12 May 2003
Powell, Egyptian Foreign Minister Maher Confer on Middle East Peace
(Powell thanks Egypt for its recent influence on Palestinian events) (3170)
Secretary of State Colin Powell said he and Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak and Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher all agreed that the parties
involved in the Middle East conflict must "seize this moment of
opportunity" to move the peace process forward.
"[W]e all agreed once again that we need to take this moment, we need
to seize this moment of opportunity that we have in the region with
the end of the regime of Saddam Hussein and with the President's new
commitment, determined commitment, to move the peace process forward
in the area," Powell said in a press conference in Cairo May 12 with
Maher.
Powell said his talks with the Egyptian leaders involved briefing them
on his meetings with Syrian, Israeli and Palestinian leaders. The
secretary said he also discussed President Bush's proposal to pursue
the creation of a Middle East free trade area by 2013.
Powell said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is ready to implement
a variety of steps and measures in the near future that would amount
to starting the peace process as outlined in the "roadmap" recently
unveiled by the Bush administration.
The secretary said there are plans to help the Palestinian Authority
end terror and violence with the creation of an "effective
reconstituted security force." He appealed to Egypt and other Arab
governments to support the peace process and thanked Egypt for its
influence in bringing about the formation of a new Palestinian prime
minister and cabinet to head the peace initiative from the Palestinian
side.
Following is the transcript of Powell's and Maher's press conference:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
(Cairo, Egypt)
May 12, 2003
Remarks by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell
And Foreign Minister of Egypt Ahmed Maher
Following Meeting With Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
And Foreign Minister Maher
At the Itihadiya Palace
Cairo, Egypt
May 12, 2003
FOREIGN MINISTER MAHER: Let me first of all welcome Secretary Powell.
It has been a long time since he was in Egypt and we are happy to
welcome him, and the President was happy to receive him and have the
opportunity to discuss with him questions related to the situation in
the Middle East with regard to the roadmap. The question of Iraq was
touched upon also; the bilateral relations were also discussed. We
come from this meeting encouraged that the United States has
reaffirmed its commitment to the implementation of the roadmap and the
Secretary has been exerting efforts and will continue all through his
trip to exert effort to push the roadmap forward. The Palestinians and
the Israelis need peace and the roadmap provides them the opportunity
to do that. So, again, I welcome the Secretary and I think he has a
statement to make and then he will be happy to answer a few questions
and I will be available also to answer questions.
Mr. Secretary.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you very much Mr. Minister, thank you so much.
It is a great pleasure to be back in Cairo and as the Minister noted
we had a series of useful and productive discussions over the past
couple of hours with President Mubarak and with the Foreign Minister.
We spoke about the important changes that are taking place in the
region. I briefed them on my trip to Syria last week and my trip to
Jerusalem and Jericho yesterday and we all agreed once again that we
need to take this moment, we need to seize this moment of opportunity
that we have in the region with the end of the regime of Saddam
Hussein and with the President's new commitment, determined
commitment, to move the peace process forward in the area.
There are no doubt challenging times ahead and it is a challenging
road ahead to reconstruct a democratic Iraq governed by Iraqis for the
benefit of its people, to restore hope to Palestinians and Israelis
and a peaceful, secure future and to improve the lives of people
throughout the region. To realize this ambitious agenda, we know it
will take leadership and I appreciate the opportunity today to
exchange ideas with President Mubarak and the Foreign Minister on how
we can move forward.
Last week in his speech in South Carolina President Bush added a new
dimension to our agenda and that is with his expressed desire to
achieve a Middle East free trade area by 2013. We will be pursuing
that in greater detail with our Egyptian friends. In my meetings
yesterday with Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas and Israeli Prime
Minister Sharon I emphasized to them President Bush's strong
commitment to his vision of two states, Israel and Palestine, living
side by side in peace and in security and to the roadmap aimed at
implementing that vision. It is important to get started quickly and I
believe that Prime Minister Sharon has announced a variety of steps
and measures he will be taking in the near future that in effect
constitute the beginning of the roadmap process.
On the Palestinian side, my conversations with Prime Minister Abbas, I
focused on the need for rebuilding of Palestinian security
organizations and come up with a plan that would put an end to terror
and violence with the use of an effective reconstituted security
force. It is important that we all come together and not deal with the
most difficult issues on the road to peace, issues such as right of
return and the status of Jerusalem, but start moving now on those
earlier steps that are provided for on the roadmap and we've seen
progress already. The selection by the Palestinian legislature of a
Prime Minister, the Prime Minister getting down to work with a new
cabinet, and I thank my Egyptian colleagues for the help they provided
in bringing about that political result. And now with Prime Minister
Sharon taking some steps and with the expectation that Prime Minister
Sharon and Prime Minister Abbas will meet together face to face in the
not too distant future, I think these are all hopeful signs, hopeful
signs that I hope will put us firmly on a path to peace. And you can
be sure that President Bush and his Administration are committed to
this, just as I know President Mubarak and his government are
committed to this and into this prospect.
