For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 3, 2003
Remarks by the President at Multilateral Meeting with Arab Leaders
Movenpick Conference Center
Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt
1:50 P.M. (L)
PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, Mr. President, thank you very much for
hosting this important meeting. I want to thank the leaders for coming,
Your Majesties and His Royal Highness. Prime Minister Abbas, I want to
thank you and your delegation for coming, as well.
I'm the kind of person who, when I say something, I mean it. I mean
that the world needs to have a Palestinian state that is free and at
peace. And, therefore, my government will work with all parties
concerned to achieve that vision.
I believe now is the time to work to achieve the vision. All of us
have responsibilities to achieve the vision. You, sir, have got a
responsibility, and you've assumed it. I want to work with you, as do
the other leaders here.
We must not allow few people, a few killers, a few terrorists to
destroy the dreams and the hopes of the many. Israel has got
responsibilities. Israel must deal with the settlements. Israel must
make sure there's a continuous (*contiguous) territory that the
Palestinians can call home.
The leaders at the table have got a responsibility. The biggest
responsibility that they have, it seems like to me, is to fight off any
source of funding to terror; is to prevent the terrorists from gaining
a foothold. I know that is the commitment of the leaders here, I have
talked to them about that. It's in their own self-interests to fight
off terror. It's in their own self-interests to enable the Palestinian
state to emerge.
So this is an historic meeting. It's the beginning of a long
process and a tough process. But no matter how difficult it is, you
have my commitment that I will expend the energy and effort necessary
to move the process forward.
I believe that, as I told the Crown Prince, the Almighty God has
endowed each individual on the face of the earth with -- that expects
each person to be treated with dignity. This is a universal call. It's
the call of all religions, that each person must be free and treated
with respect. And it is with that call that I feel passionate about the
need to move forward, so that the world can be more peaceful, more free
and more hopeful.
Mr. President, thank you for convening this meeting. Tomorrow we've
got important meetings, as well. This is the beginning of a process
where all of us must not allow the few to destroy the hopes of the
many.
May God bless our work. (Applause.)
END 1:54 P.M. (L)
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