12 May 2003
Mideast Peace Now Focus of U.S. Foreign Policy, Powell Says
(May 12 interview with Israel Television Channel 2) (2690)
Advancing a Middle East peace that follows the proposed roadmap for
ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has become the focus of the
Bush administration's foreign policy, says Secretary of State Colin
Powell.
Despite difficulties regarding the issues of settlements, the right of
return, and the final status of Jerusalem, Powell said factors such as
the fall of Saddam Hussein and the confirmation of Mahmoud Abbas (Abu
Mazen) as the Palestinian Authority's prime minister have changed the
strategic situation, creating an opportunity to pursue a political
process to resolve the conflict.
In a May 12 interview with Israel Television Channel Two, Powell said,
"If we don't get started now, if we don't deal with these immediate
issues that are before us, then we'll always be grasping at something
in the future that we can never really reach."
Asked if he believed Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would be
capable of dealing with Israeli settlements, Powell said the
settlement issue would be "one of the most difficult issues" in moving
the peace process forward.
When President Bush meets with Prime Minister Sharon next week in
Washington, Powell said, the president plans to speak with Sharon in
"very open, straightforward, honest, candid terms about settlement
activity and settlements in general."
The secretary said President Bush is firmly committed to his June 24th
vision of two-states, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side in
peace.
Expressing optimism, Powell said he was impressed by the new
Palestinian prime minister's commitment to moving forward with the
U.S.-proposed roadmap for ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Powell said Abbas knows that in order to move forward there must be an
end to "terror" and "violence." Powell said he believes that Abbas
will take action against the Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups.
"I am convinced that he will take the message to the Palestinian
people and then as he gathers authority and strength he will deal with
these kinds of organizations," added Powell.
The secretary said that U.S. organizations are providing support to
the Palestinian Authority in rebuilding its security apparatus.
Following is the transcript of Powell's May 12 interview with Israel
Television Channel Two:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman (Jerusalem)
May 12, 2003
INTERVIEW
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell with Israel Television Channel Two
David Citadel Hotel, Jerusalem May 12, 2003
QUESTION: Secretary of State, Mr. Colin Powell, Shalom and thank you
for this interview.
SECRETARY POWELL: Shalom, thank you.
QUESTION: You have just returned from a meeting with the new
Palestinian Prime Minister, Abu Mazen. In your opinion, is he able to
deliver? Can he really crack down on terrorists?
SECRETARY POWELL: He intends to deliver. He intends to serve
effectively as the Prime Minister of the Palestinian people. I was
impressed by his commitment to moving forward with the peace process.
He knows that in order to move forward there must be an end to terror;
there must be an end to violence. I think he knows it cannot just be a
temporary thing; it has to be a permanent choice on the part of the
Palestinian leadership that the militant activities, the terrorist
activities, and organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad and
others have to come to an end. So, he understands that and we will
have to see in the days ahead how he acts, how he puts together his
security forces and whether he can convince the Palestinian people
that this is the correct course for them to take in the future. He
will also have challenges ahead as he deals with these strong
organizations. I am convinced that he will take the message to the
Palestinian people and then as he gathers authority and strength he
will deal with these kinds of organizations.
QUESTION: But how can he do it if Arafat still controls most of the
Palestinian security organizations?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, Arafat controls some, he controls some. There
is a bifurcated situation right now, which I would rather not see, but
this is the way it is. He does have a very accomplished and effective
Minister for Security, Mohammed Dahlan, who has experience and has
dealt with these kinds of problems before. He has other members of his
cabinet who have experience in these matters. And so, we will be doing
everything we can to assist him and provide him with support. U.S.
organizations will be helping rebuild their security apparatus, and he
has made the commitment. We will see how it turns out. But, obviously,
there are some challenges between the authority that he has and the
authority that Mr. Arafat still retains. What is important here is
that the Palestinian people have spoken and said we want transformed
leadership. It was quite a debate within the Palestinian legislature
about what kind of authority this Prime Minister should have. The very
fact that they have a Prime Minister is a step forward. Abu Mazen was
able to fight off pressures for him not to be the Prime Minister. So,
you take it one step at a time. I think the steps we have seen
recently with the creation of the position, with the appointment and
confirmation of Prime Minister Abbas, these are all important steps,
but they are initial steps and now we have to support him as he moves
forward.
