President Meets with Foreign Ministers of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia
The Oval Office
4:22 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: I have a short statement here, and then I'd be glad
to answer two questions; I'll call on the people. Then we need to get
to our meeting.
I want to thank the Ministers for coming today. Secretary of State
Powell has been working hard to work on an initiative that we believe
will bring peace to the Middle East. Our vision of peace says that
there ought to be two states living side by side in peace.
Our vision for peace recognizes that there must be security in the
region. Our vision for peace understands that too many Palestinians
suffer, they suffer from lack of food and basic services. Our vision
for peace understands that all parties have got responsibilities. The
United States has a responsibility; the neighborhood has
responsibilities; the Israelis have a responsibility; the Palestinians
have a responsibility. And we will continue to work with all parties
to achieve the pathway to peace.
And I want to thank the Ministers for coming. They represent
governments that are anxious to work with us, anxious to work toward
achieving the vision that we all hope will happen soon. It's in the
best interests of the world that we do achieve peace in the Middle
East, and I'm looking forward to continuing our dialogues.
I'll answer a couple of questions. Dick Keil.
Q Mr. President, would you be willing to consider a permanent
Palestinian state that included Chairman Arafat in some sort of
ceremonial role, or as President?
THE PRESIDENT: As I mentioned -- I think it was yesterday, I
think, I had a press conference. My, time flies -- the issue is
bigger than any single person. And our discussions will center on how
to have institutionals -- institutions in place that will truly
represent the will of the Palestinian people; that will give confidence
to the world that we can spend money in a way that helps the
Palestinians; that when we talk about security, there are security
forces there aimed at protecting people from terrorist attack, as
opposed to enabling people to stay in office.
You know, it's very interesting that these leaders came to our
country to discuss peace, and the terrorists attacked. It's clear that
a few want to damage the hopes of many. And by working to put
institutions in place that will help on security and finances and
government, institutions which will outlast any single leader -- and
so that's what we're going to discuss today.
Mark Smith.
Q Mr. President, what do you think of the idea of having
troops and others from the Egyptian and Saudi and Jordanian sides help
train security forces for the Palestinians? And sir, yesterday there
was another double suicide bombing just after you used the word
"progress." Do you think that's a coincidence?
THE PRESIDENT: You know, I'm beginning to think that every time we
have a high level meeting, something happens -- it's not
coincidental. I think the enemies of peace try to send signals, try to
derail peace, and try to discourage us. And one of the things I'm
going to tell the leaders today is we refuse to be discouraged. We're
going to continue to work for peace, continue to push hard for peace,
because we think it's a -- we know it's in our vital interests.
In terms of who trains whom for security, that's part of the
ongoing discussions, and that's what we want to discuss. George Tenet
has laid out a plan, and part of the plan is to work with the nations
present here, as to how to effect a security arrangement that will be
effective and will work. That's what we want to do, and that's what we
want to discuss.