Secretary Powell's Remarks on the Middle East [audio clip transcript]

[audio]

As the President said this morning, there has always been a vision in our thinking, as well as in previous administrations' thinking, that there would be a Palestinian state that would exist at the same time that the security of the State of Israel was also recognized, guaranteed and accepted by all parties. That vision is alive and well, and we hope that it will come about as a result of negotiations between the two sides. So, in that regard, there is nothing new. And, in fact, as you heard earlier, reflects statements also made by Prime Minister Sharon as recently as last week.

We are always reviewing what we can do, how we can make our statements clearer, and I am always considering what statements I can make in order to make sure people understand the American position. But the events of September 11 don't really play into this. We were hard at work before the 11th of September in trying to help in the region, and we are hard at work after the 11th of September.