04 June 2003
Bush Sees Fight Against Terrorism Helping Palestinian State Emerge
(Roundtable interview with reporters aboard Air Force One) (6980)
President Bush says a universal recognition that terrorism must be
defeated has created a new reality in the Middle East that will make
it easier for a Palestinian state to emerge.
"It's no longer isolated terrorism, it is terrorism that is beginning
to affect a lot of people and can affect a lot of people. So in other
words, the meeting yesterday, for example, with the Arab nations, it
seemed like to me the new reality was reflected in their statements,
which will make it easier for a Palestinian state to emerge. There's a
vested interest to fight terror. It's people's self-interest now,"
Bush said in a roundtable interview with reporters aboard Air Force
One en route to Qatar June 4.
Bush gave an extensive interview with reporters traveling with him
about his meetings in the Egyptian port city of Sharm El-Sheikh June 3
and in the Jordanian port of Aqaba June 4 designed to advance the
Middle East road map toward peace.
Bush said the Arab leaders -- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak,
Jordanian King Abdullah, Saudi Crown Prince Abdallah bin Abdulaziz,
Bahrain King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, and Palestinian Prime Minister
Mahmoud Abbas -- made strong statements in public and private about
the need to stop terrorists from destroying the peace process.
Bush said there will be no compromise protecting Israel's security. He
added that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon understood the need to
help Abbas and the Palestinian Authority fight terrorism and improve
the conditions of the Palestinian people.
Bush said he perceived a mutual desire by Sharon and Abbas to work
together during an informal meeting of the three of them.
"[W]e went out and sat on the lawn there for about 30 minutes and
discussed a lot of matters. What I wanted to do is to observe the
interplay between the two; did they have the capacity to relax in each
other's presence, for starters. And I felt they did. In other words,
it was -- the body language was positive. There wasn't a lot of
hostility or suspicion," Bush said. "There was a -- it seemed like to
me, from the conversation, that there was a mutual desire to work
toward the vision."
Bush said he believes Sharon and Abbas are leaders who can be trusted
to keep their word.
The president said once confidence is built in the peace process there
will be a lot of financial help from around the world because "people
want this effort to succeed."
Following is the transcript of Bush's roundtable interview:
(begin transcript)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
June 4, 2003
ROUNDTABLE INTERVIEW OF THE PRESIDENT BY WHITE HOUSE PRESS POOL
Aboard Air Force One
En Route Doha, Qatar
4:40 P.M. (L)
THE PRESIDENT: First of all, it's progress. Great success happens when
there's two states, living side-by-side in peace. And this is
progress. I thought I would -- since this is an historic trip, I
thought I would just have you up and share thoughts and answer
questions. We'll go around for a while.
First, I'm pleased with what happened yesterday and today. The first
signs of peace happen when people make up their mind to work toward
peace. And that's what you saw. You heard some pretty firm statements
yesterday. The statements yesterday by the Arab leaders were very
strong in public and they were strong in private. One of the things
that we have made clear to all parties is that there are terrorists
who have to blow up the process, you all know that, it's been an
historic fact, and that these countries in the neighborhood have the
capacity to work to cut off money to the terrorist groups, and access
and arms deals. And they committed themselves to do that, which was a
positive sign.
It was also important for Prime Minister Abbas to hear that. This is a
man who is a newly elected Prime Minister, new to office. He gets
sworn in and the road map gets released. All of a sudden now he finds
himself in a serious effort, the creation of a Palestinian state,
which puts enormous responsibilities on him.
And one of the things we're saying is, you're now responsible. But it
helped a lot to have the Arab leaders support him, and not only
support him, but to support him through pledges of activity and
action. The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia was particularly strong
yesterday in private about the need to chase down terrorists. They've
had some recent experience with terrorism. And I was really pleased
with the strong commitment and the strong desire to not only deal with
terrorists inside his country but to work to prevent arms being
smuggled from -- out of Iraq and into the territories.
