29 April 2002
Powell "Engaged Across the Board" in Mideast Peace Effort
(State's Boucher says U.S. supports U.N. mission to Jenin camp) (4350)
Secretary of State Colin Powell has been "engaged across the board" to
try to resolve the issues related to the Israeli military incursions
into Palestinian areas and a U.N. attempt to send a fact-finding
mission to the Jenin refugee camp, said State Department spokesman
Richard Boucher, briefing reporters in Washington April 29.
"The secretary has been engaged across the board. He has, I think,
first over the weekend kept in close touch with the Saudis. He talked
to Foreign Minister Saud four or five times over the weekend, as he
himself talked to Chairman Arafat yesterday. So we've been working the
Ramallah issue and some of the other issues," Boucher said.
"He's been in close touch with [British Foreign Secretary] Jack Straw
through the weekend to work on the British -- work we're doing with
the British to try to resolve Ramallah. He also talked to [Israeli]
Foreign Minister Peres and Secretary-General Kofi Annan over the
weekend as well," Boucher added.
Boucher said the U.S. government supports a "thorough and impartial
assessment" by the United Nations of what occurred in the Jenin
refugee camp during the Israeli military incursion.
He added that the United States is working with the British government
on monitoring arrangements for Palestinians jailed by the Palestinian
Authority. Israelis have complained about the Palestinian Authority
releasing Palestinian terrorists after brief periods of incarceration.
Regarding the next step by the international community to deal with
the Middle East conflict, Boucher said Powell plans to meet with
representatives of the Madrid Quartet -- the United States, the EU,
the United Nations, and Russia -- in Washington May 2.
Boucher said three fundamental questions must be dealt with: 1)
security and freedom from terror for Israelis and Palestinians; 2)
accelerated political negotiations between the parties; 3) economic
and humanitarian assistance to address the increasingly desperate
situation of the Palestinian people.
Boucher spoke of the "great leadership" of Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat and urged Arafat to pursue the goal of Palestinian statehood
through non-violent means.
Following are excerpts from the transcript of Boucher's April 29
briefing containing his comments about the Middle East conflict:
(begin excerpts)
QUESTION: A couple of things come to mind. First, the US -- the
Secretary was deeply involved in the fact-finding commission problem
last week, and seemed to have some ideas. He talked to Mr. Sharon. Is
it now cold? Is it a live thing? Is the US engaged in this?
MR. BOUCHER: Well, we're engaged across the board. The Secretary has
been engaged across the board. He has, I think, first, over the
weekend kept in close touch with the Saudis. He talked to Foreign
Minister Saud four or five times over the weekend, as he himself
talked to Chairman Arafat yesterday. So we've been working the
Ramallah issue and some of the other issues.
He has been in close touch with Jack Straw through the weekend to work
on the British -- the work we're doing with the British to try to
resolve Ramallah. He also talked to Foreign Minister Peres and
Secretary General Kofi Annan over the weekend as well. And as you
know, our view has been that the United Nations should work with the
parties involved, the Israelis and Palestinians, to try to coordinate
on this mission. We think the mission to Jenin should move forward as
soon as possible. We do look forward to a thorough and impartial
assessment from this team to the Secretary General of the recent
events in Jenin.
There is an Israeli issue. The Israeli delegation has been discussing
this issue with the Secretary General's office, and we continue to
hope that there can be expeditious agreement to permit the team to
travel to Jenin.
QUESTION: Okay, now on the brokered arrangement for Arafat's
headquarters, can you provide any more details? You know, monitoring,
supervising have been offered as descriptions of what the Americans
and British will do. Are these forces? Are these -- there hasn't been
much on it that I'm aware of. Could you tell us a little more of
what's entailed?
MR. BOUCHER: No, there hasn't been much on it because the details are
not completely decided yet. The British have a team of experts, I
believe, that's in the area that will be meeting today, doing an
advanced assessment of what exactly is needed and how it can work. We
are working closely with the United Kingdom on this, but the details
are still being worked out about how the monitoring function will
work.
So it's basically a monitoring function, a supervisory supplemental
warden type of system, where there are people from the UK and the US
who will be present to make sure that the incarceration is maintained.
QUESTION: -- be unarmed? Do we know that?
