24 July 2003
Powell Says Palestinians, Israelis Have Taken Steps toward Peace
Meets with Israeli Foreign Minister Shalom in Washington July 23
Secretary of State Colin Powell said Palestinians and Israelis have made considerable progress towards peace since the Aqaba summit in June, pointing to the dismantling of some Israeli settler outposts, the beginning of Palestinian prisoner releases, and the resumption of Palestinian security control over Gaza and Bethlehem.
Speaking to reporters at the State Department in Washington June 23 with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Powell praised the leadership of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas, who is due to meet with President Bush July 25, has created "a set of conditions which allowed the roadmap to be presented to the two parties" and has brought more financial discipline to the Palestinian Authority, Powell said. He added that the United States is hoping to "enhance his position."
"Prime Minister Abbas has shown that he has a vision for the Palestinian people, and he is already starting to act in that vision, and it is paying off already," said Powell.
Regarding Israel's construction of a security fence designed to separate Israelis from Palestinians, Powell said the United States has concerns over the construction of the fence.
For his part, Foreign Minister Shalom said the Israeli government feels that, "for the sake of the peace process we should build this fence," but added that it was aware of U.S. concerns.
Turning to Iran, Powell said that the Iranian government's public acknowledgement of an al-Qaida presence within its territory was "an interesting development."
"I think it is significant that they have now acknowledged rather publicly the presence and detention of al-Qaida members. And how they dispose of these individuals and what jurisdictions they turn them over to is something that remains to be seen," said Powell.
Following is a transcript of Secretary Powell and Israeli Foreign Minister Shalom:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
July 23, 2003
REMARKS
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell
And Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom
After Their Meeting
July 23, 2003
C Street Entrance
Washington, D.C.
(4:45 p.m. EDT)
SECRETARY POWELL: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It's a great pleasure to have received again my colleague, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom. We had a good discussion. We discussed the progress that has been made since the Aqaba summit, reviewed the actions on both sides, expressed my pleasure to the Minister that both sides remain that same commitment to progress along the roadmap that was agreed upon to be undertaken at Aqaba. Both sides are still committed to that. Both sides realize that this is an opportunity that must not be lost.
We know that much more work has to be done with respect to rooting out any capability for terrorism on the part of any organization on the Palestinian side. We are pleased that we were able to transfer security responsibilities in Gaza and Bethlehem to the Palestinian Authority, pleased at the level of cooperation on security matters that is taking place between the two sides and the work of our monitoring group under Ambassador Wolf. The Israeli side has released some prisoners and I know they're considering further releases, and action has been taken with respect to some of the unauthorized outposts.
And so these are important steps forward, and it shows the willingness of the two sides to work with one another and find steps that can be taken that benefit the goal that we all have to find a peaceful solution.
I am also pleased that work is underway also with respect to incitement. Much more has to be done here, but we have seen some signs of progress with respect to ending incitement that just causes hate to flourish.
And so, Mr. Minister, I thank you for your commitment to this effort, and it's my pleasure to have you here again, sir.
FOREIGN MINISTER SHALOM: Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. We had a very good meeting. We discussed the peace process. I have asked Secretary Powell that the United States will push both parties to implement their commitments in the roadmap. We are willing to move forward in the peace process, and I think the time has come for the Palestinians to take a strategic decision, and it means to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorist organization, to stop -- put an end to the violence, terrorism and incitement in the region.
We think it's very important not to let those extremists from the Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, to take an advantage of this time to rebuild their infrastructure and we can't allow extremists to blow up the peace process if we are not going to dismantle them, and I think the time has come for the Palestinians to do it.
We have discussed the last news from Iraq that we are very encouraged, and I think it can motivate -- motivate leaders in the region to negotiate with Israel and to move forward toward a peace with Israel. It was for many years that they were frightened to do it because Saddam Hussein was in power, and I hope that from now on they all will come and will negotiate with Israel in order to achieve a comprehensive peace in the region.
I want to thank my colleague for this meeting and for his efforts to get progress in the peace process. He is doing everything he can in order to bridge the gaps between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and I want to thank you for it.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you, sir.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, I wondered if you thought that Abbas is in a precarious position. The Palestinian spokesman is saying that unless he gets major concessions from Israel, you know, he could be thrown out by the parliament.
Is there a risk? Is the pace the President following right? Is there some risk involved?
SECRETARY POWELL: I think that Prime Minister Abbas has made considerable progress in the time that he has been in office. He created a set of conditions which allowed the roadmap to be presented to the two parties. He has done quite a bit with his cabinet in bringing financial discipline to the Palestinian Authority. He participated in the Sharm el-Sheikh summit and in the Aqaba summit, and since then we have seen Gaza, security for Gaza, given back to the Palestinian Authority, and the people of Gaza are able to move freely within the strip and life return to a more normal state.
We have seen outposts dismantled and we have seen the beginning of prisoner releases, and I know that the Israeli side is looking at that in considerable depth. So I think that Prime Minister Abbas has shown that he has a vision for the Palestinian people, and he is already starting to act in that vision, and it is paying off already.
And so I am sure that both sides want to see progress come faster, but you can't go faster than circumstances permit. Progress has been made. As I was saying to the Prime Minister, to use football metaphors, "This is a ground game at the moment, and we have to make sure that we keep moving forward."
So I think that Prime Minister Abbas has a lot to show for his stewardship over the past few months, and what we are trying to do is to show to the Palestinian people that this man is a leader who can take them to the goal that we all have as a common goal, and that is for the creation of a Palestinian state living side by side in peace with Israel.