We also spent a lot of time talking about Syria, and the mutual
concern about Syria and the desire to convince Syria to shut down
terrorist offices inside -- in Damascus. So there was a very helpful
discussion. I think it was very helpful for Prime Minister Abbas to
hear that.
Then we come to today. The way the day worked, is that I met with the
King of Jordan. He is a wonderful man. He is obviously desirous of
Palestinian statehood, which would be very helpful to him. We talked
about bilateral relations, economic -- matters of economic
development. And it was a good conversation.
And then I sat down with Prime Minister Sharon. I assured him that
security was at the top of our agenda, like security is at the top of
his agenda. One, we're in a war against terror, or a war against
terror on the home front, we're chasing down these people around. But
we also recognize that there are some who would like to blow up the
process, and that we want to work to create the conditions for a
Palestinian state to emerge, which means jointly working with all
parties to work on the security issue.
I also told him, though, he's got responsibilities. The fact that he
showed up meant that he believes Prime Minister Abbas can deliver. And
therefore, we've got to work together to help the Prime Minister
achieve his stated objectives, which, one, he had a very clear
statement on terror.
The other thing that was very interesting was his statement on
incitement. And it was a fact statement, for those who follow the
process. He needs time to get his security forces set up. And I
reminded the Prime Minister -- I also reminded him that I wasn't
caught by surprise by his statement on the outpost, the issue of the
outpost. He said he would dismantle them, we expect him now to
dismantle them.
People say, well, what's the first step? Well, you just heard the
first step today in the speeches. And the -- you also heard me say
that we would help the Palestinian Authority develop a security force.
Minister Dahlan will be in charge of that security force. We intend to
work with them. We assured the Israelis we intend to work with them.
We want this man to be successful.
The Prime Minister absolutely rejected terror. In order for him to be
effective in rejecting terror, he's got to have an effective security
force. And so that's what we discussed. And then we met, all of us
together, our delegations. It was good. We had a -- the discussion was
very interesting is the Prime Minister asked members of his Knesset to
speak, minister of defense, the deputy prime minister, the equivalent
of the Attorney General, minister of justice. And then Prime Minister
Abbas spoke, I spoke.
And then I suggested that the three of us just go outside and visit,
rather than having the formal settings of the old roundtable
discussion. And so we went out and sat on the lawn there for about 30
minutes and discussed a lot of matters. What I wanted to do is to
observe the interplay between the two; did they have the capacity to
relax in each other's presence, for starters. And I felt they did. In
other words, it was -- the body language was positive. There wasn't a
lot of hostility or suspicion.
There was a -- it seemed like to me, from the conversation, that there
was a mutual desire to work toward the vision. And obviously I'm not
going to betray confidences, but it was a very interesting and
positive conversation is the best way to say it. I didn't need, for
example, to be Mr. Chatty. You know, kind of, hey, fellows.
(Laughter.) There was a natural tendency to want to talk about common
matters and common desires.
And then after that we gave our speeches and here we sit. I will tell
you that I'm pleased with the last two days. We have made a good
beginning. And I emphasize beginning, because there's a lot of work to
do. Let me just review some of the work that must take place.
Obviously, there needs -- there needs to be a focused, complete, 100
percent effort to fight off the terrorists. I believe the Palestinian
-- I know the Palestinian leadership wants that, has got that desire.
And so, he must help them put the institutions in place to do that.
On the Palestinian side, there needs to be an emergence of a state,
the institutions of which are larger than the participants. And that
is essential. I assured the Prime Minister of the Palestinian
Authority -- and this was when we were sitting out on the lawn -- that
there is plenty of help coming. At the G8 meeting in Evian, there was
a lot of discussion about how we can help, what can we do? I said,
well, when the time is right, there's going to be need for money and
commercial development and enhancement of the entrepreneurial spirit.
There's just a lot of things to be done -- better education systems.
Israel has got to recognize that Prime Minister Abbas is desirous for
peace, and without compromising security, must make decisions
necessary to help the Palestinian people. And they're doing that.