MR. BOUCHER: That kind of detail is too early to work out.
QUESTION: Numbers?
MR. BOUCHER: Numbers? Don't have any numbers yet.
QUESTION: Their only job is to make sure that these guys aren't
released?
MR. BOUCHER: That remains to be determined. Their job is to monitor
the conditions of incarceration, you might say. But as far as how
exactly to define that, how exactly they do that, that's the kind of
detail that needs to be worked out.
QUESTION: I mean, this has been a persistent complaint of the
Israelis, that the Palestinians lock these -- lock people up for
whatever reason, lock up these people that Israel wants to see
arrested, and then they let them go. You know, doesn't this open the
door -- aren't you opening the door to having US and British monitors
in every Palestinian jail making sure that the back door doesn't open
as soon as the front door slams?
MR. BOUCHER: No, we're closing the door to the jail, not opening it.
QUESTION: Yeah, well, doesn't -- yeah, but I mean, the Israelis -- you
don't see any danger that the Israelis are going to say, well, you
know, other cases -- there are other cases like this as well where
people have been -- are being let out.
MR. BOUCHER: There have been those complaints in the past. I think
we're all concerned that the Palestinian Authority exercise the
authority. The President over the weekend talked about the need for
Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian Authority to step up to their
obligations to maintain security. There's a lot of elements involved
in that: stopping the terrorists before they strike; stopping
terrorism; cutting off ties to terrorist groups; but also conducting
the arrests, trials and keeping people in jail who need to be kept in
jail. So that remains an ongoing issue.
We would intend to continue to working on that, but I don't think
we're offering a prospect of every single prisoner in every single
jail being monitored by some foreign presence.
QUESTION: This is a one-off deal, just designed to end the siege of
the headquarters?
MR. BOUCHER: This is an agreement to end the siege. That's right.
QUESTION: Richard, do you know if this will involve repairing or
building a jail to put these people in?
MR. BOUCHER: No, don't know yet.
QUESTION: The Israelis seem to have destroyed quite a number of police
facilities.
MR. BOUCHER: People have said all kinds of things about where this
might take place. It will be for the experts to determine where the
best place is, and at that point they will determine whether it needs
any repairs or building.
QUESTION: Obviously this is one positive step that's happened in the
last four or five weeks. What is -- is the administration planning on
other moves? Is Secretary Powell planning on going to the region? Is
there -- what comes out of this?
MR. BOUCHER: Well, I think as far as specific, you know, next steps,
who's traveling, whether a meeting is going to be held, whatever, that
sort of stuff, the next real thing to point to is going to be the
meeting with the Quartet, the Madrid Quartet, on Thursday, where we'll
have a chance to meet with the European Union, with the Russians, with
the United Nations people, and try to talk to them and design with
them about the way forward.
We'll keep in touch with governments that we've been working with. The
Secretary over the weekend talked to several of the Europeans, talked
to President Mubarak, talked to King Abdullah. As I said, we've kept
in touch with the Saudis, remain in close touch with the Saudi
Government in coming days to try to work together and advance down
this general path that we've laid out of the need to deal with three
fundamental questions. One is the issue of security and freedom from
terror for Israelis and Palestinians so that they can return to their
normal lives. The second is a serious and accelerated negotiating
process so that people can look down the political horizon and see
some hope. And the third is economic and humanitarian reconstruction
and assistance to address the increasingly desperate situations faced
by the Palestinian people.
The President talked about those things in his remarks yesterday, and
that remains the direction that we want to go. And we'll be working
with these other parties as we look at how to move down in that
direction. And of course you've heard that Prime Minister Sharon will
be coming to the United States as well.
QUESTION: Do you have any specific dates on that?
MR. BOUCHER: No, I don't. That would be for the White House to
announce when we have it.
QUESTION: Just one follow-up question on the Israeli issue. They have
said that they will not allow the committee to come in, and you said
that you're pushing for that to happen. What's the -- are you talking
to the Israelis on this? Is there any contact in the --
MR. BOUCHER: We're certainly talking to the Israelis on this. As I
said, the Secretary talked to Foreign Minister Peres over the weekend.
