TRANSCRIPT: SECSTATE ON JAN. 22 TALKS WITH YASSER ARAFAT
USIA
USIS Washington File
23 January 1998
TRANSCRIPT: SECSTATE ON JAN. 22 TALKS WITH YASSER ARAFAT
(Albright says the focus is on rebuilding trust) (2950)
Washington -- Building trust to get the peace talks back on track was
the primary focus of discussions January 22 between President Clinton,
Secretary of State Albright, and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser
Arafat.
During a briefing for reporters at the White House in the early
evening hours, Secretary Albright said: "Our effort is designed to try
to overcome the differences between the two sides so that we can
rebuild the trust between the two sides and launch the final status
negotiations."
Albright declined to discuss whether or not the several hours of talks
resulted in any progress. But she did note that "For the first time,
the President has presented his views on how to get the process back
on track, and both sides are aware of the significance of such
intensive presidential involvement. These ideas reflect our best
judgment of what is a reasonable approach to the outstanding issues
and we believe that both sides are now grappling with these ideas in a
serious way."
According to Albright, "the President emphasized that the terrorists
are waging a relentless war against Israelis and the peace process,
and that it's essential that the Palestinian Authority is even more
relentless in its effort to counter this offensive."
Albright noted that Arafat provided Clinton with a letter which
identifies the changes in the Palestinian Charter removing language
offensive to Israel.
"We welcome this clarification...," Albright said, "And we do think
that it's an important step towards completing the process of revising
the Charter."
The Secretary of State said she expected a trilateral meeting "soon"
between herself, Chairman Arafat, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, who visited Washington earlier in the week.
She said that her impression of the meetings this week is that "there
is a lot of serious thinking and work going on, and a lot put on the
table." But, she added, "it's up to the leaders themselves to make the
really hard decisions. And so they have to absorb what they've heard,
and then I will proceed."
Following is the White House transcript:
(begin transcript)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
January 22, 1998
PRESS BRIEFING BY SECRETARY OF STATE MADELEINE ALBRIGHT
The Briefing Room
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Good evening. We're in the middle of some
intensive discussions with Chairman Arafat. The President met with him
for 90 minutes this morning to lay out his thinking on the four-part
package, and the Vice President concluded a meeting with him midday
where they focused on the critical security issues and on economic
issues. I've just come from an almost two-hour meeting with the
Chairman to follow up on the President's discussions, and the
President will meet with him again later this evening to wrap up some
of today's work.
You will all recognized that this is similar to the process that we
followed yesterday with Prime Minister Netanyahu, where the President
presents his views and the two leaders have an opportunity to present
their concerns, needs, and constraints. Our effort is designed to try
to overcome the differences between the two sides so that we can
rebuild the trust between the two sides and launch the final status
negotiations.
Because we're in the middle of these discussions I can't characterize
the progress. What I can say is that we are at an important phase in
all our efforts. For the first time, the President has presented his
views on how to get the process back on track, and both sides are
aware of the significance of such intensive presidential involvement.
These ideas reflect our best judgment of what is a reasonable approach
to the outstanding issues and we believe that both sides are now
grappling with these ideas in a serious way.
Now, on the question of security, as I said, both the President and
the Vice President had these discussions with Chairman Arafat, and the
Chairman told the President that fighting terror is in the interests
of the Palestinian Authority. The President emphasized that the
terrorists are waging a relentless war against Israelis and the peace
process, and that it's essential that the Palestinian Authority is
even more relentless in its effort to counter this offensive.
Now, on the further redeployment, the FRD, the Prime Minister made
clear that there will be a further redeployment, but that it is
essential that the Palestinians live up to their security obligations.
The President emphasized the need for a credible FRD, just as he
emphasized with the Chairman today the need for a maximum effort on
security. And what we're trying to do is to find a way forward which
is consistent with both sides' needs. And in this context we've
introduced the concept of parallel processes of implementation of
these commitments. We believe that this is a practical way to rebuild
confidence that both sides will live up to their obligations under the
Oslo agreements.
Another issue that we discussed was on the PLO Covenant. Regarding the
removal from the PLO Charter of references to the destruction of the
State of Israel, this is an issue, obviously, of great importance. The
Palestinian National Council amended the Charter in April 1996,
cancelling the articles inconsistent with its commitments to Israel.
And the government of Israel at that time welcomed this step.
Many people have questioned exactly which clauses were amended by the
PNC decision, so today President Clinton received from Chairman Arafat
a letter which for the first time identified specifically and by
number all the articles annulled by the PNC's April 1996 action. The
letter also says that these changes will be reflected in an official
publication of the Charter. It also emphasizes the PLO's recognition
of Israel's right to live in peace and security, and the PLO's
commitment to live in peace side by side with Israel. We welcome this
clarification and believe it addresses the concerns about the
ambiguities of the PNC's decision. And we do think that it's an
important step towards completing the process of revising the Charter.
So I think that is kind of a readout of where we are midstream here.
Q: Madam Secretary, that last clause, I thought you were saying the
U.S. accepts the notion that those provisions are dead, but you call
it a step in the process.