Money is -- more money is now in circulation. They collect revenues,
Israel does, and now they're -- they've got great trust in the finance
minister of the Palestinian Authority -- a guy who went to the
University of Texas, by the way, for a while.
He came to Washington as an intermediary on behalf of Prime Minister
Abbas and Condi and I met with him in the Oval Office. I spent a lot
of the time on Palestinian finances, cash flow matters, making sure
that aid and money actually end up helping the people and not either
bank accounts of individuals that -- where it doesn't belong. I'm
absolutely convinced he's an honest and upright man who believes in
the future of the Palestinian people, believes that a democratic
Palestinian state is possible.
It's important for Prime Minister Sharon to recognize that. I think he
does -- I'm confident he recognizes that. The $100 million that had
been held in arrears was released, and the process of talking about
more money going through, which -- 25,000 workers now that were not
allowed in Israel now allowed in Israel. In other words, what I'm
telling you is, is that it's important for the life of the
Palestinians to improve in measurable ways.
And as confidence is built, as institutions are in place, I assured
Prime Minister Abbas -- and this was important for Prime Minister
Sharon to hear as well -- that there is going to be a lot of help,
financial help, from around the world. People want this effort to
succeed.
And so it's -- it's a bit of -- two good days, but there's a lot to
happen. Let me just go around the table.
Q: You sound cautious still.
THE PRESIDENT: I am cautious, because -- and I'm cautious because
history tells you to be cautious. I don't know where you were in 2000,
I guess it was, they were close. There are killers lurking in the
neighborhood. There are people who have declared there -- openly
declared their hostility to Israel, and their desire to destroy
Israeli citizens. There are people that, you know, would rather have
chaos than a state. And so long as you know they're there, you've got
to be cautious.
And on the other hand, we've now got a partner in peace, Prime
Minister Abbas, who is -- wants the tools necessary to chase them
down. It's going to be one of the accountability measures, by the way.
That's one of reasons why we put Wolff.
The news today, of course, from our side, was besides having the
meeting was, ambassador John Wolf and his team. It's not just Wolf. It
is not Wolf and one administrative assistant. It's Wolf and a team of
people that the Secretary will be glad to explain to you. We have a
security team there to help the Dahlan. Their job is to find out
what's needed and to also hold people to account, both sides to
account, reminding people of promises made in meetings and insisting
them that in order for progress to be made, people have got to delver
it.
And so, yes, I've cautious, but optimistic. Perhaps we should say,
cautiously optimistic. (Laughter.)
Q: Mr. President, previous efforts at making peace in the Middle East
did not succeed. You believe you now have a chance. Did you -- and you
also mentioned that it's historic, this was an historic meeting. Could
you try to put this in history? What do you think has changed since
you took office, and how did we get to this point?
THE PRESIDENT: I think a couple of things have changed. One, I think
there is -- I think Prime Minister Abbas is willing to make the
necessary decisions and take the necessary steps to fight terror and
to develop institutions necessary for a state to emerge, a genuine
effort, I believe he is. And that's a change.
Secondly, there is a universal recognition that the war on terror is
just that, a war on terror, and not empty words; that September the
11th or bombings in Riyadh or the terror that has plagued Israel,
these are terrorist acts that must be defeated, and they must be
defeated at its source, as well.
So there's a different -- frankly, a different attitude toward
terrorism. It's no longer isolated terrorism, it is terrorism that is
beginning to affect a lot of people and can affect a lot of people. So
in other words, the meeting yesterday, for example, with the Arab
nations, it seemed like to me the new reality was reflected in their
statements, which will make it easier for a Palestinian state to
emerge. There's a vested interest to fight terror. It's people's
self-interest now.
And so I think that's been one of the changes. I'm sure this is --
other presidents have said this, other leaders have -- but there is
now battle fatigue. People are sick and tired of it. People are sick
and tired of the death, suffering, of the humiliation. In other words,
there's -- hopefully history will show whether or not I'm right, but
hopefully we have reached the point where a lot of good people have
begun to realize that the immediate past will lead to nothing but more
suffering and humiliation and death. And people are beginning to
change their attitudes on the ground.