Our Ambassador has kept in touch with the Israelis. I think if you
look at what the Israelis said, they have asked their people to keep
meeting with the United Nations, and we hope that continues and that
they can work out expeditiously some arrangements for the teams to go.
QUESTION: -- how much freedom to travel Arafat has? You know, there
have been all sorts of rumors, which I won't take your time with right
now. But if you so --
MR. BOUCHER: But which one can I confirm?
QUESTION: Well, the notion that if he leaves the West Bank, Israel
won't let him back. I have a problem here. Sharon signed onto this,
and so did Arafat, but the details are sketchy. I've got to think that
the two of them know a lot more about what the deal entails. So let me
ask you about travel. Is that -- do you have an assurance from Israel
that Arafat can travel, what, throughout the West Bank, to Gaza? Can
he go elsewhere? Have they promised not to try to keep him from coming
back, going back to Ramallah?
MR. BOUCHER: The understandings, as I remember, I think, the Israelis,
Palestinians and Americans saying over the weekend, is that he is free
to move about and go where he needs to go and when he wants to go
there. Obviously choices and decisions on that are for him.
We have made clear, at the same time, that we think he does need to
focus and carry out the obligations that he has to take steps to end
the violence and exercise authority, so we continue to look to him to
do that. That requires a certain presence, you might say. But as far
as free to move about, as far as our understanding is he is free to go
when and where he wants to go somewhere.
QUESTION: When we were just there, the Secretary announced increased
US-Palestinian security dialogue. Can you update us on any such -- any
resumed security dialogue? I'm not doing it today.
MR. BOUCHER: No, I'm questioning the question.
QUESTION: Well, yeah, he said there would be increased US-Palestinian
security cooperation.
MR. BOUCHER: I think what the Secretary talked about in the region
was, first, our desire to see the sides resume their security
dialogue. Obviously many of those meetings are trilateral meetings
with the assistance of the United States. That remains important to
us. That remains something we want to keep working with them on.
And we have noted positively the fact that they have been meeting with
each other on the issue of Bethlehem to try to help resolve that
situation, and we have indeed encouraged them to reinvigorate those
discussions and for the sides to really focus on how to resolve that.
So that's one area where we think the kind of direct dialogue that
they could have would be positive.
In addition to that, we have said that we are prepared to do other
things as we see the Israelis finish their withdrawal, and as we see
Chairman Arafat take steps to carry out the statements that he has
made.
QUESTION: Do you know if Jabril Rajoub has joined those talks?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't know, no.
QUESTION: What do you think of the Hebron incursion, and how does this
fit in with the various assurances we've heard over the last two weeks
that the Israelis will end their incursion generally within a week or
so? It's now been about three weeks, I think, since we started hearing
such language.
MR. BOUCHER: I think, first, you have to remember that we have taken a
very consistent position on this, that Israel should finish its
withdrawal, including from the particular situations we have at
Chairman Arafat's compound and the Church of the Nativity in
Bethlehem. We believe that Israel should refrain from further
incursions, and that's a consistent position that we have made clear
to Prime Minister Sharon.
QUESTION: Okay, so Israel should refrain from further incursions.
Well, they have just carried out a further incursion, starting last
night. So what is your -- since you think they should refrain, what do
you think of this new one?
MR. BOUCHER: We think they should refrain.
QUESTION: And withdraw from Hebron?
MR. BOUCHER: And withdraw. Finish their withdrawal and refrain from
further incursions, yes. So wherever they are in Areas A. We have
always said they said they would withdraw from Areas A, we looked for
them to do that, and that's been a consistent position. So that means
finishing the withdrawal from any areas they are in now and refraining
from further incursions.
QUESTION: So are you angry about this, that they have ignored your
advice?
MR. BOUCHER: We have made clear our position and we'll continue to
make it clear, no matter how many times you ask.
QUESTION: But you made it clear your position today, because this only
happened starting last night?
MR. BOUCHER: This has been a consistent position the United States has
taken on these.
QUESTION: Richard, I'd like to try and nail down one more thing on the
travel, the Arafat free-to-travel business? I think you made clear
what the position -- what your understanding is as far as the West
Bank and Gaza is concerned. Is it your understanding that he would be
free to travel out of that area as well? Could he go to Europe?
