04 November 2003
Bush Administration Does Not Believe Israel Needs Security Fence
State's Ereli repeats U.S. decision to reduce Israeli loan guarantees
State Department Deputy Spokesman Adam Ereli said President Bush does not believe that Israel needs to construct a security fence and that such a fence should not infringe upon the lives of Palestinians or prejudge the outcome of a final status agreement.
Speaking at the November 4 State Department briefing, Ereli repeated that the Bush administration had decided to "deduct money for guaranteeing loans based on Israeli settlement activity," but had not yet determined how much money would be withheld.
As for the Palestinians, Ereli said the United States is monitoring the formation of a new cabinet, and believes that the Palestinian prime minister "must have control of all the security forces."
Ereli said the Palestinian cabinet must clearly state its opposition "to all forms of terrorism," as well as take steps to disarm and dismantle terrorists and military organizations not under control of the Palestinian Authority.
Following is an excerpt from the November 4 State Department briefing:
(begin excerpt)
QUESTION: Mr. Qureia and Chairman Arafat seem, still, to be at odds over security issues and responsibilities. And what effect will a proposed Israeli-UN resolution have to either block or delay the formation of that new Palestinian Government? It's a resolution also on what they want in language, the suicide bombings and so forth as related to Israeli children that have died -- they're bringing that to the UN now.
MR. ERELI: I do not see a link between a proposed Israeli resolution at the UN and the formation of a Palestinian cabinet. As far as the latest on the formation of a Palestinian cabinet, what we can say is really to state the obvious -- that the situation is fluid, we're receiving a variety of reports. We are obviously monitoring what's going on, but we have nothing to confirm at this point. Our view continues to be that the Palestinian Prime Minister must have control of all the security forces and that any new cabinet must make clear its opposition to all forms of terrorism and take tangible steps to see that terrorists and military organizations not under the control of the Palestinian Authority are disarmed and dismantled.
Yes.
QUESTION: On, again, on Israel, can you give us an update on the status of the U.S. position on the fence, in particular the eastern fence that Prime Minister Sharon is going to be making a decision on soon, he says? Is the U.S. exerting any kind of pressure, either publicly other otherwise, to influence this Israeli decision on the eastern fence in particular?
MR. ERELI: We've made clear, and we've frankly reiterated publicly, consistently, as National Security Advisor Rice did on Friday in New York with the press, that we've made it known to the Israelis privately that, number one, the President doesn't really believe there needs to be a fence, and number two, if they want to talk about a fence, they should do it in a way that does not infringe upon the lives of the Palestinian people or try in some way to prejudge the outcome of a final status agreement.
QUESTION: Do you have anything new to say about the loan guarantee issue in this context?
MR. ERELI: No, other than we have made the decision to deduct money for guaranteeing loans based on Israeli settlement activity, but the precise amount of that deduction has not been determined yet.
QUESTION: That position on the security barrier is weeks, maybe months old. Have you seen anything that suggests that Israel is taking your reservations about how the barrier, the fence, the wiring, all the components, meander through the West Bank?
MR. ERELI: I don't have any facts or actions to point to that allow me to answer that question.
(end excerpt)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2003&m=November&x=20031104182826namfuaks0.2471277&t=usinfo/wf-latest.html
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