Q: Do you think September 11th had an impact in the region, as well,
in helping -- did it just galvanize American views about terrorism, or
did it also carry through into --
THE PRESIDENT: I think it -- the terror attacks shocked the world. And
it frightened a lot of people, because they realized that if America
can be hit, they could be hit. And then terror began to -- I just
said, the attacks in Riyadh, or the attacks in Indonesia, Bali, a nice
secure resort community. The next thing is, people wake up the next
day and realize -- around the world realize that there's no such thing
as a nice, secure resort when we have terrorists willing to kill
innocent lives in the numbers they did.
So not just September the 11th. September the 11th made the world
aware of the new war. And then the other acts of terror that have
taken place since, made the issue come even closer to home for many
countries. And then the combination of that, plus the terrorist
activities in the Palestinian territories and in Israel made people
realize the effects of terror. It kind of brought it all home, I
think. So, yes, I think September the 11th mattered. But it wasn't the
only event that was -- helped galvanize thought.
People are frightened about terror in the Middle East, not just in
Israel. And they've got to get after it. And we're going to help them
get after it. It's a part of this war. One of the hardest things I
knew that I would have to do as the President is to remind the
American people, and for that matter, people around the world, the
nature of the war in which we find ourselves.
And it's different. There's a couple battle fronts that are
noticeable, Afghanistan and Iraq, but this war goes on. I mean, today,
as we speak, we've got intelligence sharing going on, we've got people
on the hunt trying to find them, one at a time. It's that same effort
that will take place in the Palestinian territories, but it requires
the desire by all leaders to want to fight it. I think that's changed
some. I think it's changed a lot mentality.
Q: Mr. President, you seem to value and even enjoy the spontaneity and
informality that you brought in your meetings with these leaders.
Could you -- could you dwell for a moment on your personal style of
diplomacy and how you see it working?
THE PRESIDENT: I try to tell the truth, put it right out there on the
table for everybody to understand what's expected. I do, I like
people. You know, I remember, I think it was -- Ron Fournier asked me
the question, do you trust Vladimir Putin? It was one of the really
interesting questions, to fire up the President standing next to
Vladimir Putin.
Well, the answer is yes, I didn't hesitate, because during my meeting
with him, I had developed an interesting report. My instincts were
such that, this is a guy I can trust. History will prove me right. It
doesn't necessarily mean he has to agree with everything that I say,
but trust his word. I've spent enough time with Ariel Sharon to know
he's the kind of guy when he says something, he means it. I'm getting
the same sense about Prime Minister Abbas.
And therefore much of the conversations, particularly as I get to know
somebody, is to figure out whether or not you can -- whether or not,
when they say something, they mean it. You can tell that, pretty much,
during a conversation, which means trying to get people off their
script, and as you discuss things, make it as informal as possible,
because I think people in an informal setting tend to show their heart
and/or their conscience in a lot better way.
I'm not a very formal guy to begin with. Condi and the Secretary of
State, Colin, can give you a better sense of what my style is like.
I'm also not very analytical. You know I don't spend a lot of time
thinking about myself, about why I do things. The meetings are
informal, they're kind of relaxed. I think one of my styles is trying
to relax people.
DR. RICE: Direct, I would say.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I am a direct person. I mean, there's no -- we
don't have a lot of time, and therefore, I like to get to the point. I
like to ask people, I can challenge people. I believe I can do so in a
way that's not offensive to them. It's about as encouraging as it was
discouraging. And I hope they sense my sense of optimism. I mean, I'm
an enthusiastic person when I believe that something is possible.
I believe peace is possible. I know it's going to be hard, but I think
the fact that I'm representing a great country and am willing to sit
down with these leaders and give them a sense, we're all in this
together, is helpful. The best way to do that is in a more informal
type setting where there's not a lot of prepared notes. I've been in
meetings where people read speeches. It's not as productive as a
meeting in which people can sit down and actually --
One of my jobs is to try to help relax people in a setting. I hope I'm
pretty good at that. How do you feel, do you feel relaxed right now?