QUESTION: Today, you heard from Prime Minister Sharon at length about
the necessity of settlement activity and settlements. In your opinion,
is he really capable of dismantling even one settlement? Have you ever
heard him raise that option?
SECRETARY POWELL: I don't want to speculate on what the Prime Minister
is capable of or not capable or doing. He is a very capable man. He
has demonstrated his leadership over the many years of his service to
the State of Israel, to the people of Israel. But, what we talked
about was the fact that the settlements are a problem. There is a
question in the minds of Palestinians and questions in the minds of
many people around the world as to whether or not one can actually
bring into being a viable Palestinian state without doing something
about the settlement activity and the outposts and the settlements
that are there. This will be one of the most difficult issues we have
to deal with. I think dealing with the outpost is easier than ending
settlement activity and ending settlement activity is easier than what
one might do about settlements in the future as you try to create a
state. So, I am not in any way underestimating the difficulties ahead.
President Bush believes, and by the way he is firmly committed to
moving forward, he is committed to the roadmap, he is committed to his
vision of June 24, and he expects to speak to the Prime Minister in
very open, straightforward, honest, candid terms about settlement
activity and settlements in general when he sees Prime Minister Sharon
next week.
QUESTION: Is a meeting between both Prime Ministers possible while you
are still here in the area? Are you working to arrange such a meeting?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, I think it is unlikely since I will be leaving
in the morning. But, I spoke to both Prime Ministers about the
importance of the two Prime Ministers, Prime Minister Abbas and Prime
Minister Sharon, getting together as soon as possible, and I leave
encouraged by my conversations with both of them that this can happen
in the near future.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, following your short visit here, are you able
to confirm to Israelis and Palestinians that are listening to you
right now that America is just as determined to end this conflict as
it was to remove the dictatorship in Baghdad?
SECRETARY POWELL: Yes, there is no question in my mind. In fact, now
that the dictatorship in Baghdad is gone, we have an opportunity to
build a better life for the Iraqi people under a democratic form of
government. The threat to Israel is also gone and, with the
appointment of Prime Minister Abbas, we have a new situation here, and
with roadmap we have a new element, and so the strategic situation has
changed. The President has made it clear to anyone he has spoken to
recently that this now becomes the focus of his attention with respect
to foreign policy. He has said all along that the Middle East peace
process is something he is going to invest time and energy and
political capital in. Coming out of the Iraqi conflict, he has more
political capital that it is possible for him to invest. So, there is
no doubt in my mind, and he and I have spoken quite frequently about
this over the past week or so, that he is committed to moving this
process forward. He will do what it takes with respect to his personal
involvement to make that happen.
QUESTION: Including sending a presidential envoy to the area?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, we're looking at how best to move the process
forward, what participation should we be having, should have? He will
be involved. I will be involved. Of course, our Ambassador and our
Consul General here will be involved, and we're looking at others who
might play a role, coordinators here on the ground, special envoys.
All of those options are open to us, and we are looking at now.
The important thing, though, is to get started, to get started with
moves on both sides, and Prime Minister Sharon indicated to me a
number of steps that the Israeli government will be taking in the very
near future, over the next several days.
In my conversation with Prime Minister Abbas, I made it very very
clear that we are all expecting action on their side, to bring down
threats and terrorism and violence, in order to create the proper
atmosphere so that both sides can then take the next step. So a lot of
discussion about very difficult issues, with respect to settlements,
with respect to the right of return, with respect to the final status
of Jerusalem. All of those are difficult, they've been difficult for
decades. Let's put them in proper place and proper perspective, and
let's get started now, because if we don't get started now, if we
don't deal with these immediate issues that are before us, then we'll
always be grasping at something in the future that we can never really
reach.
QUESTION: Previously, the United States, President Bush and yourself,
asked Prime Minister Sharon not to physically harm Yasser Arafat.
