10 April 2002
Powell Calls for Accelerating Mideast Negotiations
(Prepared to extend stay in region to promote peace effort) (3880)
Secretary of State Colin Powell says the violence between Israelis and
Palestinians has made it important to speed up negotiations for a
political settlement.
[W]e're going to have to act a lot quicker, because people are looking
for a political statement, a political discussion, a political
negotiation, and not just a cease-fire," Powell said, briefing
reporters April 9 on the plane to Madrid. "I think it just accelerates
what we've been thinking about."
Powell, meeting with U.S. friends and allies in the Arab world and
Europe before traveling to Israel and the Palestinian territories,
said he is prepared to extend his stay in the region to promote the
Tenet work plan for security cooperation and the Mitchell Committee's
recommendations for lasting peace.
Powell said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is trying to complete
military operations in the Palestinian areas and remains committed to
the political and security processes with the Palestinians.
The secretary reiterated that the international community continued to
recognize Yasser Arafat as the leader of the Palestinians, and that he
felt it was important for the United States to stay in touch with him.
Once discussions on security cooperation and a political settlement
are established, Powell said third-party monitors could be deployed to
help the parties keep their agreements.
Powell said President Bush sent him on his Middle East peace mission
because the Israeli-Palestinian violence was beginning to cause
long-term damage to the region.
"[T]hose actions are now doing serious damage to the long-term
prospects for peace in the region, for Israel's strategic position in
the region and Arafat's strategic position in the region, which is why
the President acted," Powell said.
Powell said he has been encouraged by Arab governments, which have
said they will engage more fully once violence is stopped and a
cease-fire is in place. He said the United States has been in contact
with Syria and Iran about restraining Hezbollah from attacking Israel
from the north. He said the leaders of Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Egypt
said that they eventually would be willing to meet Palestinian leaders
and encourage them to take a "new direction" which would lead to
peace.
The secretary said the Palestinian institutions of governance and
security have been severely damaged and will need to be rebuilt in
order for the Palestinian Authority to work with Israel.
Powell also said he does not expect significant economic disruption to
be caused by Iraq's announcement that it will stop oil exports because
of the Israeli-Palestinian violence. He said other oil producers will
likely compensate for a possible shortage.
Following is the transcript of Secretary Powell's on board briefing:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE Office of the Spokesman
For Immediate Release
April 9, 2002
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell Press Briefing on Board Plane En
Route Madrid
April 9, 2002
QUESTION: Both you and the President have repeatedly called on Israel
to withdraw now. Has Israel reached the point that it is openly
defying the US?
SECRETARY POWELL: It's not a matter of defying the United States.
Israel is a sovereign country that makes its own decisions. It has a
democratically elected leader. We made it clear, however, that we
thought it would be best for them to withdraw now.
As you all noted, withdrawals began yesterday. There was another
reoccupation of a village near Hebron and we'll see if that was
temporary thing. Best information is that it was just temporary. We
are expecting other withdrawals to take place, sooner would be better.
Now would be better in our judgment.
I talked to Prime Minister Sharon this morning. He reiterated to me
what he said previously, that he feels he has to bring these actions
to a close in an expeditious manner. He's trying to do that. He is
trying to expedite the conclusion of these operations. He's anxious to
finish them, get out, and remains committed to a negotiating process,
a political process, a security process. The President is being kept
informed. The President is monitoring it on a regular basis. He hopes
there will be improvement in the remaining cities and towns as soon as
possible.
QUESTION: The Boston Globe today had a story quoting two
Administration officials, one of them at the Pentagon, saying that the
Israelis have been told they have until you get there to really begin
significant withdrawals.
SECRETARY POWELL: It is not a position the President has taken, nor I
have taken, nor Secretary Rumsfeld has taken, nor the Vice President
has taken, nor Dr. Rice has taken. Therefore, I don't know who these
officials are. They have said no such thing representing the US
government.
The President had said "as soon as possible" on Thursday. He asked
that the Prime Minister consider the consequences of his actions and
the implications of further activity of this kind. He said it more
clearly on Saturday, and then spoke to Prime Minister Sharon Saturday
afternoon, and then repeated it again yesterday. I think it is clear.
He wants the withdrawals to begin now. And it is not linked to whether
I am there to deliver the message, or I am there to hear the answer.
The message has been delivered, and the answer can be given at any
time. And we started to get an answer last night with the beginning of
the withdrawals.
QUESTION: Senior members of the Administration say in private that
they're looking past Arafat. Do you yourself believe, is it the
position of the US government, that he is the only address for
political negotiation?