Q: More relaxed than I should.
THE PRESIDENT: It worked.
Q: Is that what happened when you were in the anteroom with the
anti-room with the Arab leaders, you just decided that it was a more
relaxed setting and that you prefer to keep talking --
THE PRESIDENT: Exactly, yes.
Q: Could you tell us a little bit about that meeting and what went on
in that meeting?
THE PRESIDENT: Sure, I'd love to. First of all, I understand that
there was a little bit of hard feelings. I was told last night about
certain press wasn't in. We had no idea. I'm available for any photo
op. (Laughter.) But it was not an intention, if that's -- that's the
meeting I think you're talking about, the informal meeting.
Q: Multilateral. But we'd like to know what happened in the private
meeting that you had with the heads of state before you came out.
THE PRESIDENT: Before we came out, the thing that was not supposed to
be on TV, that one. It was just a roundtable discussion about -- let
me make sure I get it right here. I told them, I said, look -- all
four of those leaders, except for Prime Minister Abbas, were -- Prime
Minister Abbas was there. The other four leaders are leaders who I
obviously talked to during the Iraq war. Before the Iraq war and after
the Iraq war I assured them that I was going to be involved in moving
the Middle East peace process forward, particularly after the
emergence of the Prime Minister, Abbas.
This was my chance to go around the table and look him in the eye, and
say, I'm here to make it happen, but I need your help. The first thing
was to -- is to let them know about the intent of this administration.
I shared with them -- well, you know Colin's involvement and Condi's
involvement. I didn't share with them the Wolff -- I knew they would
read about it today. There wasn't any great secret. On the other hand,
you occasionally try to hold back some news -- you've probably learned
it before I did, anyway.
And then we listened to them, and Crown Prince Abdallah. And they had
a lot of interesting thoughts about different issues. Oh, and by the
way, it wasn't just -- the discussion wasn't just on the Middle East
peace process. The other thing I told them, I asked them, was to help
Prime Minister Abbas. I directly said, we need your help on this
fellow. If he is to succeed, if peace is to succeed, he needs your
help. And they were willing, they expressed their desire to help. And
I went to Iraq, and talked about what was happening there.
Then I encouraged them to continue on their paths to reform, and about
how that would make a significant difference in the lives of their
citizens. So it was more than -- and they commented on all that,
different aspects. I'm not going to tell you what they told me. If
they want to tell you what -- if they want to say what is theirs,
they'll put it in their own press. It was a long discussion. It took a
lot longer than we thought.
And part of it had to do because a lot of it needed to be translated.
Therefore, a normal conversation -- all of it had to be translated.
The Crown Prince does not speak English very well, so therefore every
word that was spoken had to volleyed. And so that's -- we had a good
conversation. Again, not structured. People said what they felt like,
and there was no -- it wasn't just, okay, you speak, you speak, you
speak, and then we're through. There was a lot of interchange. That's
positive.
And I met bilaterally with them as well. I met with -- Colin and Condi
and I went over to President Mubarak's house that night. We had a
bilateral with him in the morning and afterwards we ate. I had a
bilateral with the Crown Prince at the hotel after the sauna bath.
It was very hot outside when I spoke. (Laughter.) Thank you for
clarification. It was hot, I'm sweating. I was really hot.
Q: I know, I know there was one place where you were talking about it,
figuratively --
THE PRESIDENT: Figuratively, that's right. Just to see if you were
paying attention. And it's very useful to have those kind of
conversations.
Q: Mr. President, a big part of why you were here, and you made clear,
is because Mahmoud Abbas is the person who is Palestinian Prime
Minister, and Yasser Arafat is not the person who you chose to
negotiate. But Palestinian leaders, some of their senior officials,
made clear that they still think Yasser Arafat -- they made clear that
they still think Yasser Arafat is somebody who needs to be dealt with,
who needs to negotiate. I'm wondering what kinds of conversations you
had with the Arab leaders and maybe with Mahmoud Abbas about Arafat's
role?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it's clear that I'm going to deal with Prime
Minister Abbas, so there wasn't much conversation.