After what we see in Iraq, including the assassination attempt on
Saddam Hussein, is that still valid?
SECRETARY POWELL: It is still valid in the sense that Mr. Sharon has
not changed his position on that and he has not communicated his
position to me or to President Bush in any way that he's changed his
position. But frankly, in the course of my conversations today, we did
not spend much time at all on Mr. Arafat.
QUESTION: In the operation in Iraq, the United States used targeted
killings, roadblocks, and also there are many civilians that were
injured and killed. At the same time, the United States criticized
Israel for using the same standard here. Don't you think that this is
a double standard?
SECRETARY POWELL: I think there is a difference between the two sorts
of activities in Iraq. We were in an active war, declared conflict,
and we were going after command and control. I recognize that Israel
has a position that if it sees somebody coming at them with the intent
of conducting a terror act, that it is a legitimate act of
self-defense to do that. But when it goes beyond legitimate acts of
self-defense and a real and present danger of somebody coming at you,
to a more expansive set of targeted assassinations, as they're called,
how effective is this in terms of actually moving forward with the
process? So, we have always spoken out against these kinds of actions,
and we hoped that they can be contained in the future. If both sides
move forward down the first stages of the roadmap, hopefully
confidence can be built, and the Palestinians can become more
effective in dealing with these kinds of threats, so that this kind of
activity won't be necessary.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, last week you said that President Assad of
Syria lied to you. What makes you believe that he doesn't do it again,
especially after an interview to Newsweek when he said that he is not
going to close the terror organization offices, and he's not going to
crack down on Hezbollah?
SECRETARY POWELL: He did mislead me once before. It is not a matter of
me believing him or not believing him now, it's a matter of what he
does. What I said to him very clearly is there are things that we
believe he should do if he wants a better relationship with the United
States, if he wants to play a helpful role in solving the crisis here
in the region, and frankly if he wants to have good relations with a
neighbor of his that will have a new government, a government that I
believe will be very pro-American, very pro-Western, and will not view
with favor any efforts on the part of Syria to either destabilize Iraq
or to continue its terrorist support activities in Israel and in the
territories.
So I believe that President Bashar al-Assad has every incentive to
respond to the issues that I put before him last weekend. If he
chooses not to respond, if he chooses to dissemble, if he chooses to
find excuses, then he will find that he is on the wrong side of
history. He will find that he will not have better relations with the
United States, and he can take his choice. Does he want to have good
relations with the United States? Or does he want to have good
relations with Hamas? His choice.
QUESTION: You enjoy impressive popularity in the United States. Is the
presidential race in 2008 an option for you?
SECRETARY POWELL: 2008?
QUESTION: After President Bush, is that something that you consider?
SECRETARY POWELL: No. Do you know how old I will be in 2008? It will
be time for, I will be well into retirement by then. I have no
political ambitions, but thank you.
QUESTION: Last question. I know that you grew up in Brooklyn, and I
heard that you know some Yiddish, and people here are dying to hear it
from you.
SECRETARY POWELL: Abissalleh, Abissalleh [a little]. I don't know much
Yiddish.
QUESTION: Is there an item in Yiddish that can describe the situation
here in the Middle East, in Yiddish?
SECRETARY POWELL: I don't think I want to speculate on what single
Yiddish word can capture the whole situation in the Middle East, but I
would say that I'm proud of the fact that in my youth, I lived in a
neighborhood that had a large Jewish population and during that
period, I worked for a wonderful Russian Jew in a toy store, and I
learned a lot about the Jewish culture and faith. And I learned a few
words of Yiddish in my youth, most of which I've now lost, but it
still forms one of the fondest, fondest parts of my childhood
memories, and it is for that reason that when I come to Israel, those
old memories are revived, and I am revived, in my desire to do
everything I can to help the people of Israel, to help the Jewish
people find peace in this land, living side by side, in peace, with
the other people who occupy this land, the Palestinians.
QUESTION: (inaudible)
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, thank you very much for your time.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you very much.
QUESTION: Thank you.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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