SECRETARY POWELL: When I just look at the situation that we have
before us, Chairman Arafat, as you've heard me say many times, is seen
by the Palestinian people as their leader. Moreover, everybody I have
spoken to on this trip so far, all the Arab leaders that I've spoken
to, also recognize Chairman Arafat as the leader of the Palestinian
people. And you have heard a number of other organizations and
political leaders around the world, the European Union and others,
show recognition for Chairman Arafat as the leader of Palestinian
people and as the leader of the Palestinian Authority.
Notwithstanding the circumstances under which he finds himself right
now, he still has that position. And it is difficult to speculate what
will happen past him, after him, or if he weren't there. The reality
is he is there. I think it is important for us to stay in touch with
him. I've met with him previously. I've talked to him on many
occasions on the telephone and I hope I'll be able to see him and I
intend to see him, if it is at all possible.
QUESTION: Spanish Foreign Minister Pique has said in the last week
that Europe might consider sanctions against Israel. Have you had any
conversations with the Israeli government telling Prime Minister
Sharon what kind of punishment he might face if he doesn't follow your
advice?
SECRETARY POWELL: No, I've seen those reports about the European Union
and I'm sure they'll say more to me tomorrow when we meet. I have had
no conversations of that kind with Prime Minister Sharon.
QUESTION: We heard talk of a notion of observers, monitors. Could you
flesh it out a bit? How do you see it?
SECRETARY POWELL: What we had in mind with respect to monitors or
observers when we introduced the concept last year was that if we got
into Tenet, Mitchell -- and please see them all as linked. Neither of
these stand-alone. They are linked. One flows into another. What we
saw is that once they started talking to each other and the security
meetings began and political discussions took place as part of the
confidence-building effort, it ought to have a new element introduced,
a new party introduced, monitors would be useful, some initially small
number.
We're not talking large numbers of troops. We're talking about some
small numbers of people that we would draw, perhaps from our
diplomatic presence there, or send in some other individuals from the
State Department and/or other government agencies. Some small number
that will monitor activity, monitor the performance required under
Tenet on both sides and measure that performance, and where problems
arose between the two sides, lend their good offices. They would not
be inter-positional force, trying to keep people from shooting at each
other. They would be monitors and observers, trying to help the two
parties keep the agreement they made, we hope, in good faith.
QUESTION: A spokesman for the Egyptian government said that the
umbilical relationship between the US and Israel is such that the US
has to be able to pressure Israel and take a responsibility for
Israel's actions. That is the essence of what he was saying. Arab
leaders seemed to be unwilling to accept the fact that we've done
everything we can in the President's statements and phone calls. Is
there anything more we can do?
SECRETARY POWELL: We do have a close relationship with Israel, and
we're very proud of that relationship. It has served us well, and
served Israel well over the past 54 years and it will continue. But
Israel is a sovereign nation that makes its own decisions. We do, I
believe, we have considerable influence, whichever party is in power,
and we use that influence, respectful of the fact that it is a
sovereign nation and a friend. You've heard my statements. You've
heard the President's statement. Obviously there are other
conversations going on and other discussions taking place at different
levels of government between the Israeli side and the US side, but I'm
not prepared to go into any details on it.
QUESTION: Could I ask a follow-up on something you said in your
meeting with the Foreign Minister as well as what you just mentioned
about linking Tenet and Mitchell being totally linked? When it's time
for everybody to stop violence. Is it time for everybody to stop
wanting conditions?
SECRETARY POWELL: I've always seen this as the Mitchell process
leading to negotiations, but before you can get to those negotiations;
you had to do some backward planning. Well, we're not ready to
negotiate because confidence has been lost. Okay. We have to restore
confidence. So, George Mitchell added that to the front end of the
Mitchell Report. Remember, there was no Tenet Report or work plan when
we tabled Mitchell. But we couldn't get into those confidence-building
measures, or that cooling off period, so we tried to find a way to
jump-start that with Tenet. And then we have tried in a number of ways
over the last year to get it started.
In the course of focusing on getting it started and security
consultations, I sensed that people were losing the original point and
focus of Mitchell, which was the political process, negotiations. And
that's why I've been emphasizing it more lately and emphasizing that
we now have to bring it into the equation much quicker than the
Mitchell process might have anticipated. Remember, several weeks of
cooling off, several months of confidence building. Well, we're going
to have to act a lot quicker, because people are looking for a
political statement, a political discussion, a political negotiation,
and not just a cease-fire. That is not inconsistent with Mitchell. I
think it just accelerates what we've been thinking about.
