03 June 2003
Bush, Arab Leaders Make "Important Start under New Conditions" for Peace
(National Security Adviser Rice's interview with CNN) (2060)
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said President Bush and
five Arab leaders made "a very important start under new conditions"
toward ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and establishing a
Palestinian state at their meeting at the Egyptian seaport of Sharm
El-Sheikh June 3.
In an interview with CNN, Rice said the end of the war in Iraq and the
appointment of Mahmoud Abbas as the first Palestinian prime minister
and his commitment to fighting terror and creating democratic,
accountable institutions in the Palestinian Authority are cause for
optimism.
Bush met with with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Jordan's King
Abdullah, Saudi Crown Prince Abdallah bin Abdulaziz, Bahrain's King
Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud
Abbas.
Rice said Israel is contributing to the peace effort by beginning to
open closures and to expand the mobility of the Palestinians,
increasing revenue transfers to the Palestinian Authority, and
releasing some important political prisoners.
Rice said although difficult times lie ahead, Bush "will not back
away" from his determination to press for peace.
Rice said the Arab nations will have to be as committed to peace as
the Israelis, the Palestinians and the rest of the international
community in order to achieve the goal. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon, she said, "has always said that when he had a partner for
peace, when he had someone who was really willing to fight terror and
to remove the scourge of terror, that he would be ready to make the
difficult choices that Israel must make. And I believe that we're
getting to those conditions."
Following is the transcript of Rice's interview with CNN:
(begin transcript)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt)
June 3, 2003
INTERVIEW OF NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR CONDOLEEZZA RICE BY JOHN KING,
CNN
The InterContinental Garden Reef Resort
Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt
6:12 P.M. (L)
QUESTION: Dr. Rice, thank you for joining us. I want to begin, there's
a sense of optimism at the meetings here in Sharm el-Sheikh today, but
I'm wondering if you're worried at all about a potential problem down
the road? Many of the Arab leaders the President met with today say
that the administration wants to push Yasser Arafat out of the picture
completely too soon. And in their view, if there is to be an
agreement, that he will have to be there at the end to sign it and to
sell it to the Palestinians. Is that a problem?
DR. RICE: Clearly, this is a difficult process and it's going to be a
long process and there will be bumps in the road, we understand that.
But we got a very important start under new conditions today. And the
new conditions include, of course, the end of the war in Iraq, but
also the appointment of Prime Minister Abbas, who is the first Prime
Minister of the Palestinian Authority. He was here today, he was
representing the Palestinian people. He had a great delegation with
him of people who are committed to creating democratic institutions in
the Palestinian Authority, in fighting terrorism, in having
institutions that are accountable and transparent.
I can't help but believe that if he is able to deliver for the
Palestinian people -- and everyone should do what they can to help him
do so -- that he will have the support of his people.
Q: Yet, Yasser Arafat blocked a meeting between Prime Minister Abbas
and Prime Minister Sharon at one point. Are you worried that without
the support of these Arab leaders that there will not be enough
pressure on Arafat to stay out of the way, to not cause trouble, to
not interject himself at key moments and either slow or destroy the
process?
DR. RICE: I have to assume that everybody -- most especially the
leaders in the neighborhood who want this process to go forward --
will simply not allow anyone to block it for personal reasons.
The important thing here is the Palestinian people. The Palestinian
people probably have the best chance in quite a long time now to try
and make some progress. The Israelis have said that they will begin to
open closures, that they will try to improve the mobility and the
daily lives of the Palestinian people, that they will increase revenue
transfers to the Palestinian Authority. They released some important
political prisoners today. We have a new atmosphere of optimism.
Now, no one should doubt the difficult times ahead, the difficult
issues ahead, the fact that there will be bumps in the road. But all
of that said, this is a time for optimism and the Arab leaders who
were here today expressed their optimism, expressed their support for
the Palestinian Authority under the leadership of Prime Minister
Abbas.
Q: The President addressed some of the skepticism the Arab leaders had
about whether he was willing to pressure Israel by saying quite
bluntly in his opening statement this morning: Israel must deal with
the settlements, Israel must create a Palestine that is working and
workable, a contiguous area of land.
We are told that Prime Minister Sharon at the three-way meeting is
prepared to publicly commit to dismantling some of the illegal
settlements. How many and how fast?
DR. RICE: Well, I think we'll wait until tomorrow, when we meet
tomorrow to see what statements come from the leaders. But what the
President was here to do today and what he will do tomorrow is to call
upon all of the leaders to do what they can do to improve the
prospects for peace.
Sometimes there's a tendency in the Middle East to look over your
shoulder and say, well, what is he doing to help with peace? The
President has a different approach. He's asking everyone to take on
their individual responsibilities, each party, to advance the process
of peace. He did that today with the Arab leaders, he'll do that
tomorrow with Prime Minister Abbas and Prime Minister Sharon. I think
we're making very good progress.
