06/08/2001: Daily Press Briefing Excerpts
Excerpts Relating to the Middle East from Daily Press Briefing Q: The Middle East? Could you give us anything you have on the security meeting which Tenet mediated between the Palestinians and the Israelis? Q: And Ambassador Burns. MR. BOUCHER: No, Ambassador Burns wasn't there. Q: No, but he is -- MR. BOUCHER: I know. The Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet is conducting a series of meetings with the Israelis and Palestinians involving, as the President said, serious discussion at the security level about how to make sure the cease-fire continues. He is meeting with Israelis and Palestinians this evening, a meeting you are aware of, a trilateral meeting this evening in Ramallah. Our goal is to attempt to foster an environment in which we can proceed with discussions regarding the timeline for implementation of the Mitchell Committee Report in all its aspects. So that is what Tenet is up to. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns is now engaged in discussions with the Israelis and the Palestinians regarding the timeline for implementation of the Mitchell Committee recommendations in all their aspects. He has met with Foreign Minister Peres and with Chairman Arafat in Ramallah, Foreign Minister Peres in Jerusalem and Chairman Arafat in Ramallah. He will meet with Prime Minister Sharon tomorrow after the Sabbath is over. Q: Are you sure that meeting was in Jerusalem? Wasn't it in Tel Aviv, with Peres? MR. BOUCHER: It's Phil's handwriting, so I will have to double-check. MR. REEKER: It's not my handwriting. MR. BOUCHER: Oh, it's not Phil's handwriting. I'll have to double-check. MR. HUNTER: It's mine, and that's what (inaudible) told me. MR. BOUCHER: Okay. Q: Well, it's not that big a deal. MR. BOUCHER: I'll double-check just to make sure. If it was somewhere else, we will footnote the briefing transcript. Q: Changing the subject once again, a newly created -- MR. BOUCHER: Hang on. We're going to stay on the Middle East for a little bit, and then we'll come back to you. Q: So the Secretary General is going to the Middle East. It was just announced. And in making the announcement, your counterpart up there said that he was going because there is a chance for political movement, but the two parties can't do it alone. For some time now, from this podium and people in Washington have been saying that only the two parties themselves can do it. Do you agree with this kind of -- with this statement? MR. BOUCHER: I don't know the full context of the remarks. I haven't actually read that transcript of what my counterpart may have said. Obviously we are not -- we continue to believe the parties have to deal with each other, they have to find ways of dealing with each other, and we also know that there are people like us who can assist them in doing that, who can facilitate their discussions, who can work with them in order to make it easier for them to work with each other. And in the end, we all recognize the goal has to be for the parties to reach agreement and to be able to deal with each other. And that is what we are directing our efforts at. We have coordinated, as you know, very closely with the European Union, with the United Nations, with others who may be traveling out there. The Secretary did talk to the Secretary General Annan this morning about the Middle East, about the Secretary General's travel out there. He also talked to EU High Representative Solana again this morning. So we have been working very closely with others who are interested in the situation. But I think we recognize, and everybody recognizes, the goal is for the parties to deal with each other. We think the Mitchell Committee's recommendations is a way for them to do that and to achieve what they both seek. Q: When Secretary General Annan went to Iraq a few years ago to meet with Saddam Hussein, he went with the full kind of bargaining authority of the Security Council and came back with this Memorandum of Understanding on certain things that the United States -- you know, this was finesse, but the United States didn't find so favorable. Have you instructed him that he shouldn't be making any -- forging any deals between the Israelis and the Palestinians at this stage? MR. BOUCHER: We don't instruct the Secretary General of the United Nations. Q: Well, he works for the Security Council and the United States is -- MR. BOUCHER: I don't think the Security Council has instructed him, either. We are in close touch with people. I think if you look at what people are doing and saying and trying to help accomplish, everybody is working in the same direction, and that is for acceptance and implementation of the Mitchell Committee Report in all its aspects. I don't think there is any divergence on that, and the international community has been quite clear on that. We have seen statements from the Secretary General and many others that agree that that's what we should all be doing, and that's what we are doing. Complete Transcript of June 8, 2001 Press Briefing
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