08/27/2001: Daily Press Briefing Excerpts
MR. BOUCHER: It's a good question that we will try to answer once we tell you what we have decided. All right, change of subject. This gentleman had first rights. QUESTION: Today, Israel killed the high-profile policy and political leader, the leader of PFLP. Any comments on that? MR. BOUCHER: Let me talk a little bit about the situation. The escalation in violence in recent days in the Middle East threatens to overwhelm any chance of restoring calm and of implementing the Mitchell Committee recommendations. Both Israelis and Palestinians know exactly what needs to be done to end their confrontation, to change the situation on the ground, and they must act to change it. Above all, the Palestinian Authority needs to take sustained and credible steps to preempt terror and to arrest those responsible, as well as take steps to bring the violence under control. At the same time, the situation on the ground is allowed to -- if this situation on the ground is to improve, then Israel must also take the economic and security steps that are necessary to alleviate the pressure, the hardship and the humiliations of the Palestinian population. Clearly, Israel is in a difficult situation and under pressure from terrorist attacks. It does have a right to defend itself. But I want to reiterate, we think that both sides must also do everything in their power to avoid actions that make the current situation worse. Now, let me follow from that in addressing your question about the issue of the killings. Our position on targeted killings is the same; it hasn't changed. We remain opposed to targeted killings. We think Israel needs to understand that targeted killings of Palestinians don't end the violence, but are only inflaming an already volatile situation and making it much harder to restore calm. We are deeply troubled by the fact that civilians, including more than 20 American citizens, some of whom were children, were living in the building which was attacked today. In the end, Israelis and Palestinians, once the violence and confrontation subsides, will need to return to a political process, and that is the only way for them to end their conflict. And we think both sides need to keep that in mind and to keep moving in that direction. QUESTION: You mentioned the 20 civilians living in the building. I don't want to tease it out, but if there was a way for the Israelis to simply target this guy, who I believe was on -- or at least the organization the PFLP is on the list of terrorist organizations from the State Department -- would that somehow damper US criticism? MR. BOUCHER: I think our position on targeted killings has been stated many times. It has been maintained clearly and we maintain it now. So I don't think I could speculate in that direction. We are especially concerned when civilians, and particularly American citizens, are in danger. But our position is fairly well known. QUESTION: What about new complaints of the Israelis using US-supplied weapons, equipment, F-15s now and F-16s? MR. BOUCHER: I don't have anything new on that question. QUESTION: Are you going to do anything about it? MR. BOUCHER: We have made our position clear in the past. We will continue to make our position clear. This is an issue that is of concern to us, and continues to be. QUESTION: Say that again? MR. BOUCHER: This is an issue that has been of concern to us, and continues to be. QUESTION: Okay, but apart from saying that your position is clear, are you actually going to -- are you engaged in any kind of diplomacy with either side to contact either side at a high level to -- MR. BOUCHER: That is what making our position clear is about. That is what we are doing. I want to say, we are actively engaged in this situation. Our representatives in the region, our Ambassador to Israel, our Consul General in Jerusalem, have continued to meet regularly with the leaders of the two sides. Our other representatives in the region have been in close touch with people in the region. So we are continuing to actively work the situation, to actively work to help the parties, to urge the parties to take the steps to reduce the violence and to get on to the path of implementation of the Mitchell recommendations. QUESTION: You said before that Israel has a right to defend itself. Have you recommended alternatives to targeted killings, which they say is defensive, in these contacts in terms of how Israel can defend itself? MR. BOUCHER: We have consistently urged the parties to take concrete steps with each other to end the violence. We have consistently, as I said again today, urged the Palestinian Authority to take sustained and credible steps to preempt terror and arrest those responsible. And we have urged the parties to cooperate on security matters. So that is the path we would rather see them go. QUESTION: So cooperation with Palestinian security forces and negotiations are seen as a way, by the State Department of Israel, defending itself against terror attacks? MR. BOUCHER: We see that as the best way to reduce the level of violence and to get back to a more normal life for both Israelis and Palestinians. QUESTION: Do you have any reaction to the PA statement following the killing today that seems to, despite your protestations to the contrary and your criticisms of targeted killing, says that it is the result of a US green light to Israel on these attacks and saying that the US would pay a price? MR. BOUCHER: There is no such green light. I have not seen that statement, so I don't have any further reaction. But as far as the issue of whether we give some kind of green light, it is very clear that we don't. QUESTION: If I could follow up on that, while you say from this podium that you are against the practice of targeted killings, a lot of Israeli officials come out of this building, and most recently last week, I think it was a group of Jewish-American -- leaders of Jewish groups in America that say that you are