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03 February 2003

U.S. Looks to Progress toward Mideast Peace after Israeli Elections

(Boucher reaffirms Bush's vision of two states at peace) (480)
State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher said with the Israeli
elections completed, the United States looks forward to making
progress toward peace between Israel and the Palestinians according to
a "road map" established by the international community.
"The Israeli election is now finished. They are forming a government.
We look forward to moving forward with the Quartet roadmap as the way
of achieving the vision announced by the President," Boucher said,
briefing reporters at the State Department February 3.
Bush's vision calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state
existing in peace and security alongside Israel. The Quartet refers to
the United States, the United Nations, the European Union, and Russia
when dealing with the Middle East peace issue.
Boucher said the Palestinian Authority needs to make more reforms,
especially in the area of security. He noted that the Palestinian
Authority has implemented financial reforms.
Following is an excerpt from Boucher's February 3 briefing containing
his comments about the Middle East peace issue:
(begin excerpt)
QUESTION: Middle East. Arafat has announced that he's ready to meet
with Israeli Prime Minister Sharon. Are you encouraging Mr. Sharon to
take a step forward or you are adopting the same stance of not
negotiating with the current leadership in Palestine?
MR. BOUCHER: We're adopting the same stance as in the President's
vision of June 24th of last year: that there does need to be
transformation in the Palestinian Authority, there does need to be new
leadership in the Palestinian Authority, but there also needs to be
progress by both sides in the direction of peace.
We made quite clear in the Quartet statement of December 20th that we
intended to move forward, that both sides would have responsibilities
and obligation, but the way to find peace was to move in a forward
direction towards two states that can live side by side in peace. And
we intend to do that. The Israeli election is now finished. They are
forming a government. We look forward to moving forward with the
Quartet roadmap as the way of achieving the vision announced by the
President.
QUESTION: But Palestinians argue that so they are -- so long as the
occupation is there they can not do any reforms or --
MR. BOUCHER: I know the arguments back and forth, but the fact is we
believe there are obligations on both sides. There's been a lot of
discussion of constitutional change in the Palestinian areas. There's
been some reform, particularly in the financial areas. We look for the
Palestinians to take more responsibility in the security areas in
particular so we can end the violence that makes it harder to achieve
their goals.
But we do know that there are responsibilities on both sides and I
think the Quartet statement makes that clear.
(end excerpt)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)