Thank you very much again for your hospitality my friend.
QUESTION: I'm Nihal Saad for Nile TV, the Egyptian television.
Secretary Powell, we heard that loud and clear from the Palestinian
side, from Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, that the Palestinians accept the roadmap
as it is without reservations. Did you get the same response from the
Israeli side? Thank you.
SECRETARY POWELL: The Israeli side did not use the word "accept." The
Israeli side has made it clear over the months that they had some
comments with respect to the roadmap; but the roadmap as it was
finished in December, is the roadmap that was released a few weeks
ago. So, we will listen to additional Israeli comments that might come
forward and more importantly, it is important for the Israelis to talk
directly to the Palestinians, which they have the opportunity to do
and visa versa in the very near future, to see what differences exist
and see how those differences can be bridged between the parties with
the assistance of the United States and the other Quartet members. And
so, rather than focus on that particular issue, I am focusing on it,
appropriately so, on the steps that we can take. It makes no
difference whether you have a word "accept" or not have the word
"accept." What makes the difference is whether or not both sides find
enough in common with the roadmap that they can begin the process of
moving down this road. If we don't get started now on issues related
to security, on issues related to going after terrorists and
terrorism, on improving the lives of the Palestinian people by
granting access in the territories again, making it easier for the
Palestinian people to go back and forth to the workplace, making it
easier for them to start to restore their basic lives again and to
pursue their lives. If we don't get started on these issues, we will
never reach the point where we can deal with these more difficult
issues that are on the path ahead.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, we understood that there were specific things
you were going to ask of the Egyptians to help in the Palestinian
process -- to help with security, to help with reform, even to help on
a constitution. Could you tell us if you're bringing these things up,
and Mr. Minister, is there something you might want to say about
Egypt's response to this appeal for support, in specific?
SECRETARY POWELL: We did discuss some of the areas in which Egypt has
already played an important and leading role in assisting the
Palestinians in coming up with a Prime Minister designee, and then
assisting with a process by which Mr. Abbas assumed the office, and
the Egyptians, I'm sure, will play a helpful role with respect to
security issues. I cannot think of an area that we have to work on in
the months ahead, dealing with this problem, where the Egyptians
cannot play a role. And I will have further meetings this afternoon to
expand on this.
This also allows me to say that, as we move forward -- the Israelis,
the Palestinians, the Quartet assisting -- there is a very important
role to be played by the Arab nations in the region, because it is
just not President Bush's vision of last June 24th that we try to
achieve. It is also the vision that was put forward by the Arab League
at their Beirut meeting last year, and I am sure that Minister Maher
might want to add to that.
FOREIGN MINISTER MAHER: In answer to your question, I think we all
know that both sides have obligations, and we are agreed with our
American friends that we both have to work, helping and urging both
sides to respond and respect their obligations.
I would like to comment on the former question and comment on what the
Secretary said. I appreciate what he said, that it is important to
move forward, but it seems to me a little strange that if you are
willing to do things, you are not ready to say that you are willing to
do that. I think the word "accept" is not a very difficult word to
pronounce and we certainly would hope that both sides, the
Palestinians have already done so. It is important for both sides to
indicate, at least their intention, to implement what is in the
roadmap and the word "accept" is not a dirty word. I think it will be
a very useful word.
Thank you very much.
SECRETARY POWELL: I have one more word in response to that question.
In my meeting yesterday with Prime Minister Abbas, he did provide me
with the latest draft of the Palestinian constitution, which we will
have a chance to look at.
QUESTION: Secretary Powell, the roadmap is supposed to be a document
to be implemented, not to be of eternal debate. What are the
mechanisms and the (inaudible) of the Quartet and the U.S. to enforce
this implementation?
SECRETARY POWELL: The Quartet stands ready to assist the two sides in
meeting their mutual obligations and we have always said that the
United States is prepared, as we start down this road, to provide
monitors, if monitors would be useful to assist the two sides in
meeting their obligations. Ultimately, the international community,
beyond just the Quartet, will be watching what happens and I am sure
that Arab nations in the region and many nations throughout the world
will do what they can to assist in the process. But, in the first
instance, where monitors might be required, the United States has
expressed a willingness, readiness, to provide monitors to monitor the
performance of the two sides as we move forward.
Keep in mind that there will be more conversations between the parties
and between members of the Quartet and the parties. Mr. Solana, the
High Representative of the European Union, is on his way into
Jerusalem this afternoon to have further conversations with both
sides. And so, this is still a work in progress and, hopefully, as we
move forward, any concerns that one side or the other might have, any
reservations that one side or the other might have, we should be able
to work out over time. And I look forward to the results of the
meeting between Prime Minister Abbas and Prime Minister Sharon. And I
look forward to the opportunity to meet with Prime Minister Sharon
next week when he meets with President Bush.
