Exerpts: December 3 Press Briefing

And then, does the State Department, the US have any plans to present the roadmap at the Quartet meetings for discussions for endorsement?

Mr. Reeker: I don't -- I didn't see the exact comments from Mr. Shaath, so let me talk generally about the roadmap. It may have been discussed even more recently, but if you recall last week, Secretary Powell spoke, I think it was November 25, and said that we're still working on the roadmap in close consultation with our Quartet colleagues -- that would be the Russians, the European Union, the United Nations.

Our focus remains on moving forward in a way that makes possible implementation of President Bush's vision as he described in his speech on June 24th, the vision of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.

We said all along that the roadmap is a living document -- I think Ambassador Boucher may have used that phrase again yesterday -- and that discussions are ongoing in terms of how to proceed. The roadmap itself is based on relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, the President's speech from June 24th, the Saudi Arabian and Arab League Beirut Summit initiative, and would seek to incorporate the terms of reference from Madrid, as well as previous agreements between the parties, use all of the elements of those that we can.

So a series of steps and objectives that would clearly involve both sides, laying out obligations and responsibilities for all the sides, and I think as Secretary Powell has made quite clear, the idea of the roadmap and how the Quartet has been pursuing this is to establish some performance-based criteria rather than time-oriented, aimed at a comprehensive peace with security for all states in the region. That has been the goal, of course.

So these discussions are going to progress and we'll have to keep considering the practical next steps. Everything we're doing for this roadmap is aimed at implementing the President's vision, and we're going to continue to assess the situation on the ground leading up to the upcoming Quartet meeting December 20. I don't really have any more details at this point on that, and we'll just have to see where we are at that point.

Question: Do you take the calendar of Palestinian and Israeli elections into account before pushing the roadmap for -- do you have that in mind?

Mr. Reeker: I think the President has been quite clear that we support a new Palestinian leadership that is brought about through a free, fair, credible election process, and that is going to be a very important step for the Palestinian people, and that the new leadership should be transparent and accountable and free from associations with terror and violence and capable of taking the necessary steps to prepare the Palestinian people for statehood; that is, being responsible leaders. And that includes preparation of a constitution.

The International Task Force on Reform, which has been tied in with the Quartet process, has been engaged for many months on making recommendations regarding the electoral reform measures. And I don't think I can give you a specific timetable on that at this point. We're still looking at these things. The task force is still working on this and consulting with all the involved parties.

But it's important that ample time be afforded the Palestinians to enact such reform measures, and, again, through a free, fair credible process. So Palestinian elections will be important. Obviously, Israeli elections are upcoming as well, and we'll be watching that. So we keep in very close touch with our Quartet partners and with both Israelis and the Palestinians and others in the region who have an interest in this. And the working -- the task force, the International Task Force on Reform also includes international financial institutions like the World Bank and the IMF, as well as Japan and Norway. So there are a lot of people involved in this.

Question: Thank you.

Question: Phil, same region?

Mr. Reeker: Mm-hmm.

Question: Throughout Ramadan, you guys have been airing these spots extolling Muslim life in America and talking about how -- well, talking about how all religions are free to practice, the "hearts and minds campaign" to try to win the Islamic world over to the US view. I'm wondering against that backdrop if you guys are disappointed that Ambassador Battle's Iftaar Dinner in Lebanon last night was attended by only -- by less than 10 people and that the 90 or so who boycotted the event said that they were staying away to protest US policy in the Middle East?

Mr. Reeker: Hadn't seen that. I didn't know that Ambassador Battle was having an Iftaar Dinner last night. So I would probably just direct your colleagues in Lebanon to ask the Embassy their specific views on that. I think people are free to accept invitations and I think invitations like that are always made with goodwill and sincerity in mind. So I couldn't comment on people's -- their personal reaction.
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Question: Are you going to replace the 500 tons of food that was destroyed by the Israelis in Gaza, World Food Bank? And in that connection, protection of American citizens -- there are about 15,000 in the Palestinian territories now. Do you have any new figures? You gave me figures about six months ago on who is being -- I mean, the number that are being detained and whether they are being tried or released without charges.

Mr. Reeker: Didn't bring those figures with me today, Gene. You might call me in advance and I can try to have them for you. But we'll have to check into that, as we do every other time you ask that. I’d be happy to try to get it.

In terms of the other issues you raised, we are deeply troubled by reports that Israeli forces destroyed a UN World Food Program food warehouse in Gaza yesterday. I don't have all the details on that but we think it's critical that the Israelis investigate the circumstances of that incident and take immediate steps to ensure that civilians and humanitarian facilities are not harmed.

As you know, we have solidly supported Israel and continue to solidly support Israel in their efforts to combat terrorism. We recognize their need to take legitimate anti-terrorist action because there can be no excuse for terrorists' attacks against the Israeli people. They have been forced to endure attacks over and over again, and we are pressing the Palestinians to do all they can to end immediately the terror and violence and work to restore active security cooperation and contacts to dismantle the infrastructure of terror and violence.

But we also continue to urge the Israelis, as I indicated, to keep in mind the consequences of their actions, to complete their anti-terrorist operations as quickly as possible, and take steps to prevent further civilian casualties. We are concerned deeply about the recent civilian casualties resulting from Israeli military actions, including the tragic death of two young Palestinian boys and an elderly Palestinian woman in the past few days. Our deepest condolences go out to the families of all the civilian victims in this conflict.

And as I said, we had seen the reports and we are troubled by the reports of this destroyed food warehouse. So a sustained commitment on both sides to these various steps that we talk about is going to be needed to make possible a resumption of progress on the strategy that we and the Quartet and the parties themselves have outlined.