State Department Noon Briefing, October 30, 2000
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
Q: Richard, it was announced today, at least on NPR, that the Israelis
are planning to take more or stronger offensive actions to take out
the gunmen that are mixed with the Palestinian population. It sounds
like a dangerous escalation. What does the State Department say about
it?
MR. BOUCHER: I think what I have to say is that I'm not going to try
to characterize specific steps as we go through this. There have been
statements on both sides. There have been steps taken on both sides.
What is important to us is that the commitments made at Sharm el
Sheikh be implemented. That remains the overriding requirement, we
think, to restore peace, to restore calm, and that once we do restore
calm we can start talking; we can talk about how to get back to the
peace process.
Now, the Acting Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami is coming to
Washington this week. He'll have meetings with the Secretary on
Wednesday. We continue to discuss with both parties the meetings or
the efficacy of meetings we could have at various levels, both here
and in the region but, on our side, there are no plans for travel at
this point. So we'll have this conversation on Wednesday with the
Acting Israeli Foreign Minister.
We continue to say, and as I've said today, that the key at this point
is to get the parties to carry out their commitments. The Secretary
made clear this morning we want to see them disengage, we want to see
them lessen the violence, and that they will do everything they can to
get the peace process back on track.
Q: So you can not comment on this specific policy shift?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't think I've ever tried to comment on specific
security steps that the parties have been taking.
Q: Barak seems to have at least an interim lease on political life.
Does the State Department think that's terrific?
MR. BOUCHER: We've never commented on Israeli politics, either.
Q: Only Kosovo politics?
MR. BOUCHER: We haven't commented on Kosovo politics. If somebody has
an election that goes sort of beyond politics to democracy --
Q: (Inaudible) - fundamentally fair? No, it's --
MR. BOUCHER: Come on, Barry. I declined to comment on winning
candidates in the Kosovo election.
Q: I just wondered if you - if State wanted to say whether it makes
it a little more manageable to persist - to pursue your policy.
MR. BOUCHER: We're not in a position to talk about that. That's
internal to the Israeli political system and they'll have to decide
how they proceed.
Q: There are some indications that Barak and Arafat may come the
following week, around the 9th or so, for separate meetings. Is there
anything of that nature on your screen there? And is the Ben-Ami --
one agenda of his visit going to be to perhaps work out details of a
subsequent Barak visit?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't have anything further to that particular meeting.
We are also obviously in touch with Palestinians to talk to them in
various ways, so what develops on that front I don't know. But I think
we made clear last week after the President talked to both sides that
he was prepared to invite them to Washington separately at some point
once calm had been restored in order to discuss how to get back to the
peace process. So whether that materializes at any given point is
speculation. I can't say exactly when, but that offer is kind of
generally out there.
Q: What, specifically, commitments have not been kept from Sharm el
Sheikh, and is it a failure to keep commitments or has it been a
failure of the publics at large or military units to abide by
commitments made verbally at Sharm el Sheikh?
MR. BOUCHER: You know, I think once again these are questions we
haven't answered, and I'm not going to start today trying to give a
scorecard on everybody in terms --
Q: Richard, you said that there might come a - there was going to be
a point when you would. Why hasn't that point been reached yet? I
remember you directly saying --
MR. BOUCHER: I remember directly saying that. It just hasn't.
Q: Why not?
MR. BOUCHER: I'm not going to give a scorecard on why we don't have a
scorecard. It takes 150 points to get to to give a scorecard, and
we're only at 76 right now. I don't know. I can't do that every day.
The point is that, at this stage, the parties - we look to the
parties to carry out fully their commitments. We look to the parties
to do everything they can to return the situation to one of calm and
to end the violence.
Q: Can we change the subject, please?
Q: No.
Q: No.
MR. BOUCHER: We'll do this for a while. I'll get back to you.
Q: Is the State Department aware of a group calling itself the
Saladdin Brigades who claimed responsibility for a killing - I'm not
sure what day it was? They claimed responsibility today, anyway, and
it is apparently a previously unheard of group.
MR. BOUCHER: I hadn't see the report. I'll have to check and see if
our guys know anything about it.