Q: Do you think it will come up?
THE PRESIDENT: Not really. The Secretary of State is --
SECRETARY POWELL: It didn't come up in any of the conversations with
the President that I'm aware of. And they know our views on this.
Q: Do you have any concern that he might be a hindrance to the process
at all?
THE PRESIDENT: Not if he has the Palestinian people's interests at
heart. We'll see. I certainly hope not.
SECRETARY POWELL: Can I just --
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, please.
SECRETARY POWELL: In conversations with the Arab leaders, particularly
the foreign ministers, we made it clear to them that one of the things
we expected them to help with was to make sure that Mr. Arafat does
not become an obstacle to the execution of the road map.
Q: Did they seem to say that they were willing to do that?
SECRETARY POWELL: They understood. They will help.
THE PRESIDENT: I think they understand.
Q: --
THE PRESIDENT: It really didn't -- I mean, he's handled most of that.
It did not come up during my conversations with the Arab leaders. What
came up was, how do we help Prime Minister Abbas. Now, Colin may have
had different -- with the foreign ministers, since they have some
frank discussions. A lot of times you'll find out that the underbrush
has been cleared by the -- and by the time the President arrives,
everybody kind of understands. And one of his jobs is to clear out
underbrush. That's an old ranch term. (Laughter.) In other words -- I
don't know what he told the foreign ministers, but I just heard what
he told the foreign ministers.
Q: He's watching the calluses on his hands.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, that's it. (Laughter.)
Q: Can I ask you, just a follow up?
THE PRESIDENT: Sure.
Q: What do you consider sort of the importance of the role of the
President in this kind of process? For example, this is the first time
-- it's been two and a half years since you've been President. It's
the first time you've had this kind of summit, where some of your
predecessors had multiple summits by this time.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you know, first of all, we've had a lot of
meetings, but not summits. I've had a lot of discussions with every
one of the parties that have been around the table, with the exception
of Prime Minister Abbas, and he's just showed up. He just emerged as a
leader. I called him immediately upon -- I think immediately, or soon
after he became Prime Minister.
I mean, so -- let me -- just because we haven't had the summit doesn't
mean this administration hasn't been working toward achieving the
conditions necessary to move forward. And that's really an important
-- there has to be -- I can remember saying this to the press corps
early on in my administration. People want to have to -- peace, want
peace, in order to move the process forward requires a -- there's no
need to spend capital and energy and time if there is not a commitment
to peace. And the conditions are such now that there is a commitment
to peace by a lot of people that are ready to see if we can't make it
happen. That's what's changed.
And therefore the timing of this summit was really based upon the
attitudes of the decision makers. We're not the decision maker. Oh,
the American President or the American Secretary of State is -- I wish
we were the decision makers. You know, okay, this is it. That's not
the way it works. There's terrorists to deal with. If we could, we'd
say, all the terrorists, put down your arms and become useful
citizens, peaceful citizens.
But that's not, unfortunately, reality. Banding together, though, we
can deal with the ticket -- you know, build up the will necessary to
deal with the terrorists. And so what the role of the United States is
is to lay out the vision, encourage people to accept the vision, and
then help implement the vision. In this case, we call it a road map to
achieve the vision. And that's exactly what we're going to do. We can
be stewards of accountability. And we can say to somebody, you said
you'd do this, you haven't done it; you say you want to do this, and
what do you need to get it done?
So today we asked Dahlan, what is it you need, how can we help you?
This is a security matter. What exactly can we do to help?
SECRETARY POWELL: Mr. President, can I give four data points to show
the President's involvement. Just a couple of quick data points to
show you how we got here and how the President caused us to be here.
Twenty-four June speech you're very familiar with. On the 18th of
July, the President had Arab foreign ministers in the Oval Office --
Muasher of Jordan, Saud of Saudi Arabia, Maher of Egypt. And at that
meeting, the President said to them, we will now structure a way to go
from my vision to reality. And that was the beginning of the work on
the road map.
