19 August 2002
U.S. Welcomes Palestinian-Israel Security Agreement
(Reeker calls for humanitarian relief for Palestinians) (2560)
Welcoming reports that Israel and the Palestinians reached agreement
on a plan to resume security cooperation, State Department deputy
spokesman Philip Reeker urged both sides to continue and broaden their
direct discussions.
"We've always underscored the critical importance of direct
discussions between the parties, and reports of progress on security
issues are encouraging," said Reeker, speaking at the August 19 State
Department press briefing.
"[W]e strongly urge the Israelis and Palestinians to continue their
discussions not only on security but also on the Palestinian
humanitarian situation, which is of great concern to us and on
finances and the Palestinian civil-reform efforts," he said.
Reeker said the international task force on Palestinian reform plans
to meet in Paris August 22-23. He said the meeting will be attended by
Russia, the European Union, the United Nations, the United States,
Norway, Japan, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank.
The task force will assess ongoing Palestinian reforms, and "we'll be
reviewing the work of the Humanitarian Assistance Working Group," said
Reeker.
The deputy spokesman also expressed confidence in the Palestinian
representatives who traveled to Washington to meet with U.S. leaders
during the week of August 5.
"We're working with people who we think can make a difference, that
can represent the Palestinian people," said Reeker. "The delegation
that traveled here to Washington and met with senior officials in the
administration had good talks."
Following is an excerpt from the August 19 State Department briefing:
(begin excerpt)
QUESTION: -- questions about what's called "the Gaza plan," where the
Israelis are supposed to be moving their troops back, both from Gaza,
out of also Hebron and possibly Bethlehem?
Now, this has been apparently worked out with -- is it the moderate
Palestinians that met here at the State Department with that
particular group? They seem to have done it themselves.
MR. REEKER: We certainly welcome reports that the Israelis and the
Palestinians have reached agreement on a plan to resume security
cooperation and work to end violence and terror. We have always
underscored the critical importance of direct discussions between the
parties and reports of progress on security issues are encouraging. We
understand that there will be a continuation of contacts now between
local security commanders. This sort of regular, detailed discussion
will be critical to ensuring the long-term success of this initiative,
and we strongly urge the Israelis and Palestinians to continue their
discussions, not only on security, but also on the Palestinian
humanitarian situation, which is of grave concern to us, and on
finances and the Palestinian civil reform efforts.
We look forward, as we discussed last week, to the meeting of the
International Task Force on Reform, which will take place later this
week in Paris. I think it's August 22nd/23rd in Paris. That's a step
we believe can assist the Palestinians in their efforts to achieve
civil reform.
The International Task Force on Reform is, I believe we discussed last
week, represented by the members of the Quartet -- that is, The United
States, The European Union, The United Nations and Russia -- and
several of the major donors including international financial
institutions like the World Bank, the IMF and countries like Japan and
Norway. And that's focused on establishing key benchmarks and
performance standards to assist with the Palestinians civil reform
effort. And we'll be reviewing the work of the Humanitarian Assistance
Working Group, which is one of the seven major working groups that are
part of this task force. They'll be making recommendations and so
senior officials from our Near East Bureau will travel to France to
represent the United States at these task force meetings.
QUESTION: A follow-up?
MR. REEKER: Let Joel follow up and then we'll --
QUESTION: A follow-up. Also, some of the militant groups say that they
won't comply and will continue their terrorist type activities. Is
this any concerted problem and if --
MR. REEKER: The focus of everybody should be on ending terror and
violence. And as I've said, the cooperation, the security cooperation,
is an absolutely essential part of moving forward in the strategy that
we've been pursuing with others in the international community,
pursuant to the President's vision to bring peace to the Middle East.
QUESTION: Can I try to get a clarification here?
MR. REEKER: Sure, Barry.
QUESTION: Your use of the word "plan." Are you saying that the two are
working together to develop a plan? Or are the two working together on
a plan that has been developed? Because as you know, the CIA and
others were trying to come up with new approaches.
MR. REEKER: The reports we've seen, Barry, and we welcome those, are
that the Israelis and Palestinians have reached agreement on a plan to
resume security cooperation. I think the parties themselves would be
where I'd refer you for details of their discussions. Certainly
officials from our missions in the region have facilitated the
discussions that they've been having, but we would let those two
groups provide you with whatever details they wish to share about
their plans.
Jonathan.
QUESTION: What are the implications of this kind of agreement between
the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority for the US policy of regime
change in Palestine?
MR. REEKER: I don't know if I've ever heard --
QUESTION: Well, okay, for a new Palestinian leader.
MR. REEKER: Oh, I see. Your little spin on that.
QUESTION: Well --
MR. REEKER: The President, I think, was very clear. I would refer you
back to his speech from July 24th on our view of the need for new
leadership in the Palestinian community, leadership by those who are
untainted by terror and corruption. What we want to see if forward
movement in the different areas of this process, and particularly in
security. It's always been of critical importance for the two sides to
have direct discussions. As you know -- I think you were away, but we
had meetings here, where the Secretary of State and other US officials
met with a Palestinian delegation that included Mr. Yehihey, who also
has met with senior Israeli officials, looking at the security. And we
understand that there will be contacts now between local security
commanders, which will be very important and critical.