MR. BOUCHER: Our understanding, based on the statements that the
Israelis and Palestinians have both made, is he is free to travel,
period.
QUESTION: Is he going to --
MR. BOUCHER: Slow down. Is that he is free to travel. I have
reiterated, though, what we have said before, that as the President
said yesterday, we think he has an obligation to carry out the steps
that he has promised in his statements, and that would involve
exerting and reasserting authority. There is a great deal to do in
terms of carrying out those security steps and other steps, getting
prepared on the political side, too.
So while in theory he may be free to travel, what he ultimately
decides to do, whether it's leaving the compound itself, which he may
not want to do right away, or going elsewhere, would be first and
foremost up to him. As far as in individual cases, guarantees of
return, I guess we'd have to check with the Israelis on that. I don't
have anything on that.
QUESTION: I'd like to go back to the fact-finding commission. As you
know, the Israelis, one of their main concerns is that this be a
balanced committee that comes in. Does the US think that that's --
that these are reasonable requests that it should have, that the
representation should be not only the humanitarian side, but also the
military side?
MR. BOUCHER: I think the UN has tried to accommodate those requests,
and we have noted that, for example, the military member of the
commission was given full participation status, and that they have the
ability to draw on expertise. So our view is that Israel has raised
some concerns, the UN has been responsive to these, and that they
should be able to work this out, and we hope they do that as quickly
as possible.
QUESTION: So the committee, as it stands, or this mission, as it
stands right now, in US eyes, is balanced and should be able to give a
fair hearing?
MR. BOUCHER: You're kind of asking me to say that's it, you know, to
set this thing in stone. It's worked, organized, developed, by the
Secretary General. Remember, our resolution in the Security Council
supported the Secretary General's initiative to send a fact-finding
team to look into the recent events in Jenin, so it is his initiative;
it's ultimately his group, his fact-finding team that's going out.
But I think we've noted that he and the Israelis have had a dialogue,
that he's been able to accommodate some of their interests and
concerns. We do think that this should be coordinated, and he should
consult with the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority as necessary.
They are doing that. We hope these things are worked out quickly and
the team can go.
QUESTION: Back on the Ramallah siege thing, you mentioned that a
British team was going. Is there an American equivalent going from
here, or is that being handled by --
MR. BOUCHER: No, not from here. We're staying in close touch with the
British on the ground on a pretty constant basis, and as I said, the
Secretary has talked to Foreign Secretary Straw a number of times.
QUESTION: So, basically the Brits are going to do the logistics,
evaluation of what needs to be done?
MR. BOUCHER: They have a team of experts on the ground, yeah, and
they'll do --
QUESTION: It won't be an equivalent American team?
MR. BOUCHER: Not that I know of at this point.
-----
QUESTION: Returning to the Middle East, with respect to releasing
Chairman Arafat from Ramallah, any concerns of putting in some
punitive style -- I don't say damages, but requests or priorities if
he shouldn't -- in other words, will the Americans and British -- will
you monitor his conduct, behavior, as well as possible return to
incitement or terrorism activities? And are you going to in any shape
or form set up a style of commission to monitor terrorism directly?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't think I'd address it in quite the same terms as
you do, but I would say that the issue of terrorism remains a key
component of the situation as we try to move forward on this
three-pronged strategy of security, political negotiations and
economic reconstruction. The security element remains vital to the
people in the region, and that we need to see Chairman Arafat carry
out his promises and obligations, and we'll be working with him, but
also watching very closely to see that he effectively addresses those
issues.
QUESTION: Well, on the specific issues, I mean, Arafat's security
structures are blown away by Israel, he doesn't really have the
security service right now. What specifics are you looking for from
President Arafat? The President's been saying he wants his trust
restored, or built actually, in Arafat. What specifics are you looking
for from the Palestinian side?
MR. BOUCHER: I think I'd address it in two or three different ways.
First of all, that we understand that the security capabilities are
severely degraded in some areas, but not in others. And therefore
where they have the ability to operate, we would expect them to do so.
Second of all, he has great leadership. And some people have noted his
status has somehow been enhanced by these recent events, and therefore
we continue to look for him to exercise that leadership to make the
case clearly in public that the cause that he pursues needs to be
pursued nonviolently, through political negotiations. That's what you
saw, for example, in the Saudi statement over the weekend, where they
said it was important to -- what did they say? -- express the hope
that all sides will renounce the use of violence as a means of
resolving political disputes.
