02 April 2002
Powell Speaks on CBS on Mideast Conflict
(Says U.S. urges Israel to use care in going after terrorist groups)
(1120)
Following is the transcript of Secretary of State Colin Powell's April
2 interview with CBS on the conflict in the Middle East:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesman April 2, 2002
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell Interview On CBS's The Early Show
with Bryant Gumbel
April 2, 2002
(7:03 a.m. EST)
MR. GUMBEL: Secretary of State Colin Powell is at the State
Department. Mr. Secretary, good morning.
SECRETARY POWELL: Good morning, Bryant.
MR. GUMBEL: As Israeli troops continue their moves, what kind of a
message are you conveying to Ariel Sharon?
SECRETARY POWELL: We are conveying a message to Ariel Sharon that he
should use care in going after the terrorist organizations that he has
targeted, and also to say to him at the end of the day we have to find
a way to find a peaceful solution, a political solution, through this
crisis. But right now, he is faced with a difficult problem, and that
is suicide bombers that are coming in every day.
The administration has tried very hard in the past six weeks or so to
deal with this. We worked hard to get a UN resolution about three
weeks ago that called for two Palestinian states. We sent the Vice
President in the region, along with General Zinni, in order to get the
Tenet work plan started, a work plan that gets both sides to enter
into a ceasefire. We thought both sides were ready for that. The
Israelis accepted it. Prime Minister Sharon waived his previous
requirement for seven days of quiet, and all of those efforts were
responded to with suicide attacks.
Last week, we thought we were on a road to considerable progress, with
the Arab summit and an important initiative from the Crown Prince of
Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Abdullah. Everything was moving along,
Zinni was making progress, and then we had the terrible bombing last
Passover evening which killed 22 people. And at that point, the
Israelis said we have to do something about this.
So we are continuing to press the Palestinian side, leaders at all
levels, to speak out against this kind of senseless violence that
kills innocent people, because it is not only killing innocent Israeli
citizens; it is destroying the Palestinians' own dream for a state of
their own.
MR. GUMBEL: Mr. Secretary, you spoke of the UN. The administration
voted in the UN Security Council calling for Israeli forces to
withdraw, yet you have not asked Sharon directly to do the same. Why
not?
SECRETARY POWELL: We have talked to Prime Minister Sharon about the
resolution and suggested to him that, you know, we see what you're
doing, we know that you have an inherent right of self-defense, but
you need to do this, whatever you're doing, get it over with as
quickly as possible. And he has reaffirmed that he has no intention of
staying within those Palestinian areas, because no matter how many
tanks go through how many villages, at the end of this process you
will still have suicide bombers.
And so, ultimately, all sides know that whatever effect an Israeli
incursion may have in the legitimate right of self-defense, we have to
find another way forward. And that is why the UN resolution touched on
withdrawal as well as a ceasefire. We've got to get going.
MR. GUMBEL: As you know, Mr. Sharon's history of Palestinians'
treatment is suspect at best. Based on US reaction, do you think he
has a reason to believe he has a blank check where military incursion
is concerned?
SECRETARY POWELL: No, we have never given him a blank check, we have
never given him a green light; we have never talked about traffic
signals at all. We have made it clear that we believe the right answer
is a political process that moves us forward, and that political
process is also there for the Palestinian side, and it begins with the
Tenet work plan, where we do concrete steps to get out of this
terrible situation, to get into a ceasefire, immediately followed by
the Mitchell process, which is the political process that gets us to
negotiations to find a solution to this problem. We have a political
process, we have a route to negotiations; what we need is an end to
the violence, an end to the terrorist activities, which are destroying
the dreams of the Palestinian people and killing innocent civilians
and, in the response to that, other innocent civilians are being
killed. Both sides are losing right now, and it's time to find a way
forward, and we are working hard on that.
MR. GUMBEL: I'm sorry. You speak of an end to the terrorist activity,
yet yesterday the President declined to say that Yasser Arafat was a
terrorist. Why doesn't he, at the very least, fit the description of
one who harbors terrorists?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, there are terrorist activities. We see them
every day with these suicide bombers, and they are condemned by
Palestinian leaders at all level. But Chairman Arafat is the head of
the Palestinian Authority, an organization that we helped create. He
is seen as the leader of the Palestinian people. He has been working
in a process with respect to the Tenet work plan and the Mitchell
plan. And so we still believe that there is more that he can do, and
we are asking him to do more, and it would not serve our purpose right
now to brand him individually as a terrorist.
MR. GUMBEL: Final quick note -- I know you've got to go. There have
been calls for you to go to the Mideast personally to try to negotiate
a ceasefire. Will you?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, I have always kept myself open to do whatever
is appropriate, but I think we have been deeply engaged and I have
been playing the correct role over the last several weeks. We had the
Vice President in the region, we had General Zinni in the region. The
Vice President was ready to meet with Chairman Arafat, if only the
conditions permitted it. But instead, there were bombs. There was a
lack of agreement to enter the Tenet process on the part of the
Palestinian side.
So we are ready to move forward. We are ready to send whoever we have
to, wherever we have to, to get this process moving forward, but not
trips just for the sake of trips.
MR. GUMBEL: Secretary of State Colin Powell, I thank you very much.
Wish you the best. We appreciate it.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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