Read the entire briefing.
Mr. Boucher: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. If I can, I would like to note a couple things. First of all, we decided to leave the press arrangements for the Quartet today mostly over at the White House when the Quartet members will go over and meet with the President. And then after that, we should have available for you this afternoon a joint statement by the Quartet that we'll give you as well, so you'll have a lot of information from them even as those meetings proceed.
They've finished their morning sessions, discussed in some detail questions of the roadmap, questions of security, questions of humanitarian access and humanitarian conditions for the Palestinians, questions of reform in the Palestinian community and how to proceed. They are now having lunch together and then, as I said, they'll go over the White House later. So we'll have more information for you on the Quartet later in the day.
The other thing we'll have for you is a statement on the workshops that were held here with the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement. We think there has been progress made in those workshops as the two parties prepare for talks again in January. And we have the text of a short joint statement that the two parties wanted us to put out for them, and that will be available right after the briefing.
And now I would be prepared to take your questions on these or other topics.
Question: Other topics?
Mr. Boucher: These?
Question: Why did you decide not to have a press conference and let everybody tell us what they're doing with the Quartet?
Mr. Boucher: Because they'll tell you what they're doing in the Quartet over at the White House and in a fairly extensive joint statement that we'll make available.
Question: But, I mean, there is going to be a press conference at the White House?
Mr. Boucher: There is going to be, I think, some remarks at the White House during whatever opportunity the President is providing.
Question: The Secretary said on Wednesday that he thought it would be wiser to leave this roadmap until after the elections. Can you tell us whether the Quartet this morning, the meeting which presumably most of which is finished, did decide that that's what they should do?
Mr. Boucher: Well, we're about two-thirds of the way into it, with two hours of meeting and an hour of lunch underway. Okay, we're five-sixths into it.
Question: They certainly could have decided by now whether --
Mr. Boucher: No, I don't think we expect them to actually release the text of the roadmap. There is continuing work being done, some of which they did this morning. But the statement that they give you will bring you up to date on where we stand in terms of that process.
The Secretary explained the other day his thoughts on the roadmap, but I think we have to avoid a fixation with the release of a particular document. I have to say that there is plenty of work being done on the ground in the area, whether or not this document is released at this time or sometime later after the Israeli election.
The point, I think, is that things like the transfer of tax revenue, which we've recently been able to set up and which is been important to the President, have been continuing. Efforts on humanitarian access and humanitarian conditions for the Palestinians have been continuing. Efforts to support Palestinian reform, including the efforts of the task force, the conference that Prime Minister Blair has called for London in January, all these efforts to proceed forward on all these issues have continued.
And the parties, I think, are well aware that we expect them to take -- continue to take concrete steps and appropriate steps. There are discussions that the Egyptians are hosting with the Palestinians about ending the violence.
So all these elements are under discussion and we're working on them. The parties realize they have obligations and responsibilities even during this period of elections. And in the meantime, we continue to work on the roadmap that lays out these kinds of steps, but also the others that can follow.
Question: Well, on the bigger issues, I wondered if you could expand a little bit on why the Israeli elections are relevant. Either, or it could be a mixture, either the US and its partners have ideas of their own, or they have ideas of their own, but their ideas are subject to change depending on who wins. You have any Israel Labor leader today reviving the notion of giving up part of Jerusalem and making other major concessions.
So would the US -- I guess you can't speak for the EU, but would the US position be altered on a roadmap if Labor were to supplant Likud?
Mr. Boucher: Barry, we're not trying to play politics with Israel between the parties.
Question: I know that. But --
Mr. Boucher: Well, I just thought I'd say that, just to make sure --
Question: No, I'm not saying you're playing --
Mr. Boucher: -- that others knew it as well as you do.
But I think the point is that there are certain -- the roadmap is about achieving the President's vision of two states living side by side. The fact that it may or may not be released at this juncture, or, as the Secretary said, we don't plan on it till after the Israeli election, it's just a recognition of the reality of decision-making and government -- the state of play in the Government of Israel. It's not a change in the vision. It's not a change in the implementation. As I said, it's not a change in the steps that need to be taken now that are being worked now, and some of which are actually being taken now. And that's where the effort on reform, the effort on security, the effort on humanitarian access, and the effort on things like tax revenues is proceeding apace, and those steps are part of the roadmap, as well.
Question: If I can follow up on Barry's question, though, you say, and the Secretary said, wait until after the election. But after the election, then the government is going to have to form a coalition government and it's going to take a pretty significant amount of time -- weeks, if not months -- until a solid Israeli Government is in that has, you know, very structured decision-making capability. How long are you willing to wait after the election until you roll it out?