QUESTION: I'm just curious, have you been surprised at all, or did you
expect the level of anger that you've seen among the Arab leaders and
the others, the press as well?
SECRETARY POWELL: I've been watching it build for the last ten days
and it was very disturbing to me. I've got good reporting from our
embassies, and within two or three days after incursions began, the
embassies started making us aware of how this was affecting the street
and how it was affecting the leaders in the region.
We saw things that we had never ever expected to see - the car
burnings in Bahrain, half a million people in Morocco, demonstrations
in Egypt. Again today, there were demonstrations. Things cause us
concern, and it was that concern, that this was no longer just a clash
between two parties in the occupied territories, but something that
was spilling way outside that cauldron, and affecting not only US
interests, but Israeli interests, and in rather permanent ways in the
long term. And that's what caused the President to act as he did last
week, because whatever justifications one can come up with, and there
are many justifications one can come up with on both sides for what
they are doing and as you know if you talk to both sides you will hear
complete, comprehensive full justification for actions on both sides.
But those actions are now doing serious damage to the long-term
prospects for peace in the region, for Israel's strategic position in
the region and Arafat's strategic position in the region, which if why
the President acted. (inaudible) I watched it unfold, we were worried
about it. We were worried what would happen when the next large
incident took place.
You recall, I worked hard to get the Israelis to pull back from the
occupied territories about a month ago, with the risk that entailed,
and then we had a lot of going on, you know the mantra, and then it
all went south again. We knew at that point the Israelis would respond
very, very forcefully, and very, very comprehensively and we knew that
that would cause problems. And within two or three days, by Sunday, we
could see the dimension of that problem emerging. So the first part of
your question -- the guts of your questions -- I wasn't stunned, by
what I heard. I heard it in spades from everybody.
QUESTION: Have you been disappointed by the unwillingness of the Arab
governments to come out strongly for a cease-fire? That is something I
assume you've been asking them for.
SECRETARY POWELL: I've been pleased by the reactions I've gotten from
the three governments I've spoken to so far. They are ready to engage
more fully once we get the violence stopped, the cease-fire in place.
A lot of work is going to be needed to reconstitute the institutions
of governance and security on the Palestinian side, so that even if
the Chairman or other Palestinian leaders say we want to act, they are
going to need the means to act, and that has been damaged severely. So
even in the best of circumstances, some reconstitution is going to be
necessary, so that they can work with their Israeli partners, we hope
at that point, in restoring security and holding down and preventing
actions of the kind that have brought us to this terrible moment in
time.
The Arab leaders I've spoken to so far are forthcoming and willing to
help with that, and are also willing to help now in encouraging the
Palestinian leadership to meet with us, and to quickly come to
agreement on the way forward with respect to both cease-fires, Tenet
and political discussions. They're been forthcoming in that regard.
They realize this is a problem for all of us. And I've asked them to
take a more direct role not only talking to Chairman Arafat, but to
other leaders. There are many other Palestinian leaders who need to
hear from the leaders of Arab countries that this is the time to stop,
this is the time to find a new direction.
QUESTION: But isn't that what the Arab world is saying -- it needs to
stop but first Israel needs to fully withdraw, so how do you get to
that point? How do you get the Israelis to completely withdraw before
the cauldron spills over further?
SECRETARY POWELL: That is why the President acted. Some things have
happened that I think are significant, the beginning of withdrawals
yesterday. The fact that tomorrow we will be able to get some of
Chairman Arafat's associates in to talk to him, about what he might
talk to me about, to empower them so that they can talk to us. Right
now, they are unable to talk to us because they don't have
instructions from Chairman Arafat or a place to do it. He needs to see
them. He needs to go over if there is any work plan. But I think that
it was an important step that they are going to be able to see
Chairman Arafat tomorrow and I hope that happens, tomorrow, still a
long way off.
We have been very active trying to contain the situation by speaking
to the Syrians, and through a variety of contacts to the Iranians, to
do everything to restrain action in north. The last thing we want
right now is a blow-up of the northern border and a second front
opening. So, we've been hard at work trying to keep that from
happening. We're also watching Gaza quite closely and so far nothing
has happened there and we hope that continues to be the case.
With respect to Ramallah, where the Chairman is, there was a great
deal of concern about what might happen toward the end of last week.
