11 May 2003
Powell, Israeli Foreign Minister Discuss Implementing Roadmap
(Joint U.S.-Israel press conference held in Jerusalem May 10) (2290)
Secretary of State Colin Powell said he spoke for both himself and
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom that "[t]here's enough
agreement on the roadmap that we can get started" on trying to fashion
a durable peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Speaking to the media with Shalom at Jerusalem's David Citadel Hotel
May 10, Powell said, "I think I could speak for both of us when I say
that we find that there is enough in the roadmap at this point that we
can agree to that."
Powell emphasized the changed situation in the region with the end of
Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq and the emergence of some new
leadership in the Palestinian Authority as important reasons to be
hopeful about making progress toward implementing President Bush's
roadmap for Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Shalom spoke of the
need for the Palestinians to end terror and incitement, and of Israeli
willingness to do things "that might bring better lives to the
Palestinians."
A transcript of the press conference follows:
(begin transcript)
U.S. Department of State
Joint Press Conference
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan
Shalom
David Citadel Hotel, Jerusalem
May 10, 2003
FOREIGN MINISTER SHALOM: I would like to extend a warm welcome to our
friend Secretary Powell. It is wonderful to see you here tonight with
us in Jerusalem. We have met only one month ago, but since then, we
continued to communicate on all issues affecting the region. We are
now after the war in Iraq, and following the dismantling of Saddam
Hussein's regime, it is clear that strategic changes started in this
region. It is very important that the regional leaders will realize
that the time has come to take serious choices toward peace.
We said more than once that we share the vision of President Bush as
outlined in his speech of the 24th of June, and if the new Palestinian
leadership will be ready to move for us toward peace, we will be able
to move together in order to achieve peace. The vision of President
Bush gave us an opportunity that we are determined to seize. I want to
thank you personally for your support and your friendship for the
State of Israel, for what you have done to help us to get the
long-term guarantees, and I'm sure that together, we will find a way
to work in order to bring a better future to this region.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you very much, Mr. Minister, for your
hospitality and for receiving me. I am very pleased to be back in
Jerusalem for the third [correction: the Secretary misspoke and meant
to say fourth] time since I became Secretary of State.
On this trip, I believe that I am arriving at a moment of great
opportunity. The war in Iraq is now come to an end and we are in the
reconstruction phase. We will put in place in Iraq a government that
is representative of the people, that will live in peace with its
neighbors. And this fundamentally changes the strategic situation in
this area.
Another strategic change is the fact that there is new leadership
emerging from within the Palestinian people in the form of a new Prime
Minister, and a new cabinet, that is prepared to work with the State
of Israel, with the United States and our colleagues in the Quartet,
and other members of the international community to move forward
toward peace. President Bush laid out a clear vision, as the Minister
said, of a way forward. We have a roadmap that, I believe, shows us
how to get to where we want to go: peace, and two peoples living side
by side in peace.
There's enough agreement on the roadmap that we can get started. Not
all aspects are agreed, and obviously there will be comments as we
move forward, and there will be serious discussions as we move
forward. But as we think about these issues, and as we receive
comments and as we hear comments about the roadmap, what is absolutely
clear is that there is more than enough for us to get started.
We have tried to communicate with other nations in the region that
this is time for everybody to join in this effort. I'll be visiting
other nations in the region. I'll be visiting Jordan and Saudi Arabia
and Egypt. I look forward to conversations there. I visited Syria last
week, to make absolutely sure that Syria understood that there was a
new strategic situation in the region that they should take into
account, and we will see how that develops in the weeks and months
ahead. I look forward to my meetings tomorrow with Prime Minister
Sharon and other members of his government, and I certainly look
forward to my meetings with the new Prime Minister of the Palestinian
Authority, Prime Minister Abbas, and his cabinet as well.
So, Mr. Minister, thank you for receiving me and I look forward to my
conversations tomorrow.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, what is your position about the so-called
right of return? Do you accept the Israeli position that it's
something that needs to be finalized now before implementation, and
that the Palestinians need to declare that they give up on that in
order to get Israeli approval for a provisional state?
SECRETARY POWELL: This is one of the more difficult issues that has to
be dealt with between the two sides. It has always been a difficult
issue, not just in this particular process that we are entering into
now, but all along. And so I think the two sides have to deal with it
in due course. But I think it's important because there are areas of
agreement. There is a need to end violence now. There is a need to end
terror now. There is a need to take some steps that will make life a
little better for the Palestinian people.
So I think we should get started now, recognizing how difficult issues
such as the right of return are, and don't gloss over those
difficulties. Recognize it's going to be very, very hard to resolve
between the two sides. But let's not let it be a roadblock now to
getting started. Let us get started now.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, do you accept the idea of "hudna" --- a sort
of a cease-fire between the Palestinian terror organizations, or do
you support what Prime Minister Sharon is demanding from the
Palestinians: a total disarming and dismantling of these terror
organizations?