Mr. Boucher: I think the first point is we're not waiting. We're doing things. The second point is I'm not going to predict how long it will take to form a coalition government after the Israeli election. That's the kind of speculation on Israeli politics that I would leave to commentators. But you can't plan on this, that, or the other right now. So we're not -- we're going to keep working these things and keep doing things, keep working with both -- all the parties on their responsibilities, and we're going to keep developing and discussing the issues in the roadmap.
Question: Richard, the other argument, which I'm sure you've heard many times this morning from most of the other participants, is that it would actually be beneficial to the cause of peace in the Middle East if the Israeli electorate did have something in their hands which they could look at because, of course, the elections will be part of (inaudible) the future of Israel.
What's your answer to this argument? How do you counter this?
Mr. Boucher: The question of playing or not playing in the election in Israel is not one that should arise for us. Our intention is not to play politics with the elections in Israel. Our intention is to lay out a path that we believe can lead to the achievement of the vision that the President put forward on June 24th and lead to the achievement of that vision within three years. It's not a matter of this party or that party or this piece of the electorate or that piece of the electorate. It's a question of what we believe are the steps necessary to achieve the President's vision.
So that's what we are working on. The Israeli electorate will make their decisions based on however they wish to decide. But I don't think we should consider ourselves to be putting something in or taking something out of the Israeli election.
Question: Could I follow on that?
Mr. Boucher: Well, let somebody else, if she wants.
Question: Do you want to go first and I'll go second?
Question: Yeah. You've got an eye on the Israeli election --
Mr. Boucher: No, we don't. I've removed my eye from the Israeli election now in three questions, so let's not try.
Question: Well, no, to the extent that it's better to wait until after the election to finish up the roadmap. I think that's the administration's position. But I wondered how you all felt about the Iraq situation having any impact. Apparently, you don't think you have to lay out a program for encouraging Israel to give up land to -- even while you pursue a possible conflict with Iraq. That doesn't intersect with the roadmap work, does it?
And also, what about the Palestinian election which apparently is not going -- today the Palestinians say it won't be January, it's going to be later. You know, how do all these things factor in? You've dealt with the Israeli election. How about Iraq, and how about the Palestinian election?
Mr. Boucher: As the Secretary noted earlier this week, he said because of the Israeli election, because of the number of issues that are before the Israeli public right now, we think it would be wiser in this instance for us to continue work on the roadmap and wait until after the Israeli election is over. It's just a matter of weeks until that is resolved and then we'll be -- we'll engage with all the parties in the region with respect to the roadmap if we have complete agreement on the elements of the roadmap, at least within the Quartet at that time. That is what we're working on, is achieving agreement within the Quartet. But once again, these assumptions you're making that we're not doing anything --
Question: I'm not making assumptions.
Mr. Boucher: -- or that somehow everything in the world is a cause for not doing anything, are just wrong. The fact that we're dealing with Iraq doesn't keep us from working on Palestinian reform, working on the end to violence, working on the humanitarian conditions of the Palestinian people, working on the transfer of tax revenues and working on the roadmap. These are real things that we're doing on the ground that make a difference to people, and they haven't changed for the situation in Iraq so why should the paper change?
Question: But there's a feeling that you'll make points with the Arabs if you pushed Israel now --
Mr. Boucher: It's not about making points with the Arabs. It's about making peace for Israelis and Palestinians.
Steve.
Oh, sorry. Elise got preempted by the last one.
Question: Okay, but you say it's going to take a couple more weeks. You have a certain amount of -- in this roadmap, there's a certain amount of timing and sequencing and things like that. Do you think a Palestinian state within three years is viable if the delay comes much longer? You would have to shorten the phases, wouldn't you?
Mr. Boucher: Can I say again what I've said five times? All the elements that we're working on are part of the roadmap. We got the task forces going last summer. We're working on Palestinian reform. We're working on Palestinian security. There's talks that the Egyptians are hosting about ending the violence with the Palestinian groups. There's transfer of tax revenues already taking place. There's efforts to improve humanitarian access. There's a conference coming up on reform in London.
Some idea that nothing's happening until a piece of paper comes out is not true. So, the fact is that this is a three-year timetable in the roadmap. We're already doing the things that are going to be -- you'll see some of these -- by the time the roadmap is released, you'll see that some of the things in the roadmap have already been done and the goal is to make sure as many of those things as possible are being done because those are the important issues right now. What the roadmap really does is takes these issues and things that we're doing now and shows how they can be extended in the future with the obligations of both parties to achieve that goal in three years.