not coming down on them, you are not telling Israel to stop -- MR. BOUCHER: I'm sorry, you said, Israeli officials, or leaders of American Jewish groups? QUESTION: Well, both. That you are not coming down on Israel, and that in private, you are saying that there is really no moral equivalency here, and that you are not as against the practice of targeted killings as you say. MR. BOUCHER: We have made it clear in public as well as in private at all levels. QUESTION: Well, you say that -- you tell the Israelis you are against it, but have you told them to stop it? MR. BOUCHER: Is there a difference? QUESTION: I guess. If you say to them that you don't think it is a good idea, telling them to stop it is something -- MR. BOUCHER: We have made clear that we are opposed to it and we think it should stop. QUESTION: But have you threatened them with that, or told them that something will result if they continue to do it? MR. BOUCHER: We have made clear what our position is. QUESTION: Okay. What I wanted to know is, you talk about how you remain deeply engaged and all that. Has the Secretary been involved -- has the Secretary made any calls? Has he been -- MR. BOUCHER: He hasn't made any calls to the region, no. QUESTION: Interesting, for the first time, we hear you use the words, "humiliations of the Palestinian population." I haven't heard that language before. Is there any particular reason why you have decided to include this reference in your statement? MR. BOUCHER: I think it is an accurate description of the effect of some of these measures. QUESTION: And can you elaborate on what kind of measures you are particularly thinking of which have prompted you to -- MR. BOUCHER: No, I think I will stick with the way I put it before. Any more on this? QUESTION: Can you explain why there seems to be some kind of a disconnect between the language coming out of this building, and the language coming out of the President's mouth? I mean, you have just been very clear about apportioning, or about placing the onus on both sides, and as Jonathan said, mentioned the humiliation of the Palestinians, whereas the President, in his last statements on this on Friday, said virtually nothing about what Israel needed to do, and put 99 percent of the blame on the PA and on Arafat. Why is this building being more balanced or more -- not balanced; it was the wrong word -- why is this building seemingly intentionally taking a different position than the President has? MR. BOUCHER: Well, that would be a misperception on your part. QUESTION: Would it? Explain. MR. BOUCHER: If I can go back to what the President said, obviously the President speaks more concisely than we do. We tend to amplify on things a little bit more. The President said the US is engaged with the Egyptians, the Palestinians. The President said -- I'm trying to find the right quotes -- that urging Mr. Arafat to urge the terrorists to stop the suicide bombings, stop the incursions, stop the threats, work closely with Prime Minister Sharon to urge him to show restraint. He has consistently said that. He said we are looking for 100 percent effort from the Palestinian side, and we are looking for restraint from the Israelis on all fronts. It is pretty clear that he is saying what I am saying. QUESTION: Right, but he had to be prodded into mentioning the Israelis showing restraint. If you look at the full transcript, he was -- MR. BOUCHER: No, he didn't. I'm looking at the full transcript right now. The first paragraph is about -- QUESTION: He had to be asked specifically for a reaction about the incursion into Hebron on late Friday. MR. BOUCHER: No, he was asked a question, and he said, Mr. Arafat, blah, blah, blah; then he said, at the same time, we have worked very closely with Prime Minister Sharon to urge him to show restraint. That is the same paragraph; no new question. QUESTION: Richard, are you confident that the position stated in the State Department is actually reaching the President? I mean, is he aware of the position that you express here? MR. BOUCHER: I would say -- Jonathan, I don't know where you guys get off on this, but there is no difference between what I am saying and what the President said. QUESTION: There are 30,000 Palestinian-Americans in the area; 60,000 Israeli-Americans. Have any of them been arrested or wounded in this intifada? And when you say "incursions," you mean only Palestinian incursions into Israel, or are you also talking, as the Secretary did a couple months ago, about incursions by the Israeli tanks into Gaza and so on? MR. BOUCHER: We have talked about incursions by the Israelis into Palestinian-controlled areas. Nothing new to say on that, particularly today. In terms of Americans -- Israeli-Americans, Palestinian-Americans -- who might be out in the region, we have, as you know, have a Travel Advisory. We have expressed a lot of concern about their situation. We have tried to work on some of the specific and individual problems that might face them from time to time. Whether there have been people arrested, I don't really know. I would not be surprised if there had been people arrested; Americans tend to get arrested a little bit in various countries. QUESTION: How about wounded or disappeared? MR. BOUCHER: Yes, there have been Americans killed in this, and it is very sad. QUESTION: I have one now. I realize you are not going to be able to respond specifically, because it just happened, but I'm just wondering in general if you can give me a reaction. Apparently, the PFLP has just called in Damascus for Arab nations to, "hit American interests." "We ask the Arab world to hit American interests because the United States participates with Israel in the extermination of the Palestinian people." What do you think about that? MR. BOUCHER: I'm afraid I don't have people walking in the room handing me news stories while we are standing here. So I am not going to try to keep up with the wires. Sorry. I will do that when it is time. |
 | |||
|