SECRETARY POWELL: I support the end of terror, and we must not allow
organizations that have conducted terrorist activities to continue to
either conduct those activities or have the potential to conduct those
activities. And so one of the great challenges that is before Prime
Minister Abbas is how to deal with organizations such as Hamas and
Islamic Jihad to make sure that they do not continue to constitute a
threat to the safety of the people of Israel. A cease-fire that does
not deal with the fundamental issue of an armed group is not a
complete solution, and so I'm sure we'll have conversations about this
tomorrow, with both Prime Ministers in the course of the day's
proceedings.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, what steps is the United States prepared to
take specifically to ensure that there is an end to violence either
providing assistance through the CIA or other agencies to the
Palestinian Authority, or to provide monitors to monitor the
situation?
SECRETARY POWELL: We are prepared to assist the Palestinian Authority
with reconstructing their security organizations, and we have already
had contact with them through a variety of U.S. government agencies
that might play a role. And as we have said previously with respect to
monitors, the United States is prepared to put monitors in as part of
the process of moving forward --- United States monitors --- and this
was announced at the G-8 Summit Meeting in Genoa some two years ago,
and that continues to remain our position.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, could you be more specific about what
immediate steps you'd like the two sides to take and what your
prospects are for getting that this weekend?
SECRETARY POWELL: I have a number of ideas, and we have been in
discussions with the Israeli side as well as the Palestinian side, and
if I may, I'd like to have the conversations tomorrow before I discuss
specific steps that may have been requested and what might have been
responded to.
QUESTION: What specific steps would you expect from the Israeli side
to take in order to take forward the peace process, and in your answer
please relate to the issue of the settlement activity. The same
question for Mr. Shalom. (Question in Hebrew.)
SECRETARY POWELL: We will be talking about specific steps tomorrow, I
am sure. So, I would rather not answer the question directly until we
have had a chance to have our conversation tomorrow. With respect to
settlements, as President Bush has said in his speech of 24 June, and
as he reiterated when he spoke last evening in South Carolina, we
expect settlement activity to end, and I believe we have assurances
from the Israeli government that that is their position as well. The
question is natural growth and issues of that nature.
FOREIGN MINISTER SHALOM: Israel is prepared to make humanitarian
gestures toward the Palestinians if they put an end to incitement,
terrorism and violence against Israeli citizens. We have no conflict
with the Palestinians themselves. The only conflict that we had, and
unfortunately we still have, is with the Palestinian leadership. This
new Palestinian leadership will have to take measures against the
extreme organizations that are still planning to implement terror
against the Israelis. And if they will do it, it will be easier for us
to make more gestures toward the Palestinians.
We are working on it. I said more than once that if the Palestinians
will be serious, they will find us as a real partner for peace. We are
willing to resume the negotiations, we think the time has come that we
will have meetings with these new Palestinian leaders, and if these
leaders will think that the only thing that they are expected to do is
to get a cease-fire with the other organization, I don't think that
this will bring us to a better atmosphere and better future.
We are now willing to resume the negotiations. The Prime Minister said
more than once that this government will do everything in order to
find if there is a way to achieve peace between Israel and the
Palestinians, we are looking forward to do it. This is the time that
the Palestinians have to decide if they want to remain in the same
track of violence, or they want to move to the second track that might
bring us a glimmer of hope.
QUESTION: Two questions -- one for each of you: Secretary Powell, did
you detect this evening in your meeting any indication that Israel was
moving closer towards agreement to the roadmap in toto? And to Foreign
Minister Shalom: Secretary Powell has clearly come here to start
movement on the details of the roadmap before complete agreement comes
about. As a matter of principle, what does the Israeli government
think of that approach to the way ahead?
SECRETARY POWELL: We had a good discussion of the President's vision
and how best to achieve it. We have known all along that the Israeli
government has had comments that they wished to provide us with
respect to the roadmap. They gave us some tentative comments some time
ago in Washington, and we expect to hear more. But I think I could
speak for both of us when I say that we find that there is enough in
the roadmap at this point that we can agree to that. Let's get started
and not find obstacles to keep us from getting started. This is an
opportunity that should not be lost and I think we are both committed
to trying to seize that opportunity.
FOREIGN MINISTER SHALOM: It was agreed that there is very much to do.
I think that if the Palestinians will end terror and incitement, it
can bring better lives to the Israelis and if we will make gestures
toward the Palestinians, it might bring better lives to the
Palestinians.
After the war in Iraq, the game is changed. There are new rules. They
will have to adapt a new way of behavior to move toward peace. A new
approach must bring them to realize that the change must come. We want
them to be our partner. We want them to live with us in safety, in
better conditions, in better economic lives and I think it can be
done. It is only a question if they understand that this government
won't march through both tracks in the same time. I mean there will
not be a track that we will fight each other on a daily basis, while
in the second track we will negotiate at night in nice hotels.
I think it is understood by our friends the Americans, it's understood
by the Europeans, and it must be understood by the Palestinians. If
they will understand us, we will understand them, and together we will
be able to start. Secretary Powell said that he is willing to start to
move the process and we are here to help you to do it.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you.
FOREIGN MINISTER SHALOM: Thank you.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
