For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 7, 2002
President, Vice President, Sec. of State Discuss Middle East
Remarks by the President, the Vice President, and the Secretary of State on the Middle East
The Rose Garden
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon. I'm deeply
concerned about the tragic loss of life and escalating violence in the
Middle East. This is a matter of great interest to the
United States and all who want peace in the region and in the world.
There is a road map to peace. The Tenet security work
plan will bring parties together to reduce the violence, improve the
security situation and return to the path of peace. The
Tenet work plan is the first step towards implementing the Mitchell
Committee report in full, and resuming a political process between the
sides.
I'm committed to working with our partners in the region and around
the world in the pursuit of this goal. The United States has
a vision of a Middle East in which all
people -- Arabs and
Israelis -- can live as neighbors, in full peace
and security.
Recent ideas put forth by the Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
have created an opening for discussing this broader peace and for the
normalization of relations between Arab states and
Israel. The United States is committed to exploring this
opening.
Because of our commitment to peace, I'm sending General Tony Zinni
back to the region next week to work with Israel and the Palestinians
to begin implementing the Tenet work plan so that the parties can renew
their efforts for a broader peace. The United States will do
all it can to help the government of Israel and the Palestinian
Authority restore hope to their people and to the region.
I once again call upon Chairman Arafat to make maximum effort to
end terrorism against Israel, which undermines the prospects for
peace. And as we move forward, I'm counting on all parties
in the region -- Prime Minister Sharon
included -- to do everything they can to make
these efforts a success.
The violence and tragic loss of Israeli and Palestinian lives must
end. Families on both sides of the conflict share this
goal. And so does my country. Peace and stability
will be an important topic of the Vice President's upcoming trip to the
region. I've asked him to join me today.
Mr. Vice President.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you, Mr.
President. I'm looking forward to leaving Sunday on a
10-day, 12-country swing through the region. Obviously, one
of the subjects I'll be discussing with my hosts are the efforts that
General Zinni will undertake and the approach to the Tenet and the
Mitchell plans that the President's outlined here today, as well as
Crown Prince Abdullah's initiatives.
The peace process is not the only thing on my
agenda. The trip's been planned for some time and there are
a number of other issues that we'll talk about, including the
continuing war on terrorism. I plan to visit troops and
spend time talking about bilateral issues, as well, with host
countries. And I'll have the opportunity to brief the
traveling press corps tomorrow in greater detail.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Secretary.
SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you, Mr. President, and Mr. Vice
President. I'm very pleased that General Zinni has again
shown his willingness to serve his nation and to go once again to the
Middle East to try to get the Tenet work plan started.
It is a work plan that will allow both sides to get into security
consultations, so we can get the violence under control, down to zero,
start to restore confidence between the two sides, end the killing, and
then move to a political settlement that is an outcome of the Mitchell
process.
I hope both sides will respond to General Zinni when he arrives in
the region. And we'll be in close consultation with both
sides, as well as all of our friends in the region in the immediate
days ahead.
Thank you very much.
THE PRESIDENT: I'll answer a few
questions. Morris.
Q Mr. President, you said all along that the two sides need
to break the cycle of violence. There's been a lot of false
hopes. The violence continues even today. What
assurances do you have, if any, that the two sides are now willing to
take that step and break the cycle?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we've had a lot of consultations
over the last week and week-and-a-half. We've been on the
phone a lot. And we believe now's the time for General Zinni
to move back into the region. There are no
assurances. That is not going to prevent our government from
trying, trying to get the parties to agree to Tenent, trying to reduce
the cycle of violence.
Obviously, there's a reason why, and that is because as a result of
consultations, we believe there's a possibility that we can have an
impact. And so the combination of General Zinni's trip and
the Vice President's trip may have a positive impact. We'll
see.
Yes, John. Then Terry.
Q Mr. President, your Secretary of State had some rather
stern words for Israel yesterday. Do you believe that Ariel
Sharon, engaging in his current policies, has become an obstacle to
peace?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I read the Secretary's comments,
and it sounded like he had pretty tough words for all
parties. He's concerned about the level of violence, like I
am. He made it clear that Chairman Arafat needs to do a
better job of reducing violence, of using his leadership role to reduce
violence. He's also deeply concerned, as am I, about the
retaliation, the escalation. It's hard to achieve peace when
violence is escalating. And one of the reasons why we're
sending Zinni back, and one of the reasons why I hope the Vice
President's trip will have a positive effect is because our message is
to both sides, reduce violence.
As I mentioned in my remarks, Chairman Arafat must do everything he
can to reduce the violence, to stop the spread of
violence. We don't believe he's doing enough. And
so I thought that the Secretary's comments were wisely balanced.
Q Mr. President, do you believe that the continuing and
escalating violence is an indication of failure on the part of your
administration in the approach you've taken of refraining to send
General Zinni, of not yourself talking to Chairman Arafat?
