State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher says the United States is promoting democracy in the Middle East, as well as in the rest of the world, as a means of combating terrorism.

"We think one of the best defenses against terrorism is to have the kind of society that is able to sustain itself, have the kind of society that's based on economic and political freedom, where terrorism has a harder problem growing and a harder problem existing," Boucher said, briefing the media at the State Department in Washington January 14.

"In fact, it's been an integral part of helping strengthen societies in the fight against terrorism. And in the Middle East, the Secretary of State has made quite clear that our goal is to support the efforts to reform, support the calls by Arab leaders and Arab scholars for reform and more openness in the Arab world," he added.

Boucher said the U.S. government is funding programs that promote democracy, transparency and reform in the Middle East through the Middle East Partnership Initiative. He named Morocco and Bahrain as two Arab countries that have made significant progress in developing democracy.

Addressing a question related to the Annual Report of Human Rights Watch, the spokesman said that the U.S. government treats the detainees captured in Afghanistan and held at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in a manner that is consistent with the Geneva Convention on prisoners of war.

In response to a query about Israel's travel restrictions that affect dual Palestinian-American citizens, Boucher said the U.S. government has voiced its concerns at high levels of the Israeli government.

"We've raised at very high levels our concerns about the impact that some of these regulations have on Americans who might travel out there and on the legitimate desires of Americans to travel there to see their families and to be able to come back to America," Boucher said.

A State Department travel warning dated January 10, 2003 stated, "dual Palestinian-American citizens may encounter difficulties entering and/or departing Israel, the West Bank and Gaza during times of Israeli closures. For example, on January 7, 2003, in what was described as temporary measure, the Israeli government banned the departure via the Allenby Bridge, Rafah, Erez and Taba border crossings of all Palestinian ID holders under the age of 35. Travelers 35 and over must be married and with children. This ban applies to all travelers regardless of gender or any other foreign citizenship, including American citizenship. These restrictions can change frequently and without any advance notice. Americans who hold Palestinian ID numbers should consult the Embassy or Consulate for the most recent information before attempting to cross relevant borders."

QUESTION: (Inaudible.) If I can jump for a second to the Annual Report of Human Rights Watch. The group released its annual report today, and two questions on that. First of all, as part of the war on terrorism, the United States cooperates with regimes that are generally undemocratic, many of them in the Middle East. The gamut runs from Yemen to Saudi Arabia to Libya to whatever. Two things on that. Does -- is it afraid of its image abroad when it does that? And second of all, is it afraid of encouraging those regimes in continuing in their undemocratic ways? And second of all, assuming that the United States accepts the fact that it --

MR. BOUCHER: I don't accept the premise of the question, but I -- as a single factor. Many other factors are involved, but maybe I should answer them separately.

QUESTION: Okay. And another one is, the Geneva Convention has as a signatory, the United States. How does it reconcile its being a signatory to Geneva Conventions and the conditions that -- in Guantanamo Bay? This is one of the issues that was in the report.

MR. BOUCHER: Let me ask the second part -- answer the second part first. The United States made very clear that we will treat detainees, Guantanamo or elsewhere, in a manner that's consistent with the Geneva Convention even though we don't necessarily agree with all these groups over precisely how they're covered. So, we have pledged that and we have committed to that and we will try to -- we will ensure that we do that, that we do treat detainees consistent with the Geneva Convention.

The bigger issue that you raised is one that we have spoken about many times. The Secretary of State, a month or so ago, gave a big speech at the Heritage Foundation about democracy, transparency, reform in the Middle East. Democracy has been a hallmark of our policy around the world that we have made very clear on the war on terrorism. We think one of the best defenses against terrorism is to have the kind of society that is able to sustain itself, have a kind of society that's based on economic and political freedom, where terrorism has a harder problem growing and a harder problem existing. And therefore, we have made no changes to our policy of promoting democracy and freedom around the world. In fact, it's been an integral part of helping strengthen societies in the fight against terrorism.

And in the Middle East, the Secretary of State has made quite clear that our goal is to support the efforts to reform, to support the calls by Arab leaders and Arab scholars for reform and more openness in the Arab world. We're going to put money behind that. We've put some money already this year, but I think if you look to the budget that we're coming up on, you'll see additional funding being provided for the Middle East partnership initiatives so that we can support reform, so that we can support more democracy, more openness and more transparency in that part of the world as we do elsewhere.

The picture in the Middle East is not all one way. There are regimes that have moved pretty far down this road already. There are nations, Morocco -- from Morocco to Bahrain, that have moved pretty far down the road of instituting more democracy and the Secretary mentioned many of those. And there's also a very significant Arab development report that was done last fall about how Arab countries can develop more quickly and give a better life to their people if they embrace some of these principles and how it is consistent with the nature of those societies and that's what we want to support.

QUESTION: I refer to the State Department's recent travel advisory regarding Israel in which some quarters of the Arab-American community charged that it conveyed understanding of discriminatory policy and makes Arab-Americans who feel reduced to second-class of US citizenship. What's your reaction to that?

MR. BOUCHER: The travel announcement is not a policy document. The travel announcement is to tell people what to expect should they wish to go there so that they don't get caught up in this limbo of being of being able to -- not being able to cross the bridge or get out to the airport. And we have, at the same time, we've made representations to the Israeli Government, we raised it to very high levels, our concerns about the impact that some of these regulations have on Americans who might travel out there and on the legitimate desires of Americans to travel there to see their families, to be able to come back to America. So this is an issue that we have pursued on a political level with the Israeli Government and we certainly don't think that our citizens are second class in any way.

QUESTION: Will you show same understanding if the people subject to the Israeli procedures of Jewish-Americans?

MR. BOUCHER: I just rejected your contention that we saw understanding of this. We have criticized this measure in terms of our representations to the Israeli Government and made clear that we don't think it should be used.

QUESTION: Richard, do you think it's right that the United States should give large sums of money to a government which discriminates against a significant group of American citizens?

MR. BOUCHER: I think, in this case, we have problems with some specific relations -- regulations that have been applied. We've always tried to tell our citizens what those problems were. And at the same time, that doesn't detract from our overall support for Israel as a democracy in the Middle East.

QUESTION: Richard, can I go back to the Guantanamo question for just a second? Do you know -- are the ICRC visits that occurred back last year and I guess even beyond that, are they continuing? And have groups like Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International, have they also been given access to --

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know. You'd have to check with the Pentagon on who's visiting down there.

QUESTION: Aren't you -- okay, I will. But, you guys are the point of contact, right, for arranging -- for at least arranging with the Pentagon these days? I know for the ICRC you are. They don't go to the Pentagon, they come here.

MR. BOUCHER: No, they come here and then we pass it on and the Pentagon, I think, makes the arrangements. We have an ongoing dialogue with the ICRC about prisoners that are in American custody and we do arrange for visits, consular representative visits, I just don't know when we might have done ICRC ones. But I think the Pentagon's reported on that before.