Work went on all summer, all fall. And then on the 20th of December,
the European -- the Quartet came together to finalize it. The
President met with the Quartet, finalized it, and then we waited for
the Israeli elections to be over, which were just about finished at
that time, and then we said, with the appointment of new leadership in
the Palestinian Authority, the President is ready to act, and he did.
Q: Mr. President, in the events of the last two days, have they
exceeded what you expected coming over here?
THE PRESIDENT: That's a good question. I'm supposed to say -- that's
an interesting question. (Laughter.)
Q: You're supposed to say what you think.
THE PRESIDENT: I'm the master of low expectations. I think they -- we
did what we wanted to -- I think we -- we accomplished what I hoped we
would accomplish, but I don't think we necessarily exceeded
expectations. I think met expectations is a better way to put it.
I was hoping to have honest dialogues. The statements that came out, I
think when you analyze the statements, you'll find them to be
historic, I guess is the right word to use. Amazing things were said.
The Palestinian -- the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority
talked about the suffering of Jewish people. It's a strong statement.
The Prime Minister of Israel talked about a Palestinian state which
was free. The statements were strong. It's hard to answer, exceeded
expectations. I had a little bit of an understanding of what might
take place, because we worked hard. These trips, obviously, don't just
happen. The statement just doesn't show up out of the blue. It
requires -- (laughter) --
DR. RICE: Oh, no, they just appeared magically.
THE PRESIDENT: I'm a great delegator, I'm a great delegator. And so
they met expectations. However, the cordial atmosphere -- I'll tell
you what else was interesting, that I would say met expectations, or
was pleasing to see, was the interface between the Palestinian cabinet
and the Israeli cabinet. When we went out to sit on the grounds, and I
witnessed some of it, but not all of it, since I was actually on the
grounds, Colin and Condi told me that there was very interesting
discussions and dialogue going on. There was -- people were frank with
each other, they were able to joke with each other, they were able to
kind of bring up a little history with each other.
But the main thing that came out of it, at least to our delegation,
appeared to be the desire to work together. You two witnesses, maybe
you want to--
DR. RICE: That's absolutely the case.
Q: If I could follow up, Mr. President, were there any time going into
this that you were hearing things, that you were thinking to yourself,
uh-oh --
THE PRESIDENT: Look, I wasn't going if we weren't going to make
progress. I mean, there's no need to go and stand up there by myself,
and say, let's work for peace, and look around, and nobody would be
there with you. So I was -- I think there were some times where --
we've had some -- in the run-up to the process, there was some --
there was a lot of work, let me put it to you that way, and a lot of
frank discussion and a lot of convincing of parties that we need to
get on this path and we need to work hard and we need to make
commitments. The speeches that -- there were some commitments made in
those speeches, which now put people on the record -- not only on the
record, all across the world. I mean, a lot of people were watching
this today. And I guess it was live in America.
So you had these leaders stand up and say, I commit -- not just commit
to -- I mean, the Prime Minister of Israel saying, I commit to knock
down or get rid of illegal outposts. That is a strong commitment. So
the process was really to work hard to get people to make commitments
toward peace. And Condi's staff and Colin's staff worked very closely
together. And Colin went out to the region, as you may remember. Part
of what you saw today was his hard work. They always look at the
President, but the truth of the matter is that there have been a lot
of people working hard to work with all parties to get to where we got
today. I just happen to attract more cameras than most of them. So I
stand up there and everybody watches.
DR. RICE: We actually had a team in the region for almost a week, Bill
Burns and Elliot Abrams for almost a week.
THE PRESIDENT: Elliot Abrams is her staff, Bill of course is an
undersecretary.
SECRETARY POWELL: Assistant secretary.
