08/02/2001: Daily Press Briefing ExcerptsEXCERPTS FROM PRESS BRIEFING RELATING TO ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS Complete Transcript of August 2, 2001 Briefing Transcript Excerpts: QUESTION: I have a couple of questions, please, on the negotiations, the pre-conference negotiations of the UN Conference on Racism. Does the US have a notion that there is some progress being made, being on the Zionism issue? MR. BOUCHER: I think it is important to remember that there are about two weeks of this preparatory conference, and it's not going to be possible to do a day-by-day update on leanings or possibilities. We continue to have meetings on the whole panoply of issues that are there, but especially on the two key issues for us, which are the Middle East language and the question of reparations and slavery. There is really nothing new to report. The Secretary said yesterday, I said yesterday we would certainly like to attend the world conference. It is an opportunity for the nations of the world to act together in a matter of worldwide concern, and we have sent out a strong delegation there to try to work with other countries. The questions of demands for slavery reparations and the issues of the Middle East as they have been presented by some could indeed derail the conference itself, and so that is why we are working intensively on that. But the discussions are going on out there in Geneva. There will be about two weeks of it. I think it is certainly premature to claim any resolution of these issues. QUESTION: Let me try something else on it, just to try to get an idea of what the U.S. policy is. The Secretary yesterday spoke not only against what some of the nations that are trying to do about compensation and about Zionism, but he spoke of encumbering a conference with political issues that he didn't see were appropriate. I know this is looking a bit ahead, but is it the introduction or the attempt to use the conference, for instance, to make points on the Middle East something the U.S. objects to, or is it the way that it's being done? Because by all accounts, they are going to get off the Zionism is racism track and get on another one, which is to simply call Israel a colonial power for having Jews live on the West Bank. Does the U.S. object to any such inclusion of Middle East difficult issues in a draft document, or can there be language that would be -- at least the U.S. would acquiesce to? MR. BOUCHER: In many ways, that is a hypothetical question. We are dealing with what has been presented. What has been presented is clearly unacceptable. It is offensive language that asserts that Israeli policies are racist, that they constitute some form of apartheid. Words like "crime against humanity" and "threats to peace and security" that are being thrown about denigrate the horror of the Holocaust. This language is very objectionable, is very offensive, is very unacceptable, and we have made clear our opposition to that in the strongest terms. We really don't believe this the place for language that singles out a specific country, and I think would look at anything that might come along in the future with that in mind. |
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