29 May 2003
Bush to Press for "Measurable, Concrete Action" on Mideast Peace
(White House Report, May 29: Middle East, China) (380)
The purpose of President Bush's planned June 4 meeting with Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud
Abbas is to "take advantage of this moment" and "play a very helpful
role in bringing Israelis and Palestinians together, to help them take
concrete steps to implement the roadmap toward peace," White House
Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters May 29.
Fleischer said Bush hopes the meeting will produce "a willingness of
the Israelis and the Palestinians to work together to implement the
roadmap -- meaning Palestinians taking measurable, concrete actions to
dismantle terrorism, the Israelis taking measurable, concrete actions
to help improve the humanity -- the conditions of the Palestinian
people, and a reaffirmation by both parties toward the vision of a
two-state solution, as the roadmap lays out."
"That's why he's going, to look the leaders of the Israelis in the eye
and to look the leaders of the Palestinians in the eye, and say to
them, 'you must make progress,'" Fleischer said. "'You must implement
the roadmap. You must carry out our concrete obligations, the
Palestinians on security, the Israelis on humane treatment of
Palestinians, and a reminder that the vision is a two-state
solution.'"
While the meeting is scheduled to take place in Jordan "conditions
permitting," Fleischer said May 29, "all systems are go."
U.S., CHINESE PRESIDENTS TO DISCUSS NORTH KOREA
While attending the G-8 Summit in France, President Bush will meet
with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Sunday, June 1. Fleischer said the
meeting between the two leaders would be "another important piece in
making a determination about the next way, the next step, to proceed
in dealings with North Korea."
"The Chinese involvement in resolving the North Korea attempt to
nuclearize the (Korean) peninsula is a very important involvement,"
Fleischer said. "The president wants to talk to the new Chinese
president about this. And China is committed to this process; that's
important, and the president wants to talk to them about that. I think
there will be a number of other issues that come up with China as
well, including trade and some other matters."
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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