28 September 2001
Excerpt: U.S. Facilitated Sept 28 Israeli-Palestinian Security Talks
(Boucher urges parties not to jeopardize renewed dialogue) (1040)
The U.S. government attended and facilitated Israeli-Palestinian
security discussions September 28 and is encouraged that both sides
agreed to meet again soon to try to further security cooperation,
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington
September 28.
"We are indeed glad to see that they had the security meeting today.
We think it's essential that these meetings continue, that they engage
in the fullest possible coordination on security issues to help ensure
a lasting halt to violence and terror. The United States attended and
facilitated these discussions," Boucher said in his daily media
briefing at the State Department.
The spokesman said it is essential that both sides avoid actions that
jeopardize the renewed dialogue that began in Gaza September 26. He
said the United States would become more deeply involved in the peace
effort if the parties expand cooperation and move toward political
negotiations.
"[I]f we get towards more and more steps of cooperation, as we get
towards the political dialogue based on Resolutions 242 and 338, that
we anticipate, I'm sure the United States will play a very large
role," Boucher said.
(begin excerpt)
Q: Topic B? Are you satisfied with the pace of the Egyptian- Israeli
talks? The secretary, when he saw --
Q: Egyptian-Israeli?
Q: I'm sorry.
MR. BOUCHER: We knew what he meant.
Q: No, I was about to say when the Egyptian foreign minister came out
Wednesday, the secretary said that as the meetings progress, he could
see a more active role for the U.S. I wondered if you could flesh that
out at all. And indeed, you know, they met today and they (had ?)
preliminary discussion. Are things moving along nicely?
MR. BOUCHER: We are indeed glad to see that they had the security
meeting today. We think it's essential that these meetings continue,
that they engage in the fullest possible coordination on security
issues to help ensure a lasting halt to violence and terror. The
United States attended and facilitated these discussions. We recognize
much work remains to be done, particularly in the security areas.
We're encouraged that the sides have agreed to meet again soon to
continue those discussions. We would say it's also essential that both
the Palestinians and Israelis avoid actions that jeopardize this
renewed dialogue that has been initiated on September 26 in Gaza and
that both sides need to do everything possible to restore an
atmosphere of calm.
Q: Thank you.
Is that it?
MR. BOUCHER: Mark?
Q: Any thoughts on the anniversary of the outbreak of the intifada?
MR. BOUCHER: No. We think that what's going on right now offers an
important opportunity to break with the violence, to break with the
terror and to let the Palestinians and Israelis get back to a
situation where they can lead normal lives and where they can resolve
their issues through political discussions.
Q: Any phone calls on the subject?
MR. BOUCHER: On this subject?
Q: Or on any other?
MR. BOUCHER: They're always making phone calls. He talked to the NATO
secretary-general this morning. Yesterday the secretary talked to a
number of people, including the Sri Lankan foreign minister, the
British foreign secretary, Chairman Arafat, Foreign Minister Peres,
the Indonesian foreign minister, the foreign minister of the United
Arab Emirates.
Q: That was all yesterday.
....
Q: Back to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Could you give us some
idea of what kind of steps would be necessary at this point for the
U.S. to undertake the larger role that the secretary said he could
foresee?
MR. BOUCHER: I would say that the United States has been involved at
various levels. We do play a significant role. We'll continue to work
with the parties as they move forward and as our services or help or
contribution is desired by the parties, we'll play whatever role they
think is appropriate and whatever role we think can usefully
contribute.
Q: But if he said he could foresee a larger role, what's holding that
up now?
MR. BOUCHER: As things accelerate, if we get towards more and more
steps of cooperation, as we get towards the political dialogue based
on Resolutions 242 and 338, that we anticipate, I'm sure the United
States will play a very large role.
Q: On that, isn't the attending and facilitating a security talk an
enlarged role? I mean, there hadn't been security talks, so obviously
your role --
MR. BOUCHER: There haven't been any security talks for several months.
Q: Right.
MR. BOUCHER: We have played that role in the past. I'm sure we will in
the future. We take -
Q: But that attendance and facilitation --
MR. BOUCHER: I'm not dealing with large, medium and small on this one.
We played a very active role, we've been involved in what's going on.
We've tried to move this process forward. One of the ways we've done
that is through our direct contacts with the leaders, and also in our
direct work with the sides on the security.
Q: I guess what I'm trying to get is -- at is, was the secretary -- do
you think the secretary -- was the secretary referring to this as --
when he was talking about the role, or was he referring to something
else?
MR. BOUCHER: I think he was referring to the general proposition that
whatever role we could play to help this process move forward, we
would try to play, and that as it accelerated, as the cooperation
between the two sides grew larger, after their initial direct contacts
with two sides, there may be a larger role for the United States to
play in helping that process continue.
Q: Richard, yesterday you made some specific requests from the
Israelis -- (inaudible).
Q: (Inaudible.)
Q: Yes. Do you consider them to have responded adequately to your
requests?
MR. BOUCHER: I think 24 hours is probably too little time to judge,
but we would continue to believe it's important for both sides to take
specific and concrete steps to cement the peace, to make the quiet
work better, and that they avoid actions that could escalate. We've
talked about those kind of things before.
(end excerpt)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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