For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 20, 2001
Remarks by the President and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel in Photo Opportunity
The Oval Office
1:00 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: It's my honor to
welcome the Prime Minister of our close friend and ally to the Oval
Office. Mr. Prime Minister, welcome. We've just had a very
frank and good discussion. Both of us reconfirmed our
friendship, both talked about how best to keep the peace.
I assured the Prime Minister my administration
will work hard to lay the foundation of peace in the Middle -- work
with our nations in the Middle East, give peace a
chance. Secondly, I told him that our nation will not try to
force peace, that we will facilitate peace and that we will work with
those responsible for peace.
The Prime Minister and I had met
before. I took a tour of the West Bank by helicopter, and he
was the guide. It was a pretty interesting -- it was a
really interesting day for me. He's got a marvelous sense of
history, and I learned a lot about our friend by touring the West Bank
by chopper with you, Mr. Prime Minister.
You didn't think you were going to be the
Prime Minister and you probably darn sure didn't think I was going to
be the President. But here we are, and we've got great
responsibilities to work together, and I look forward to doing so.
Welcome, Mr. Prime Minister. Glad
you're here.
PRIME MINISTER SHARON: Thank
you. I would like to thank you, President Bush, for inviting
me to the White House. We've had a very constructive and
frank discussion of strategic issues that are of the interest of the
United States and Israel. And we discussed the peace
process, what can be achieved, and how. We are, in Israel,
we are all committed to peace. As one who saw in the past
all the horrors of wars, I believe I understand the import of peace and
in Israel, all of us are committed.
But, of course, the first thing and the most
important one is to bring security to the citizens of
Israel. That was the commitment that I took upon myself, Mr.
President, and that is the first thing that we have to
accomplish. Once we reach security and it will be calm in
the Middle East, I believe that we will start with our negotiations to
reach a peace agreement.
We shared issues of common interest, and I
think it was a very good conversation, a very frank one, and I think
that we can look forward, can look ahead how to achieve our common
goals in the Middle East, together with deep cooperation and
coordination.
And I would like you for your friendship to
Israel. We have friends here and you have friends there in
Israel, which is a democratic country, a stable democracy which
appreciate the values of democratic life. I'm sure that we
can do many things together. And I would like to thank you
for the cooperation of your government, of your own, for our future
interests in the Middle East.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you, sir.
Q Mr. President, the
Prime Minister last night expressed his faith in Jerusalem as Israel's
eternal, undivided capital, under Israel
sovereignty. Mindful of your campaign statements, how do you
feel about this statement? Is that something that has U.S.
support?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, the status of
Israel, I mean, the status of Jerusalem will be ultimately determined
by the interested parties. During the campaign, I said we'll
begin the process of moving our embassy to Jerusalem.
Q Mr. President,
yesterday you said that you were very confident about the U.S.
economy. Today, you said that it's slowing
down. Which is it? Are you trying to have it both
ways?
THE PRESIDENT: I was talking about
the long-term health of our economy is going to be very
strong. And that's in Israel's interest, that our economy be
strong. We've got some problems, some short-term problems,
and if Congress were to act quickly on my tax stimulus package, it
would make our recovery quicker.
Q Is there any reason
to believe that it will help in the short term?
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I think it will,
and I think good fiscal policy and good monetary policy, good trade
policy will help our economy. And we need an energy policy,
too. But I hope the Congress acts quickly on a stimulus
package that will improve our economy. People have got to
know that I have got great faith in the American economy.
Q Mr. President, do you
accept the idea not to invite Yasser Arafat, or are you going to invite
him and meet with him here?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, one of the
things that the Prime Minister and I talked about is our engagement in
the Middle East. I will do everything we can to help calm
nerves, to encourage there to be dialogue in a peaceful
way. I haven't made up my plans on who I'm going to meet
with yet. I do have some plans in place. I'm
looking forward to meeting the King of Jordan, for example.
But one of the things that I will do is use
whatever persuasive powers I have to create an environment in which
peace can flourish. I've got great confidence in the Prime
Minister. And so do the Israeli people; he got 66 percent of
the vote. He did a little better at the polls than I
did. (Laughter.) You know what I mean, Mr. Prime
Minister.
Q Prime Minister
Sharon, did you manage to convince the President Bush that you will not
negotiate under fire? Do you think that this message is
clear, and do you think that President Bush agrees with you about this
issue?
PRIME MINISTER SHARON: I didn't
have to talk to President Bush about that. I think what I
understand the policy of this great democracy, the United States, is
that one should not surrender to terror and pressure and
violence. And therefore, I don't have to work too hard on
this thing. I even didn't try.
But I understand, and I believe that they do,
and I appreciate that respect that -- to that approach that one should
never surrender to terror, and that the free world should struggle
against terror, local, regional and international
terror. And I'm sure that the United States leads such a
struggle, and we are a partner in the struggle. I think that
is in the interest of every democratic state, because in order to keep
stability -- and I'm a great supporter of the President's policy of
keeping stability in the Middle East -- the main danger to stability is
terror. And that, I believe, will be -- should be the common goal of
every democratic country in the free world.
Q Do you think that
Arafat is the danger for the stability in the Middle East, Mr. Sharon?
PRIME MINISTER SHARON: I don't
think that I have to add about Arafat. Everyone knows what are the
steps of terror and who is behind the steps. I don't think I
have to add anything about that. It's clear.
END
1:10 P.M. EST
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