It is our objective to enhance his position. I think that is the position of the state of Israel. And we'll do everything we can in the meetings that are coming up with Prime Minister Abbas this week and Prime Minister Sharon next week to do that for the benefit of the Israeli people and the Palestinian people.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, the Foreign Minister brought up the idea of a new Iraqi government making peace with Israel. Is that something you talked about today, and do you endorse that concept?
And, secondly, what do you think of the fence that the Israelis are building?
SECRETARY POWELL: The current government of the Iraqi people is the Coalition Provisional Authority. And I think as we see the Iraqi people put in place a democratic form of government, and we have started that process with the Governing Council that has been appointed, I am confident that as they move forward, they will see it is in their interest to put in place a democratic form of government that is living in peace with its neighbors, no longer threatens any of its neighbors, not interested in weapons of mass destruction, and as part of that process moving forward will find it in their interest, and will want to seek peace with the state of Israel, as well as its other neighbors. And that would be my expectation.
With respect to the fence, as you know, we are having conversations with our Israeli colleagues about the fence, and the next phase of fence construction, and whether or not we have to take a more serious, in-depth look at those construction activities to see whether or not it helps the process as we move forward, or whether there are other adjustments that might be made. But I have nothing more to say about it right now. My colleague is aware of the concerns that we have about the fence.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, the issue of the day in reference to Iran. How significant of a development do you think it is, in terms of their public announcement today regarding the al-Qaida soldiers in their country? Is it a significant development? And, if so, what do you want next? What is the next step for the Iranians?
SECRETARY POWELL: I think it is significant that they have now acknowledged rather publicly the presence and detention of al-Qaida members. And how they dispose of these individuals and what jurisdictions they turn them over to is something that remains to be seen. But I think it is an interesting development. That's how I would characterize it.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, regarding the issue of Iraqi intelligence, you have held a number of jobs over your career in various administrations. And how do you think that the intelligence process and the vetting process could have failed?
SECRETARY POWELL: There was a failure, as we all acknowledge, with respect to a statement that went into the State of the Union Address. I think it's been rather overblown.
I think that the intelligence community has done an excellent job of giving the President the information that he needed, the intelligence that he needed to make informed decisions, as to how he should deal with the Iraqi threat, in order to protect American citizens, and also to protect our friends in the region, and based on a solid body of intelligence acquired over many years, and not just by the United States but by other nations that looked at this, by the United Nations itself, which over a period of years, in meeting after meeting before the Security Council, resolution after resolution before the Security Council, came to the conclusion that Iraq did have these weapons, did have this capability. This is not debatable.
All the way through the '90s and after the inspectors were forced to leave in 1998, continuing past 1998 into the present, there was a solid body of information. I have been through that intelligence. I have looked at that intelligence as a soldier. I have looked at that intelligence as someone who has had to work with intelligence over the years, as a soldier, as National Security Advisor, and as Secretary of State. And the case I have presented to the international community on the 5th of February, I believe was a solid case, well supported, and, frankly, is a case that still holds.
And now that Mr. Kay is over there with the support group that we have put in place, I am quite confident that his work, the materials that he will find, and the programs he will uncover, the interviews that he is holding, the documents that he is currently exploiting, when he is ready to report on his work, I am quite confident the case will be obvious for all to see, even those who wish not to see it.
Thank you.
QUESTION: Mr. Minister. Will you reconsider the perimeters of the security fence based on the concern of the Americans and the Palestinians?
FOREIGN MINISTER SHALOM: We think the fence is very important. It's a security fence, and we build it in order to prevent those terrorists, those extremists, to implement terrorist attacks against Israelis. Those extremists can't have free access to blow up the peace process.
So we think for the sake of the peace process we should build this fence, but we know the concerns of our friends, the Americans, and we consider, of course, what needs to be done with the fence in the future. We discussed it this morning with my colleagues, the Americans.
The Prime Minister will come here next week and we are dealing with this issue. We are trying to convince all the parties that this fence is not in order to prevent the Palestinians from working there, from the farmers to working their fields; it's only in order to prevent those terrorists to implement attacks against Israelis. We have the same fence in Gaza Strip. It existed there for a long time and it prevents all kind of attacks against Israelis. It's the same model. And we will try to find out what can be done in the future and to do it together with our friends, the Americans.
SECRETARY POWELL: Robin.
QUESTION: Mr. Foreign Secretary, if Israel is not prepared to dismantle settlements and if Israel is not prepared to release any prisoners with any affiliation to Hamas, what is Israel prepared to do to ensure that this effort does not again slip into stalemate?
And, Mr. Secretary, do you know the identity of any of the al-Qaida operatives held in Iran?
FOREIGN MINISTER SHALOM: Israel is implementing its commitments according to the roadmap. We withdrew from Gaza and from Bethlehem and we are willing to withdraw from more cities. We have started to remove illegal outposts and we are willing to remove more outposts in the future.
And more than that, we are doing many things that are not even mentioned in the roadmap, like releasing prisoners. We are doing it in order to strengthen Abu Mazen. We think it's very important. But you should understand that we can't release murderers and those who were released in the past and were involved with terrorism once again.
So we are making many gestures toward the Palestinians and the formula is very clear: We want them to ease the life of the Israelis by putting an end to the violence in the region, and we will ease the life of the Palestinians by implementing those gestures toward the Palestinians.
SECRETARY POWELL: I don't have the names. My latest information is that we, the government, are not -- we are not in receipt of those names. That's the latest information, Robin. That's the best I can do.
Thank you, sir.
(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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