So this is a work in progress. It is a difficult work, and we have to
keep pressing forward and keep trying to make progress in every way
that we can -- security, political, life of the two peoples, improving
the economies of both the Palestinian people and the economy of
Israel. People are unemployed. People are having difficulty. Tourism
is down. And all of these things need to be reversed, and what we have
to do is get started, get on with it, as we deal with difficult issues
of who will accept what, who doesn't accept what.
The outline is there. It is not a complicated outline. It is
complicated to achieve every element of that outline, but once we
start down this road, I think that both parties will see the
importance of continuing down this road. I am looking forward to
working with the two parties and our friends in the region, the other
members of the Quartet, as we go forward.
QUESTION: Hello Mr. Foreign Minister, could you give an assessment of
what you think of the Israeli gestures yesterday, did you find it
significant, meaningful in any way? And, secondly, the United States
has tried to emphasize Abu Mazen and de-emphasize Yasser Arafat, and
in the future, is Egypt going to spend more of its dealings with Abu
Mazen rather than Yasser Arafat?
FOREIGN MINISTER MAHER: On the first question, I think that the
gestures that you said that had been announced by Israel maybe would
have been a good indication had they not been accompanied by actions
on the ground that certainly go contrary to a desire to solve the
problem, to ease the tensions, that the measures that have been taken
in themselves could be an indication of more gestures that are needed
and that are absolutely essentials if you want to go forward.
On the second one, I think you know that Yasser Arafat is the elected
leader of the Palestinian people. Abu Mazen is the Prime Minister
chosen by him and confirmed by the legislative assembly. We continue
to deal with the both of them as representatives of the Palestinian
people. Yasser Arafat is and we continue to recognize him as the
leader of the Palestinian people.
QUESTION: Hi. This is Niveen Khalil from Al-Ahram Weekly. I have a
question on Iraq. Secretary Rumsfeld said that Washington will not
tolerate an Islamist-elected government in Baghdad. I wanted to know
your position on that and the other question is it seems very
important in Washington that Abu Abbas, Abu Mazen, sorry, succeeds in
his mission. What are you going to do to actually help him do this?
SECRETARY POWELL: With respect to Iraq, I believe that our commitment
is for an Iraqi government to be created that is representative of all
the people of Iraq and that all the different elements of the Iraqi
population get to participate in it. I think it would be unfortunate
if a government arose that is so fundamentalist in nature that it did
not respect basic principles of democracy or did not respect the
rights of all the people of Iraq and I think that is what Secretary
Rumsfeld was referring to. It is certainly our point of view. And what
we was trying to do is hold meetings around the country, make sure we
develop leaders who come up and represent all elements of the
population and that they will put in place the kind of government that
the Iraqi people will be proud of.
Ultimately, it will be the Iraqi people who make this judgment and I
think that we can help them make a judgment that will bring them into
a form of government that is democratic but yet, is respectful of the
faith of the people, the Islamic faith, and I don't think Don Rumsfeld
was suggesting in any way that we should be disrespectful of Islam,
it's just that if you bring into being a fundamentalist regime that
does not have democratic elements to it, but just fundamentalism as
its driving political force, this would not be in the best interest of
the Iraqi people or its neighbors.
With respect to Prime Minister Abbas, we are doing what we can to
support him. When I was in the region yesterday I announced once again
a $50 million dollar supplemental appropriation that our Congress has
passed that will help the Palestinian people. We will be helping him
rebuild his security organization so that he can go after those in the
territories, Hamas, PIJ, and others who continue not to support two
states living side by side but who are committed to the destruction of
Israel and are not helping to achieve the dream of the Palestinian
state which is what the Palestinian people want. We will help them
with developing security infrastructure, $50 million I mentioned and
other assistance that we can give to improve the lives of Palestinian
people and we stand ready to help them with any other request that
they might have.
QUESTION: Mr. Minister, I'd like to ask if, in the discussions that
touched on what Egypt is willing to do and how Arab states can help,
whether or not you would consider sending an Ambassador back to Israel
to help as long as you are helping Palestinians and helping in that
regard with security, are you also willing to do that to show that
you're willing to help on both sides?
FOREIGN MINISTER MAHER: We have always indicated that as the peace
process proceeds regularly and positively that we would consider
sending back the Ambassador. In the meanwhile, we have contacts with
the Israelis, we do have a diplomatic mission in Israel that is
performing its duties normally and, naturally, there is the Israeli
Embassy in Cairo. But the reasons that we indicated our displeasure by
recalling the Ambassador have to go away before the Ambassador can go
back to Tel Aviv.
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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