And so we want to urge the Israelis and the Palestinians to continue
their discussions and try to move this process forward.
QUESTION: If I could just follow up. I mean, if this continues and if
you see more progress along these lines, you welcome the progress, but
this progress is being made by the very people whom you want to see
changed. It seems to me you can't really reconcile these two --
MR. REEKER: I think your -- if you go back and look at the President's
speech, I don't believe there was reference to any individuals. This
is not about individuals; it's about leadership and responsibility in
the Palestinian community.
QUESTION: The very institutions you want to see --
MR. REEKER: And we've talked about those institutions needing reform.
There is, as well as a security process that we want to see move
ahead, there's a Palestinian reform effort underway to reform the
institutions that will be vital for them to have their own state,
according to the vision that the President of the United States and
other international leaders have endorsed that. So that's, you know,
consistent with what we want to see, progress in these various fields,
and we'll continue to watch it closely.
QUESTION: Let me put it another way because I'm still confused. If the
institutions are reformed in ways which meet your requirements, does
that obviate the need for any changes in personnel?
MR. REEKER: I don't think this is about our requirements or anything
else. We've laid out what we think is the way forward and what we want
to do. We've dedicated ourselves -- the President has -- to seeing an
independent Palestinian state living side by side with an independent
Israel, of course, with secure borders.
And the way forward, as the President said, is to have movement in
these following areas, including reform of institutions in the
Palestinian community, financial reform, other civic reforms that are
going to be necessary to have institutions that can be not tainted by
terrorism or by corruption, that can provide the Palestinian people
with what they need to form a state and to move forward.
And so those are going to be decisions that the Palestinians are
making as they pursue this reform. We have meetings going on in Paris
with the task force that I talked about, the International Task Force
on Reform, which will look at a number of recommendations from the
working groups that have been studying, since the last task force
meeting, have been studying a variety of these initiatives to look at
how all of us in the international community can help them to move
forward with that. So that's a positive thing.
Barry.
QUESTION: I'm sorry. Has there been enough progress on security to now
move ahead on other tracks, as the Secretary especially in the
administration, maybe pretty much by himself among the senior advisors
-- but anyhow, he's wanted to move ahead once security is improved.
And has that hurdle been cleared now that you can go into action and
try to get -- this is apart from reform.
MR. REEKER: I think, again, Barry, if you look at what I've already
said today, we welcome these reports that there's agreement on a plan
to resume security cooperation -- a plan to resume security
cooperation -- and work to end the terror and violence. And so that is
something we have always underscored as being important. We're going
to watch closely.
We have already said, as I indicated, that we believe that there's
going to be a continuation of the Israeli-Palestinian contacts that
have taken place already that will continue at the local level, which
is going to be vital, and there's going to have to be regular,
detailed discussions that will be very critical to this process. So we
urge them to continue these discussions, not only on security but on
the other parts of the process, of the strategy, as well.
Eli.
QUESTION: Going back to Jonathan's issue, how is the State Department
furthering the President's goal for new and different leadership in
the Palestinian Authority by working with the current leadership in
the Palestinian Authority?
MR. REEKER: We're working with people who we think can make a
difference, that can represent the Palestinian people, the delegation
that traveled here to Washington and met with senior officials in the
administration, had good talks. We talked about that at the time. Some
of them have gone back. They've been working with Israelis. We're
working with the international community. All of this is part of the
overall strategy that the President outlined in the July 24th speech,
and that's what we'll continue to watch and continue to promote.
The next thing I would point you to is the meeting in Paris later this
week, the 22nd and 23rd, where we'll look at some of the ideas coming
out of the working groups about how we can help to move forward the
reform efforts, and we're also looking closely at the humanitarian
issues.
QUESTION: Before the meeting with Powell, Saeb Erekat was asked about
this and he said, "I represent Yasser Arafat," who is the current
leader, who is tainted by terror, of the Palestinian Authority. So, I
mean, and --
MR. REEKER: I think --
QUESTION: And it looks like Mr. Erekat is going to be in Paris.
MR. REEKER: I think we went through all those issues, Eli, back at the
time.
QUESTION: No, I'm sorry. I don't want belabor it.
MR. REEKER: This is far beyond a single individual. You know, these
issues transcend that. What we're focused on is making progress on the
things that the President outlined, and the international community
has embraced.
Elise.
QUESTION: In terms of -- we know we have this meeting here in
Washington. But in terms of ongoing engagement with Palestinians,
whether they are the current leadership or any Palestinians with US
diplomats in the region, could you characterize the ongoing
engagement?
MR. REEKER: I think I answered the question before you came in the
room. I did discuss the fact that officials from our missions in the
region facilitated the discussions that Israelis and Palestinians have
had on the security front. And as I said, we would expect that there
would be now a continuation of those contacts between local security
commanders. And so our missions in the region remain very much in this
process, as we pledged we would.
(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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