Agenda Item 36: The Situation in the Middle East

The United States remains firmly committed to achieving a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. The recent upsurge in violence in the region is deeply troubling to us. We have repeatedly urged both sides to take immediate steps to ease the situation and refrain from words and actions that inflame tensions and complicate efforts to find peaceful solutions that allow the peoples of the region to live in peace, security and dignity.

The goal of the United States is to end all violence and terror in the region and to lay out a path to end the occupation that began in 1967. In working toward this goal, the United States is closely engaged with the Israelis and Palestinians, regional leaders, our Quartet partners, and the International Task Force on Reform. We believe a negotiated final settlement can be accomplished in three years.

The centerpiece of our current efforts is a roadmap designed to help promote practical efforts to achieve four objectives: 1) to implement the strategy of promoting Palestinian institutional and security reform; 2) to ease the humanitarian situation inside Palestinian areas; 3) to end violence and terror and restore security cooperation; and 4) to restore a political dialogue that would realize President Bush’s vision of a final settlement based on two states living side-by-side in peace and security. The roadmap we are discussing will clearly lay out obligations and responsibilities on all sides. Progress from one phase to another would be performance-based.

This strategy and the roadmap are based on relevant UN Security Council Resolutions, President Bush’s speech of June 24, and the Arab League Beirut Summit Initiative. They also seek to incorporate the Madrid "terms of reference" and previous agreements between the parties. The approach is aimed at a comprehensive peace with "security for all states of the region," as called for in the Beirut Summit Declaration.

We would welcome a resolution under this agenda item that reflected a balanced and pragmatic approach consistent with that of the Quartet. Unfortunately, it appears that we will be considering texts that put this body in the position of attempting to prejudge the settlement of the question of Jerusalem and other final status issues. To achieve a lasting peace, these issues must be decided through negotiations between the parties, consistent with their past agreements and consistent with relevant Security Council resolutions.