Albright on Middle East Peace
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Special Middle East
Coordinator Dennis Ross say neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians
have the luxury of choosing whom they will negotiate with in the
Middle East peace process.
Albright spoke on a television news program (ABC's This Week) October
15 as President Clinton prepared to attend a summit with Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat October 16 in
Egypt. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak organized the summit in an
effort to organize a cease-fire between Palestinian protesters and
Israeli soldiers so that peace negotiations can resume.
"I don't think that, frankly, either side is able to choose the
partner that they have to negotiate with," Albright said.
The secretary of state played down suggestions from an interviewer
[Cokie Roberts] that Arafat is to blame for the recent eruption of
violence, but Albright did say that Arafat needs to do more to control
the turmoil.
Following are excerpts of Albright's remarks to ABC news:
(begin excerpts)
QUESTION: This is a tense time, and this summit planned for tomorrow
(October 16), is there any hope for it? Sam and George have talked to
the three people Sam just introduced. They all have very strong
opinions and don't agree with each other.
Albright: Well, we don't have illusions about the summit as the
president said yesterday, but I think it's important that we have it
and we're grateful that President Mubarak [of Egypt] has pulled the
people together for it. I think the important point here is that we do
have to try to reduce the violence and take a turn back for a period
of calmness, so that we can move back to a peace process.
Q: Do you expect to at least get a cease-fire signed?
Albright: Well, that's what we're working on. We have been talking to
the parties, and all of us have. Secretary General [Kofi Annan] has,
and we think it's very important to try to end this period of violence
and get a period of calm.
Q: Now, we've just received this piece of wire copy saying that the
Russians would like to participate on the same basis as the other
countries. Would you welcome that?
Albright: I think we have to see...how many people are there, and they
clearly have been co-sponsors of the peace process and [Russian]
Foreign Minister Ivanov was in the region. They have some different
ideas about how things should be done, but it's not up to us to make
that decision.
Q: In this past week, there has been tremendous upset in this country
[United States] with [Palestinian leader] Yasser Arafat. People
saying, at best, he has not prepared his people for peace. At worst,
he is trying to get a Palestinian state and not really be part of the
peace process. Most of the [U.S.] Senate signed a letter on Friday
[October 13] complaining about what they called a coordinated campaign
of Palestinian violence, and then they went on to say, and here is the
letter, "That campaign leads us to believe that Arafat either seeks to
use violence as a negotiating tool to extort even further concessions
from the government of Israel or that he in fact intends to end the
peace process in its entirety as a prelude to unilateral declaration
of Palestinian statehood." Is Arafat a partner in this or is he the
troublemaker?
Albright: Well, I think we all know that Arafat is in charge of the
Palestinian Authority. He has the responsibility for controlling the
violence. We think he should do more, and he has that responsibility.
I don't think that, frankly, either side is able to choose the partner
that they have to negotiate with. Arafat is the leader of the
Palestinian Authority, and he is the one that has to be the one that
engages in the negotiations, and I think he has made in the past seven
years some important decisions for peace, but we now believe that he
has to do more to control the violence, and that the peace process --
frankly, Cokie, the peace process is the only road. I think that we're
seeing what the other option is by having watched the streets for the
last two weeks.
Q: Later in the broadcast, we'll hear his negotiator, Mr. Erakat, say
that Barak cannot have the Palestinians as partners and have Ariel
Sharon, the leader of the opposition, as a partner, as he has
proposed, in a national unity government. Where do you go with that?
Albright: As I said, neither side can choose its partner. You have to
deal with the people that are in office and have the responsibility,
and obviously I'm not going to get involved in Israeli domestic
politics. They have to choose whom they choose, but I think the point
here from both your questions is that neither side has the option.
They have who's there on the other side.
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