Q: Just back on this issue of not commenting on the Israelis when
they're launching this new offensive, I mean, that really goes in a
whole new direction, and they said they're moving in special forces
into areas. It sounds like they're going to start methodically trying
to take out areas and groups that they see as dangerous to Israeli
soldiers. So only limiting it by saying that we expect them to hold to
the agreements made at Sharm el Sheikh, can they launch an offensive
and still hold to the agreements made at Sharm el Sheikh?
MR. BOUCHER: Again, I'm not - I've seen some press reports this
morning. I don't even know if we have a full readout from the Israelis
about what they intend to do and how they intend to manage the
situation. But I do know that throughout this process we have avoided
comment on specific security steps. We have stressed the importance of
carrying out the commitments made at Sharm el Sheikh, and that remains
critical to us, in our view, at this point.
Q: Will the President be meeting with Ben-Ami?
MR. BOUCHER: That's a question you'll have to ask at the White House.
I don't have anything like that at this point.
Q: Does the peace process at this point - does it continue to be as
high a priority as it was even two weeks ago? Is everyone still as
engaged as they were?
MR. BOUCHER: The President and the Secretary are doing everything they
can to get back to the peace process.
Q: Is there going to be, or has there already begun, a reassessment of
US policy in the peace process since we have indications that
high-ranking Israeli officials say that the US role has changed
dramatically and there seems to be some of the same feeling on the
Palestinian side?
MR. BOUCHER: Didn't you ask that question on Friday? Didn't I answer
that question on Friday? If today is a variation, you'll have to
enlighten me a little more, but I think that's a question we've tried
to answer --
Q: We're waiting --
MR. BOUCHER: And the answer today is the same as the one on Friday.
Q: We're waiting for the elections, apparently, here in the United
States now. We're waiting for Barak. But during this period, can you
confirm that there really is a reassessment going on within the
Department of State?
MR. BOUCHER: No. The fact is - we've said this many times - first of
all, we play a role that the parties want us to play; second of all,
every indication from the parties is that they want us to continue to
play that role. And I think you have heard that from their mouths in
recent days, as much as you've heard it from ours.
Third of all, we think it is very important for UN interests, for
United States interests, that we continue to have a role and play a
role in Middle East peace. So the President and Secretary continue to
work on this. You've seen what they have done. You've seen what they
continue to do. And until the parties tell us they don't want us
anymore or they're not prepared to pursue peace, I think the essential
fundamentals of our role will not change.
Obviously, we recognize that it is hard to make peace with all the
violence going on, and obviously we recognize that getting back to the
peace process is more difficult the longer and deeper and more
emotional the violence that takes place.
Q: Have the Palestinians told you that they do indeed want you to
continue to play the role that Clinton views as honest broker? And if
they do, why aren't they sending anyone to come talk in the week that
Ben-Ami is coming?
MR. BOUCHER: Yes. And I didn't say that.
Q: Yes, they have told you in the recent weeks that they want you to
continue?
MR. BOUCHER: I think, if you look back at what we said after the
President's phone calls last week, it was quite clear they wanted us
to continue to play a role. And, no, I haven't said that they're not
sending anybody to Washington.
Q: What I'm reaching for in a very clumsy way is: Is there a basic
shock to the whole peace process as a result of these events of the
last two weeks, and is the Department simply hunkering down or is it
actually considering a lot of new possibilities for Land-for-Peace, of
sharing Jerusalem and so on?
MR. BOUCHER: I think, as with most questions where I'm offered a
choice, I'll take neither of the above. We certainly think that the
violence makes the pursuit of peace more difficult at the present time
and means that we have to build a path back to the peace process. But
we remain fully committed to doing that, and it retains its important
that it's always had to us, and we remain --
Q: Is it ever going - I'm sorry - is it every going to be the same
peace process? That's what I'd like to - I mean, do you really expect
to get back to the same peace process?
MR. BOUCHER: It's not just picking up where we left off. We've talked
about getting back to the peace process. How the parties want to do
that, how we and the parties agree that can be done, is the subject of
discussions that we intended to have, that we forecast at Sharm el
Sheikh, of discussions that we hope to have, of discussions that the
President might have with leaders should that eventuality materialize.
So how to get back to the peace process is clearly an issue on our
agenda, but an issue that is not yet decided because, first and
foremost, we have to implement the critical commitments that were made
at Sharm el Sheikh and restore calm.
(The briefing was concluded at 1:45 P.M.)
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