So part of it is for Chairman Arafat to use his voice. Part of it is
for him to give instructions to the people that are in organizations
that he controls. But in addition to all that, the -- I'm sort of
looking in the President's remarks to see exactly what the President
said -- "seize the opportunity to act decisively in word and in deed
against terror that is directed against Israeli citizens." The
President said he should condemn and thwart terrorist activities.
That's probably the best summary of what we're looking to him to do to
the best of their ability. And we want to see it effective, because it
needs to stop the kind of violence that's plagued people's lives and
undermined the Palestinian cause.
In addition to that, we have spoken about the fact that there is a
need that we recognize to reconstruct or reconstitute the Palestinian
security apparatus in a way that can effectively stop terrorism.
QUESTION: Are you satisfied with what other Arab countries are doing
around the region? And one of the -- the President had said the
Israelis need to withdraw, the Palestinians need to step down on
terrorism, and Arab countries should take leadership. After talks this
weekend in Texas and phone conversations that Secretary Powell had
with Arab leaders, are you satisfied where other Arab countries are
involved?
MR. BOUCHER: I would say that this is a continuing -- it has to be a
continuing effort by all of us to push the situation in the direction
of peace and peaceful negotiation. We have seen a number of Arab
governments step up, and we know that a lot of them have been in
direct contact with Chairman Arafat regarding the situation. And as
the Secretary has made his phone calls, as the President has made his
contacts, we have seen quite a number of them directly support this
idea that there has to be an end to the violence and that there has to
be movement towards peaceful negotiation.
QUESTION: What aspects of his security capabilities have not been
degraded? You said some have and some have not. What has not?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't think I can give you a full inventory yet. We
haven't done that kind of assessment. But there's different situations
in the West Bank and Gaza, for example.
QUESTION: Can I follow -- what do you mean?
MR. BOUCHER: The Israeli incursions were in the West Bank largely.
There was not much in Gaza. Therefore, the apparatus in Gaza remains
largely intact.
QUESTION: Is there anything in the West Bank that you think could --
MR. BOUCHER: We haven't done that kind of assessment yet. We have just
recognized a need to be involved in assessing and reconstituting the
security capabilities so that the Palestinian Authority can exercise
effective control.
QUESTION: It may be a little bit ingenuous, but when you condemn --
ask basically -- when you ask Arafat to curb terror, the last attack
was in Hebron. And, you know, there used to be a view, or maybe some
of the Palestinians or the terrorists have returned to the view, that
there's a distinction between attacking Israelis on the West Bank and
in Gaza, and attacking Israelis in Israel proper. In fact, Netanya and
all that were considered a sea change, that Palestinian terrorists had
taken the fight to Israel proper.
Does the US feel or have a blanket disapproval of violence in the West
Bank, as well as in Israel itself?
MR. BOUCHER: We have a blanket disapproval of the killing of innocent
civilians. We have a blanket disapproval of the indiscriminate types
of bombings and shootings that we have seen that's plagued the lives
of Israelis and Palestinians and which has undercut the Palestinian
cause.
QUESTION: How do the Palestinians then express themselves about what
Kofi Annan calls the illegal occupation of the West Bank, as a neutral
observer who calls Israel's occupation illegal? You know, how do they
move -- how do they move the ball? Wait for settlement, I guess?
MR. BOUCHER: There's plenty of ways of expressing yourself without
blowing anybody up.
QUESTION: But the Secretary has called settlements destructive.
MR. BOUCHER: And people around the world -- so?
QUESTION: So?
MR. BOUCHER: So they might want to do that, too. They might want to
express themselves. There are many ways to organize oneself
politically to achieve political ends. All we're saying is the
Palestinians need to do that through negotiation. That's the way they
are going to achieve these goals, not by continuation of violence.
QUESTION: Richard, (inaudible) over the weekend that a group of
Palestinians were involved in a peaceful protest, and they were shot
at by Israel.
MR. BOUCHER: I didn't see those reports, but obviously we think that
peaceful protesters need to be allowed to protest.
(end excerpts)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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