So far the Chairman, as uncomfortable as he is in these circumstances,
the Israelis have said they will make sure that he remains safe. So, a
lot of things haven't happened that don't get attention, but they are
the result of our efforts. But yes, we would like to see withdrawal
take place as quickly as possible because that will make it possible,
easier, for the Arab governments to lend more support to our efforts.
QUESTION: Have you seen anything from the Iranians and the Syrians in
terms of spoken commitments or actions that make you believe that they
will be cooperative with these US representations? Have they told you
anything or are they doing anything?
SECRETARY POWELL: The Syrians have taken our message as respect to
Hezbollah actions seriously and said they understand the concern and
will do what they can. We'll see. The Iranians, we are working through
intermediaries so I don't have anything to give you on that.
QUESTION: In light of Iraq's announcement this week that it was going
to cut off the oil supply, can you talk about the willingness of US
allies, particularly the Saudis, to compensate for any oil taken off
the market? What conversations have you or other members of the
Administration had with allies about the topic? And about their
concern that in this environment they may be wary of doing a favor for
the US?
SECRETARY POWELL: I'm quite sure that Secretary Abraham is talking to
his colleagues in the various oil producing nations. I learned many
years ago not to speculate on oil. Many years ago, when I was a
soldier, I remember once we thought oil was going to go to $70 a
barrel because of a certain event that took place in 1990. It didn't
happen. Theses are very fascinating markets to watch. So far it
appears the market has been anticipating some heightened tension in
the area and there may be a discount already built into the price. So
far, I sense that the oil producing nations will make up for any
temporary shortfall that might be caused by any one producer. Iraq has
done this previously, and the markets have been able to accommodate
Iraqi actions of this kind.
QUESTION: Even given the political environment?
SECRETARY POWELL: I don't sense, even though a couple of other
countries -- Iran -- said it will take note of that, but so far I
don't sense that there is any kind of consensus within the oil
producing nations to come together to take such an action. It is not
in their interest. As Condi said in an interview she gave earlier, it
is a commodity they need to sell for their own interest as well.
QUESTION: I wasn't referring to cutting production as much as the
Saudis not boosting production.
SECRETARY POWELL: I think I would give the same answer. It does not
appear to be that taking that quantity of Iraqi oil off the market
will create a shortage. There are ways to compensate for that
shortage. I wouldn't want to point to one country as the compensator.
QUESTION: What's your sense of whether Arafat has changed? I ask that
in the context of this Administration about his previous promises
about moving towards peace. Have you any sense that he has changed?
SECRETARY POWELL: I don't know. I'll be able to make a better judgment
when I am able to see him. And I hope I will be able to see him. He
has disappointed us on many occasions, as the President said. He had
an opportunity at the tail end of the Clinton Administration. He had
an opportunity when the Mitchell Report came out, when the Tenet
Report came out, when the President made his speech, when I visited
with him -- we were talking about seven days of quiet and he said "I
will give you that" and it didn't work -- at the time of the
Louisville speech and on many other occasions -- whether he now sees
the seriousness of the plight of the Palestinian people, and that the
vision that they have of a state is not getting closer with these
kinds of actions. Hopefully as a result of conversations with my Arab
colleagues, we'll encourage them to give him that message and I have
every impression that they will be giving him that message -- that
this is the time to act with total seriousness. We'll just see if he
does or does not.
QUESTION: (inaudible)
SECRETARY POWELL: We are talking about the strategic framework. It is
coming along. And I hope to have good conversations with Foreign
Minister Ivanov, maybe a little bit tomorrow night and then on
Thursday. And there are a couple of tough issues remaining, but I
think we have enough time to work our way through them. The Russians
are also optimistic as you heard recently from both Ivanov and Sergei
Ivanov. It will include, hopefully, all of the transparency and
rollover of previous verification provisions that we've had on other
treaties that are relevant to this treaty. So I am pretty pleased. And
it is not some forty-page document. It will be short, to the point. It
will talk about reductions down to the levels that both presidents
have announced and how we satisfy ourselves with how we will get to
those levels, plus the usual other various items that one would find
in such an agreement.
QUESTION: How long are you prepared to stay in the region? Are you
going to shuttle forever?
SECRETARY POWELL: I haven't set a departure date. There are limits of
course, but I haven't set a departure date. I am prepared to stay for
some while. I just can't answer that.
QUESTION: (inaudible, regarding poultry)
SECRETARY POWELL: The poultry war seems to be over. The good Lord
willing, and if nothing else happens, we should have the ban lifted
tomorrow, I guess, I hope.
(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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