have a number of ideas that are under discussion about
how we can move the process forward. Some of the discussions we said
yesterday involve meetings in the region; some of them involve a trip
by the President; some of them involve a trip by the Secretary of
State. Ultimately we'll have to make a decision about what we think is
most effective in furthering the cause of reducing violence, reducing
tension in the region, and creating the right conditions on the
ground.
Q: What time are you going to announce the trip? (Laughter.)
MR. SIEWERT: I would not prejudge what we'll decide ultimately on this
one way or the other. I'd be very careful. I know many of you expected
some outcome, some resolution to this issue last night, and we
cautioned you yesterday that we're going to make a judgment based on
what we think will be most effective. Yesterday we made a judgment
that we would continue talks. The President has continued discussions
with the leaders, and we'll continue our discussions today.
Q: Is the President also considering a trip out of the region, to
Europe, instead?
MR. SIEWERT: There are a number of options that are under active
consideration, but I'm not going to detail them for you here today.
Q: What was your reaction to the Egyptians saying that they didn't
think that they would host such a summit, if there were one?
MR. SIEWERT: That is one of the ideas that had been under discussion,
but we have other options that we could employ. We remain committed to
talking to both Chairman Arafat and Prime Minister Barak, to see what
concrete steps they can take to move this process forward.
Q: Do you plan any further contacts with Mubarak, and do you regard to
Egyptian participation as an important part of any summit or meeting?
MR. SIEWERT: As you know, the President's talked to Mubarak several
times over the weekend, and I expect that they'll continue to play a
role. I'm not aware of any planned calls today.
Q: Jake, you've been talking about concrete steps. What sort of steps?
Let's focus on that.
MR. SIEWERT: I think you'll understand that we are not going to get
into the nitty gritty of that from this podium, but there have been
some steps taken, and today we've seen somewhat of a decline in the
level of violence there, but not nearly enough, and we're continuing
to urge all sides to do more, to urge all publicly and privately, the
people that they can influence in the region to do more, to take more
concrete steps to lower the level of violence.
Q: Are the Israelis using arms and weapons that we gave them against
-- in the internal situation here?
MR. SIEWERT: I don't know exactly. I mean, I think that's probably a
question that's best addressed to them, but I can check on it.
Q: What is the U.S. position on the prisoner exchange, and is the U.S.
pressuring Israel to swap Arab prisoners for the three soldiers?
MR. SIEWERT: No, certainly not.
Q: Your position on it?
MR. SIEWERT: We think that situation ought to be resolved. The
President talked to the Syrians about that this weekend. We think they
ought to use their influence with the Hezbollah to return these
soldiers.
Q: Jake, you announced that the President talked to these leaders, but
can you tell us what message he's giving to the leaders?
MR. SIEWERT: The message he --
Q: A little more specific, other than he called?
MR. SIEWERT: Unfortunately, never been helpful to detail in a lot of
-- at great length the substance of those calls from this podium. Our
diplomacy, as we've said for some time in this area, is best conducted
privately. We have urged all sides to do more -- to take concrete
steps, to defuse the tension, to lower the level of violence and
ultimately to find a way that we can begin to get back to the table
and resolve differences at the negotiating table and not in the
streets.
Q: On a related issue. Over the weekend the Crown Prince of Saudi
Arabia, Abdullah, said that Saudi Arabia would not stand idly by if
Israel got into a fight with Lebanon and Syria. Have you received any
assurances through talks with the Saudis they're not considering using
oil as a weapon, or do you know what --
MR. SIEWERT: I'll check on that. I don't know if that topic has come
up specifically in our discussions.
Q: Do you have any idea what the Crown Price is referring to when he
says --
MR. SIEWERT: You would have to ask him.
Q: Jake, you said this morning that the extension of the ultimatum
given by Mr. Barak was a step in the right direction. Do you feel
that, equally, Chairman Arafat has made positive steps in the last
couple of days?
MR. SIEWERT: I think he has taken some steps, but he could do more to
lower the level of violence. And I think the President has
communicated that to him. I didn't say it was a step in the right
direction, although I said it seemed to be helpful in defusing the
tension and give us a chance to end the violence there.
Q: Jake, is it troublesome at all to have the First Lady speak out
against the United States for not vetoing the U.N. resolution that
appeared to blame Israel for the violence?
MR. SIEWERT: Well, we worked hard on that resolution; the U.N.
Ambassador worked very hard on trying to fix some of the problems. But
ultimately we were not able to support it. We've said for some time
now that the First Lady would have differences of opinion with the
President, with the White House from time to time, and that's to be
expected. She's running her own campaign and has her own ideas. But we
were very clear that we didn't support that resolution, but we felt
that it was best to abstain given the circumstances.
Q: Did she try to persuade anyone here at the White House to go a step
farther and veto it?
MR. SIEWERT: Not that I'm aware of.
Q: Did the President and Mrs. Clinton discuss the issue before the
abstention was cast?
MR. SIEWERT: I don't know. I don't know.