Q: I assume, though, you would not be having a three-way summit to
move the process along if it would be immediately deflated without
getting a strong statement from Prime Minister Sharon. Are you
convinced he will say something that is progressive in the sense of
backing away on the settlements?
DR. RICE: Well, he has already been saying some very important things
over the last couple of days, to say that the time has come to divide
this land with the Palestinians was important; to start to say to the
Israelis it's probably time now to consider painful concessions.
The Israeli Prime Minister has always said that when he had a partner
for peace, when he had someone who was really willing to fight terror
and to remove the scourge of terror, that he would be ready to make
the difficult choices that Israel must make. And I believe that we're
getting to those conditions.
Again, it's a long road ahead. The President came here to start the
process, but we believe we have a chance to make real progress.
Q: There's also been skepticism that the President would stay engaged
on a personal level. We got a picture today of him driving a golf
cart, driving the leaders to their statements. Is that a metaphor? Is
there any doubt, or can you erase the lingering doubt, perhaps, among
some that this President when there's a bump in the road will say,
whoa, and back away?
DR. RICE: Well, this President will not back away. This is a President
who's known for his determination, who's known for keeping his word --
when he says that he's going to do something, he does it and he does
it with great determination.
Now, I don't want to say that driving a cart was a metaphor.
(Laughter.) All I know is that we looked up and he was driving the
cart. But he had wonderful, personal interaction with these leaders
today. They had an hour-and-a-half meeting with only interpreters in
the room. They then broke for a very brief period of time to take the
family picture, if you will, and then returned to lunch with just one
note-taker there. So they've had a lot of interaction.
And this is on top of the fact that the President has built these
relationships over time. He's had President Mubarak to Washington, the
Crown Prince to Crawford. He's had King Abdullah to Washington several
times. So these are relationships -- and also King Hamid, of Bahrain
-- so these are relationships that have been building. But today, to
meet together, with Prime Minister Abbas, was a new step forward in
the relationship. And it's important because the Arab nations are
going to have to be as committed to this process as the Israelis, the
Palestinians and the rest of the international community.
Q: There was talk of naming Assistant Secretary of State John Wolf to
head to the region as a special envoy, or to coordinate the efforts
immediately after the summit. There was also talk at the White House
of you, Dr. Rice, taking a more prominent role down the road. Can you
address that for us?
DR. RICE: Well, we will tomorrow talk about arrangements that we may
make to keep this process moving forward. But let me be very clear:
the Secretary of State and I work very closely together on these
matters; and, of course, in my role as National Security Advisor, I'm
very often involved in presidential initiatives -- there's nothing new
about that, I've been doing that since the beginning.
But the Secretary and I have been able, I believe, to serve the
President well by doing our respective roles and doing them well.
Q: I want to touch very quickly on a couple of other issues that have
come up on this trip. The President met with Crown Prince Abdallah of
Saudi Arabia today to discuss the investigation in the Riyadh
bombings. Did the administration learn anything new about the
suspects, about al Qaeda, about terrorist financing; anything that
perhaps the American people should know about this investigation?
DR. RICE: Well, the President had the opportunity to congratulate the
Saudis on some of the breakthroughs that they've made in the Riyadh
bombing, arrests that they've made and the like. And they continued
their conversation on cooperation, on the fight for terror.
The Saudis did say that they are looking at some new legislation that
might allow them to consolidate some of their control over their
charities. Obviously, it's an important -- it would be an important
step forward and we're looking forward to hearing more about it.
Q: And, lastly, President Putin said today that Russia would continue
helping Iran build its nuclear facilities. The President had met with
the President of Russia on this issue. Is that a sign that the
President is not going to get what he wants from the Russians?
DR. RICE: Well, we would of course, like to be certain that everybody
understands that the Iranians, under cover of civilian nuclear
programs, may be, in fact, doing other things -- including nuclear
weapons programs.
The clear indication from both President -- from President Putin and
President Bush when we were in St. Petersburg is that the Russians
understand well the potential danger of an Iranian nuclear weapons
program. That understanding has been helped by suspicious activities
that the IAEA uncovered during their recent visit to Iran.
President Putin has assured the President that he understands those
dangers. As he said in the press conference, our positions are closer
than they may seem.
Russia and its civilian nuclear program we continue to discuss that,
we continue to discuss ways that we can safeguard against the transfer
of any of that technology or knowledge to the nuclear weapons program.
But they are both concerned about the Iranian nuclear program. They
have both said that they're concerned about the nuclear program in
Iran. And the good thing is that we believe the Russians have had very
important conversations with the Iranians about those concerns.
Q: We're at time, we need to stop there. Thank you very much.
DR. RICE: Thank you very much.
END
(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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