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I think what the escalating violence
shows is that there people who believe in terror as a way of life,
people who refuse to allow a peace process to go forward, people who
don't want peace in the region. And our government is
committed to saying to those folks, we will do everything in our power
to stop you from preventing a peace process from going forward.
It is -- and the first step toward any
political solution has got to be the Tenet plan. George
Tenet, obviously, works for the United States government; he's the
person that laid out the plan. There is a road map for a
peaceful solution. It's going to take a lot of effort by a
lot of people, and we're willing to put in the effort and believe that
General Zinni's trip can make a difference.
Yes, Ron.
Q Mr. President, why are you personally only talking to one
side in this conflict? Why don't you reach out to Chairman
Arafat?
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I believe the administration speaks
with one voice, and we've got ample amplification to both
parties. And our strategy is a well-thought-out
strategy. It's one that reminds both parties there's an
obligation to seek peace.
I fully understand the Israelis' perspective that they want to
defend themselves. That's why I've constantly called on Mr.
Arafat to do a better job of reining in those who would wreak havoc on
Israel. I also agree with the Secretary of State that it is
going to be very hard to achieve a peaceful settlement if there is a
tendency to want to constantly find a reason to
escalate. And we hope that the Zinni mission will help get
to Tenet, and that's what our focus is. Our focus is to get
the parties into a process that the world agrees is a good process.
Q Mr. President, how is the Saudi plan an opening if it's
based on things that the Israelis have long rejected?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, they cannot reject
the notion of Crown Prince Abdullah that says, we recognize Israel's
right to exist. I think that's an important opening, and I
think that's an important statement by Crown Prince Abdullah.
Secondly, it's a position that I took, as well, at the United
Nations, when I said that there ought to be a Palestinian
state -- the borders of which, by the way, ought
to be negotiated between the two parties -- but
both states recognize each other's right to exist.
And it's an opening. The Crown Prince's decision to make
that statement provides an opening. And that's another
reason why the Zinni mission is going forward.
Jim.
Q Mr. President, you've consistently called on Mr. Arafat to
make, as you said today, a maximum effort. What seems to be
new this week is the administration's skepticism about Mr.
Sharon. Are you worried, sir, that retaliation seems to be
the only policy that he has in mind?
THE PRESIDENT: First of all, I fully understand a
nation's wanting to defend herself, and I appreciate
that. After all, we're in defense of ourself right
now. And I can understand the strong desire to enhance
security for a people. And I believe that.
I believe what we're saying, though, is that there's got to be a
vision for peace. There's got to be more than security, that
there's got to be an attempt to achieve a lasting peace. And
I hope that my friend, Prime Minister Sharon, agrees with that
assessment. I think he does. I think he
recognizes that you can't achieve peace by allowing violence to
escalate or causing violence to escalate. So, on the one
hand, I fully understand his need to protect the people of
Israel. And, on the other hand, we look forward to working
with him to get into the Tenet plan.
He thought the Tenet plan was a good plan. He agreed
that the Mitchell plan is the proper course of action. And
now we've got to work hard to get into it.
Kelly.
Q Mr. President, could I ask you about the corporate
responsibility measures you put forward?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q Some Democrats are saying that they kind of fall far short
of what's needed, and they say your own Treasury Secretary, Paul
O'Neill, was pushing for stronger measures, lowering the bar for
punishment for corporate leaders.
THE PRESIDENT: I think what they ought to do is look
at -- look at my proposals, take a good, hard
look at them. They were very sound, solid
proposals. It's the first -- first
formal package laid out for the American people to analyze about how to
reform corporate governance.
I think it's also very important to make sure that, as we reform
corporate governance, we don't encourage frivolous
lawsuits. I think it's very difficult to have a vibrant
society in the free enterprise sector that is riddled with massive
lawsuits all the time. And so I want to have a balanced
plan. And I put one out. I'm proud of
it. And it would make a lot of sense, and I hope Congress
acts on it.
Patsy.
Q Mr. President, is the recession over now? And,
looking back, do you think we actually ever really had one?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, that's a trick question,
Patsy. And I appreciate you throwing that out
there. (Laughter.) See, I actually read clips
from other parts of the world before I came out here
today. So, nice try.
There's no question our economy was hurt by the attacks on
9/11. We'll let the statisticians define what happened or
what didn't happen. But our economy went through a massive
slowdown. And people's lives were badly affected, and a lot
of people were laid off.
And that's why the House did the right thing today, and the Senate
now needs to act. The House passed a very good
bill. It's a bill that not only takes care of unemployed
workers, it is a bill that has got some economic stimulus as a major
part of it. And now the Senate needs to do
something. The Senate needs to act and get the bill to my
desk, and I look forward to signing it.
But we've had too much -- too much
non-movement on this important issue. And it's time to
go. It's time to get a bill, and it's time for me to end the
press conference. (Laughter.) Thank you.