Q: Jake, the President has said he is open to having some sort of a
summit if it would be helpful. The Prime Minister of Israel came
around last night and said that he would attend such a summit if it
were called. Is the question now whether there will be a summit up to
the Palestinians, and the Palestinians alone?
MR. SIEWERT: No, I think ultimately we will make a judgment if the
parties on the ground are taking the steps to make such a meeting
helpful. Ultimately, we're focused on substance, on diplomacy. The
President spent a lot of time on the phone this weekend and this
morning, not just discussing where and when and whether to have a
summit, but whether we can break the cycle of violence. And ultimately
we're going to be focused on the steps that may involve a trip, it may
not involve a trip; but ultimately, we're going to make a judgment
about what we think the President can do to best move the process
forward.
Q: Jake, in terms of breaking the cycle of violence that you referred
to, some people think that if the Palestinians get this commission
that they want to look into the causes of the present unrest and make
suggestions for the future -- of course, they prefer to see it under
U.N. auspices -- does the President think that's a good idea in
lowering the temperature there?
MR. SIEWERT: We think it would be helpful to get some facts. That's
something we've been discussing with the parties in trying to find a
way, a mechanism to gather facts about the situation. I noticed the
Prime Minister Barak indicated an openness to something that was under
the auspices of the United States, but might involve some
international cooperation, so that's something that we're continuing
to discuss and something that's substantive that has been at the heart
of our diplomacy.
Q: And the United States would, in fact, be willing to take part in
this sort of fact-finding?
MR. SIEWERT: We'll do something if we believe that ultimately it's
helpful in trying to move the process forward.
Q: Egypt's Foreign Minister suggested the next summit to deal with the
problem would likely be an Arab summit a couple of weeks from now. Do
you sense that the situation could wait for the Arab gathering two
weeks from now, and would you have concerns about the Arab position
hardening if it waited that long?
MR. SIEWERT: I think we're focused on what we can do in the shorter
term. I think there's no doubt that there's too much violence in the
streets today, yesterday, over the weekend, and we want to do
everything we can to defuse the tension there, and to take steps now
that will lower the level of violence. We have been engaged, as I
said, just this morning, in trying to do that, and we don't think it
can wait.
Q: Joe, is this U.S.-led meeting with --
MR. SIEWERT: Accept the compliment, thank you. (Laughter.)
Q: The U.S. led meeting with Arafat and Barak to look into the causes
of the violence. Is that still alive? It was discussed last week.
MR. SIEWERT: I don't know if that's a meeting. We're looking at some
sort of mechanism to gather facts. That's something that came up in
Paris. Ultimately, they didn't resolve their differences about how
that might be constituted, but that's something that we're --
Q: Facts of what? Who started it?
MR. SIEWERT: The facts of what happened on the ground, and what might
be done to prevent --
Q: We don't know what happened on the ground?
MR. SIEWERT: I think we know some, but both parties seem to agree at
this point, in principle anyway, that it would be useful to have some
sort of mechanism for finding facts. We're not focused right now on
gathering those facts, we're focused on the diplomacy that might break
the violence.
....
Q: Is the U.S. being hampered by the fact that we still don't have a
functioning diplomat to Israel?
MR. SIEWERT: The Ambassador is in the region today and remains a part
of the team -- somewhat limited in his ability to conduct that.
Q: Is he still under investigation?
MR. SIEWERT: There is an ongoing look at what security measures he may
or may not have violated. I'll leave that to State to describe. But he
is working and remains involved.
Q: How is he part of the team? I thought one of the rules was he
couldn't meet with other diplomats or something.
MR. CROWLEY: He can meet with individuals, but he can't work on
classified information.
Q: Jake, did anybody at the White House speak with Kofi Annan today?
MR. SIEWERT: I don't believe so, but I expect the President will talk
to him later today.
Q: North Korea -- two things. One, can you describe for us a little
bit about the letter of ideas that President Kim sent along? And
second of all, can you tell us whether we should be expecting in the
next day or so some further declarations from the President on
progress of North Korea towards getting off the terrorism list?
MR. SIEWERT: Was there a briefing on that? Did I miss it? I must have
missed it. As you know, the President received a letter today from Kim
Chong-il outlining a number of ways in which might further the
exchange of ideas about how to lower tension on the Korean Peninsula.
I haven't seen that letter. I don't think we'll release it. It's
private diplomatic correspondence, but it's something we're examining.
We're taking a look at some of the proposals that were made in there,
and seeing whether we can build on the progress that's already been
made in the region, in the wake of the historic summit there in June.
We'll let you know. I don't know that the President will have anything
more to say about that, but I expect at some point, after the meetings
today and tomorrow, that the Secretary of State will have some more
detailed guidance about where we go from here.
Q: Jake, will the President take questions at his 4:35 p.m. signing
today?
MR. SIEWERT: I would not expect so, no.
Q: Will he address the Mideast at all in his remarks?
MR. SIEWERT: Not at the moment, I don't expect anything. No.
END 1:40 P.M. EDT
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