20 June 2003
Powell Says Middle East Roadmap is Being Implemented
(Says there is no alternative to reenergizing peace efforts in the
wake of violence) (1610)
Secretary of State Colin Powell said that with the release of some
Palestinian prisoners and Israel's dismantling of some unauthorized
outposts in the occupied territories "we have begun to execute on the
roadmap."
Powell, speaking June 20 in Jerusalem with Israeli Foreign Minister
Silvan Shalom, said the United States regrets and extends its
condolences to the families of those who have been killed in the surge
of violence in the two weeks following President Bush's meetings with
Israeli, Palestinian and Arab leaders in Aqaba and Sharm el-Sheik.
"But this should not be a cause for us to stop our efforts, it should
be a cause for us to reenergize our efforts and to move forward
because, what is the alternative?" he said.
He said that talks between Ambassador John Wolf, President Bush's
Middle East envoy, and Palestinian officials were taking place over
security arrangements to be implemented in Gaza.
"[A]lthough we do not yet have a final answer as to how we will manage
the Gaza turnover of security, the conversations are serious and the
issues are being reduced in number and the differences are being
narrowed," said Powell.
He said he would meet with Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas later in
the day to ask that incitement against Israel in the Palestinian press
and in schools "be brought under control," and to discuss efforts to
end not only violence but "in the future, the capacity for violence."
Following are the texts of statements by Secretary Powell and Foreign
Minister Shalom:
(begin text)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman (Jerusalem)
June 20, 2003
Statements by Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Israeli Foreign
Minister Silvan Shalom
Foreign Ministry
Jerusalem
FOREIGN MINISTER SHALOM: I am happy to once again welcome Secretary of
State Powell here in Jerusalem. We will both participate in the WEF
summit in Jordan, and we have the opportunity to continue the dialogue
with our counterparts there. This has been my third meeting with the
Secretary of State in the last month. As always, our conversation was
friendly and constructive in the tradition of the close cooperation
and coordination between our two governments. Let me stress Israel's
commitment to work with our Palestinian neighbors and American friends
in a constant effort to pursue the vision of peace in our region.
However, we cannot ignore the threat of terrorism that continues to
target Israeli citizens. Since the Aqaba Summit -- and I want to
emphasize since the Aqaba Summit -- 29 Israelis were murdered
including children, women and elderly. On Tuesday, Noam Leibowitz a
seven-year old child lost her life in a terrorist attack. Yesterday,
Avener Mordechai sixty-years old was slain in a suicide bombing. Mr.
Secretary, I want to thank you for your condolences. But I want you to
know that the murderers of both a small child and elderly man this
week underscore again that these are not simply statistics, but a
horrifying human tragedy. This is not the way to achieve real peace.
This reality only strengthens my conviction that the war on terrorism
must continue everywhere using all means at our disposal. This is a
fundamental condition for any future progress. We must remember that
the terrorists threaten not only Israel, but also Abu Mazen's
government, and the very peace process we are trying to pursue
together with the United States.
Having met this week with Ambassador Wolf, you have our promise Mr.
Secretary that Israel will do all it can to assist him in full in
filling his important mission to ensure that the Palestinians
implement in security commitment and end the incitements. His success
is our success. We are willing to get progress in the peace process we
want them to implement what they are committed in the roadmap. It
means to dismantle the infrastructure of terror. I think it is very
important because cease-fire is a ticking bomb. Cease-fire for a long
term is not accepted. And I think it is very important for them to
understand as well, that so many initiatives were here in the region
in the last 35 years, all of them failed, only because they didn't
take the strategic decision to put an end to terrorism and violence.
I want to tell you that I have tasked a special team in our Foreign
Ministry to monitor the incitement in the Palestinian media and
statements by the Palestinians officials. I was happy to hear that
Ambassador Wolf adapted my proposal to have both our teams work in
close coordination on this issue like in others.
Thank you, and now I will switch to Hebrew for a short time, with your
permission.
SECRETARY OF STATE: Thank you very much, Mr. Minister. It's a great
pleasure to be back in Jerusalem and I value the opportunity to have
in-depth conversations with you and, as always, they were very candid,
direct and to the point.
I was here five weeks ago and a lot has happened in the five weeks
since. We had both sides accept the roadmap as a way forward to peace.
We had the historic summit at Sharm-el-Sheikh and another one in
Aqaba. Sharm-el-Sheikh, we got the Arab nations to agree that there
had to be an end to violence and terror and there had to be the end to
incitement, the end to funding of any organization that was supporting
terrorist activity.
And at Aqaba, we had all sides come together, Palestinians, Israelis,
the presence of the American President, and all sides making
commitment to use the roadmap as a way forward. On that day, in Aqaba,
both sides undertook commitments that were to be discharged in the
very near future. The Israeli side has begun to exercise their energy
and their efforts to meet those commitments with the dismantling of
unauthorized outposts, other actions that Prime Minister Sharon
indicated to me, in my last visit, that they would take in order to
try to make life better for the Palestinian people and, I appreciate
what Israel has done and we spoke about additional things that Israel
will be doing in the near future. I took note of the fact that
prisoners have been released. And so we have begun to execute on the
roadmap.
On the Palestinian side, conversations are taking place with respect
to the security arrangements in Gaza. Ambassador John Wolf, who is
here as the President's special envoy for this purpose, has played a
role in getting the two sides to talk to one another. And, although we
do not yet have a final answer as to how we will manage the Gaza
turnover of security, the conversations are serious and the issues are
being reduced in number and the differences are being narrowed and we
had an opportunity to talk to the Foreign Minister about these
differences and I look to speaking about these differences with the
Prime Minster in just a few moments.
I share the Minister's concern that incitement has to be brought under
control and in Ambassador Wolf's conversations with the Palestinians,
this has been highlighted and I will highlight it again in my
conversation this afternoon with Prime Minster Abbas -- incitement on
the radio, incitement on television, incitement in the press,
incitement in schools as a result of the kinds of education youngsters
are getting. I also am anxious to speak to the Prime Minister this
afternoon, Prime Minister Abbas, about efforts that they are making to
bring violence under control, to end violence -- not just through the
means of having a cease-fire but going beyond that -- end violence and
end the capacity of violence -- in the future, the capacity for
violence. As Prime Minster Abbas has said, there can only be one-armed
force within any government, within any nation it has to be under the
control of the government.
So we know what we have to do. We have to end violence and the
potential for violence and that remains our goal. As I said to the
Minister and will say to the Prime Minister in a few moments,
President Bush remains committed to moving forward. He believes a
window of opportunity has been created with the roadmap and with the
Aqaba and Sharm-el-Sheikh summit and, in the aftermath of our success
in Iraq, and we have to take advantage of this moment of opportunity.
We regret and extend our condolences to the families of all those who
have lost their lives over the last two weeks since Aqaba. But this
should not be a cause for us to stop our efforts, it should be a cause
for us to reenergize our efforts and to move forward because, what is
the alternative? Unless we move forward and find a way for the two
sides to assure each other of security, to end the terror and the
violence, to make life more attractive for the Palestinian people, to
get the economies running again, unless we do that then we will not
end this crisis, we will not find a path to peace and President Bush
is committed that we must take this opportunity, take this window that
has been provided, that has been opened, and keep moving forward and
push through, blast through those who would try to stop us, who would
try to keep us from our goal of peace through acts of violence and
terror.
Thank you very much, Mr. Minister, and I look forward to our next
meeting.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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