Steve.
Question: The tax revenues have been announced as being transferred. Is there anything specific you can tell us about the two other issues, of the easing of humanitarian conditions of the Palestinians and the reforms that you spoke of that have also occurred?
Mr. Boucher: I think the questions -- those questions have been a little bit more difficult. We've continued to push very hard for easing of humanitarian conditions, whether it's access by ambulances or distribution of food or allowing people more and more to go about their daily lives in the West Bank and Gaza, the West Bank in particular. Some of those things have eased up and gotten better, and some of the difficulties still remain. So that has been an ongoing effort.
In terms of support for reform, there's been a lot of discussion of reform in the Palestinian community. There's been a lot of effort in the task forces to work on the elements of reform. In connection with the transfer of tax revenues, we've seen the establishment of a good accounting system for the use of those revenues. That's a positive step on the finance side. We've worked somewhat on the security side in terms of reform. Probably haven't achieved as much there.
So it's an ongoing effort that has, you know, still got a long way to go, I'd say. But the fact is that the issues of reform are on the table, are being discussed in the Palestinian community. And the issues of how we help reform are being discussed extensively in the international community and the task forces, and the goal of the conference the British are putting together in January to sort of bring together the Palestinian effort for reform and the international effort to reform and try to give it more impetus.
Question: May I follow?
Mr. Boucher: Yes.
Question: On the issue of reforms, there have been reports that there is a difference of views among the Quartet, not only about the timing but also about whether or not the reforms should precede the creation of a Palestinian state and whether or not the change of leadership should precede that creation. I wonder if you can address that.
Mr. Boucher: I don't think at this moment I can. The issues of reform and the roadmap were discussed this morning. I don't have the details of that. They will come out in the statement that we provide after that's finalized, and I think you'll see some reference to those kind of issues. But the thing to remember is this roadmap is intended to be performance-based, so as people do things, other obligations and responsibilities kick in.
Question: I'm sorry, I was going to change the subject to Mr. Blix.
Question: One more on Iraq -- on the Middle East?
Mr. Boucher: Sure.
Question: Do you think that the Israelis should be able to continue settlement activity until the Palestinian -- is that part of the performance-based --
Mr. Boucher: The issue of settlements is obviously one that needs to be addressed. I would say we welcome some of the actions that have been taken to curtail the illegal settlement activity, and you've seen some of that today, I think. But the overall issue of settlements needs to be addressed consistent with Mitchell Report recommendations, and that is one of the things that needs to be looked at in terms of the roadmap.
Question: You just used the question, "the illegal settlement activity," implying that there is also some legal settlement activity?
Mr. Boucher: No, I'm implying that our view on settlements per se has not changed, but that there are some settlements which even the Israeli Government has identified as illegal and they are curtailing at least that activity. We think what we've always thought and we think it again today.
Gene.
Question: Yeah. On the question of illegal settlements, does the Quartet have a common attitude on that during the three-year period that you're -- or is this just an invitation to the Israelis to continue to expand and take more Arab land?
Mr. Boucher: No.
Question: Is the Quartet --
Mr. Boucher: Yes, and no. Yes, the Quartet is discussing the issue of settlements. I think I just told you that, told that to your colleague.
And no, there's no invitation to continue to expand. As I said to the gentleman up front, our view on settlements has not changed. We have welcomed steps to curtail settlement activity, such as those that have occurred today, but the overall questions of settlements, the more fundamental questions involving settlements, are being addressed in terms of the roadmap and the process that needs to be undertaken to achieve the President's vision.
Question: Could I have a follow-up on that?
Mr. Boucher: Sure.
Question: On the fact that no Palestinian nor Israelis were present during any of the Quartet meetings, as far as I can determine, does that mean that this is going to be sort of an imposed roadmap?
Mr. Boucher: The parties are quite familiar with the elements of the roadmap. As you know, Assistant Secretary Burns was out in the region discussing it with them. Deputy Assistant Secretary Satterfield has been out in the region discussing the roadmap with them. We've had our discussions with them in New York when there were, sort of, different versions and ideas floating around. And this process now is bringing those together. I think we've kept in close touch with the parties through our embassies and our envoys in the region.
So no, it's something that they're certainly quite familiar with. Whether they're going to be familiar with, you know, the way all the pieces get put together exactly, whether they'll -- they probably won't all agree with all the pieces. But so, to a great extent, it's based on a lot of work with the parties, but it is a product of the Quartet.