THE PRESIDENT: Runs the NEA, is very capable. And then of course we --
we had to make the decision on the man who is going to run the deal on
the ground, and how his team was going to be formed. Again, the
Secretary had to move him in his department, and had to come up with
the right structure and the right people so that when the Palestinians
and Israelis see who was sitting out there and what they represent,
they realize that it's serious business. All that took a while to get
to where we are.
To answer your question, I'm pleased with the start, is the best way
to put it. I mean, this -- we are going to go through a tough process,
because we're dealing with a lot of history. And you're right, a lot
of Presidents have tried. Every President should try. We ought to use
the prestige of America to try for peace. I fault no President of the
United States for trying to achieve peace. Maybe history is such that
now we can achieve it. I'm optimistic.
Q: You were pretty blunt yesterday that Israel must deal with the
settlements.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q: Sharon made -- I don't think we were supposed to hear that. Sharon
made his pledge today. If there's a suicide bombing, does he reserve
the right to move back into those settlements?
THE PRESIDENT: Look, I think the operative statement from the Israeli
Prime Minister, not necessarily in this speech, but recently, was he
wants to see a complete effort to fight off terror. In other words, he
wants an equal partner. He wants a partner in the battle on terror --
not somebody who will say they're going to fight terror and then turn
a blind eye to terror, somebody who wants to join him. And that's one
of the things that came clear. It should have been clear in my speech,
too, that we will fight terror.
And security is -- we'll never compromise on Israel's security. That's
one of the reasons why I believe the Israeli Knesset members over
there, the Prime Minister wants to follow us, work with us, because
they know I will never compromise Israel's security. And I've made
that clear. As Condi said, one of the things about our discussions,
they're frank. There's no question in the Palestinian Authority's
mind, either, I can assure you.
Now having -- so therefore -- what the Prime Minister of Israel has
said is, he expects to see a complete effort by the Palestinian
Authority to fight off terror. Prime Minister Abbas said today in his
statement, there is no place for terror. And he -- and he is going to
put together a security forces necessary fight off the terrorists,
because he knows that there will be no state if terror prevails. And
he knows his people will suffer. The terrorists think they're hurting
Israel, and they are, when they kill Israelis. But they're also
hurting their own people. And Prime Minister Abbas understands that.
Plus the people in the region know what terror now means. They've
lived with terror in the region, but they've now begun to put it in
context. And that's -- I'm trying to put it as clearly as I can. The
context of terror now has changed. The death hasn't changed, but it's
now -- it's easier for everybody to see how it fits into a larger
scheme of things. And the larger scheme of things is the war on
terror, because it's beginning to strike in lethal ways in unexpected
places, which therefore means that your place could be next, I guess
is one way to put it.
Q: What's your role? What do you do? You talked about giving the
Secretary and Dr. Rice specific obligations. What's your obligation?
THE PRESIDENT: I show up when they need me to call people to account,
to praise, or to say, wait a minute -- you told me in Jordan that you
would do this, you haven't done it, why? How come? What is it? It's to
keep the thing moving, keep the processes moving. They've got the man
on the ground that is going to -- he's just going to -- I used the
expression, ride herd. I don't know if anybody understood the meaning.
It's a little informal in diplomatic terms. I said, we're going to put
a guy on the ground to ride herd on the process. See them all
scratching their heads.
Q: Meanwhile, in Arabic and Hebrew, exactly how does that translate?
THE PRESIDENT: Listen, I've got to make a phone call, but I want to
thank you all for your interest. It's been a great trip. Have a good
day tomorrow. And then we'll get to go home. I'm looking forward to
it, looking forward to getting to see my family.
Q: What happened when you -- the three of you walked out for the
photograph, and did you hear the Israeli photographer screaming, are
you going to shake hands? Did you hear that?
THE PRESIDENT: No. Where was it?
Q: It was the photographer screaming --
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, yes. How do you shake hands with three people? I
couldn't understand -- first of all, I had a little trouble hearing.
My hearing is not as good as it used to be, and then sometimes I don't
want to hear anything to begin with, like the questions you yell.
(Laughter.)
Q: Well, it was a pleasure to talk to you.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, thanks for coming over.
(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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