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, I think -- I'm sorry, Barry.
Q: No, I'm just -- there's an argument that they've referred it to a
committee. The Labor government bought the PLO's explanation; MR.
Netanyahu doesn't. He says, have a public meeting -- it will serve an
emotional and legal purpose to stand up there in broad daylight in
Gaza -- you're, after all, our peace partner -- and say it's null and
void; we the Palestine National Council say it's null and void. Have
they nullified and voided it, or is there more to be done?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: No, look, I think that there is not a question,
frankly, of the substance. They have agreed that this has -- that
those articles are null and void. What there seems to be a question
about is the process of making it clear that they are null and void.
And so we think that this letter is an important step in that
direction. But, obviously, the partners themselves need to discuss
their differences on how this -- I mean, this is something they have
to do face to face. But we -- I would say from our perspective that
the letter is an important step in the procedural aspect of this.
Q: Secretary Albright, does withdrawal in the President's view mean at
a minimum double-digit percentage withdrawals from Israel?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I am not going to go into those details. I think,
as I said, we are in mid-process and I think it would not be useful to
clarify.
Q: What do you expect to be the next step in this process, after both
sides have digested the President's ideas? Do you see yourself
convening MR. Netanyahu, MR. Arafat in a head-to-head meeting fairly
soon to really nail down acceptance of these American ideas?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, what we expect now is that, obviously, there
have been some serious discussions -- as I said, the President put his
views on the path to get the process back on track. These discussions
have been very intensive. And we expect these leaders now to absorb
what it is that they heard from the President and their own
assessment.
I do expect that at some stage soon I will be trying to get a meeting,
a trilateral meeting. But -- soon. I'm not prepared -- I think it's
premature at this moment to kind of tell you the exact time and the
process -- or I've told you the process, but I think more detail than
that.
Clearly, I have to tell you that my impression of these meetings is
that there is a lot of serious thinking and work going on, and a lot
put on the table. As we have said many, many times, the President can
have ideas about how to get the process back on track, but it's up to
the leaders themselves to make the really hard decisions. And so they
have to absorb what they've heard, and then I will proceed.
Q: Madam Secretary, could you explain a confusion in my mind at least
about the process? Because as you've described it, the President has
laid out ideas and he's heard the interests and concerns of, first,
Netanyahu, and today, Arafat. So presumably, you will have to go back
to both leaders after a period of thought of your own with further
bridging proposals, which they will then have to think about. Is that
right?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, we have to see. It may not be -- what I
expect, frankly, is that they will think about this. I will probably
have to meet with each one of them again. What's happening, as you
know, Steve, we keep narrowing these gaps. And I think that, as I
said, I don't want to characterize where we are at the moment because
we are in the middle, but I do see some kind of a process like the one
that you're describing.
Q: To clarify, you're saying that you will need another separate
meeting with them before you can --
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I don't know. That may happen. Honestly, I think
that we need to see where we are after they have thought about this.
If they're ready -- I mean, let me just say that what we are doing
here is showing the fact that the President and I and the rest of our
team are deeply involved in trying to move this process forward. We
want to be helpful. The leaders have to make the hard decisions. We
can't go on with endless meetings, but we clearly are willing to have
meetings that are necessary, that help the process along. But we want
some results soon.
Q: Madam Secretary, you've been putting a lot of emphasis on the PLO
Charter. The side letter to the Hebron Agreement lists a lot of other
obligations that the Palestinians agreed to. I'm wondering if you
could tell me which of those was discussed and whether any
breakthroughs -- or was there any progress such as what you have
described here?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, Bob, I'm not going to go into the details of
this. Obviously, some of the aspects of this in terms of -- as I told
you, there were discussions about security and obligations, mutual
obligations. Those are the kinds of things we talked about. And I
think that what needs to happen, as I said, is that the mutual respect
and recognition and trust that needs to be there comes as a result of
interpretations as to how they're fulfilling various obligations, both
sides.
Q: Madam Secretary, has Israel indicated to you in principle or
tentatively that it contemplates additional major weapons purchases
from the United States pursuant to the successful completion of these
talks and the putting in place, getting the peace process back on
track?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: We have not had those discussions during this
phase. I don't know whether they've taken place with anybody else, but
not in the meetings that I've been involved in.
Q: Madam Secretary, do you see any harmful impact on these talks from
the President's domestic problems?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Absolutely not. I mean, we spent -- the President
spent 90 minutes in a one-on-one. He's about to have another meeting.
He is focused -- those were great discussions, and he's very focused
on this. He has made very clear that this is a high priority issue,
that these meetings are important. And he's devoting a great deal of
time to them -- in preparation for them and during the meetings
themselves.
Q: Will tonight's session be one-on-one also?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Probably.
Q: Madam Secretary, on this issue of security, Arafat said today after
the White House meeting that their participation in the trilateral
meeting with the CIA and the Israelis, and the Israelis accepted the
memorandum and the CIA was there, and Netanyahu later on was delaying
it. Do you believe that the Israelis are delaying what has been
accepted by --
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I think that these are the kinds of issues that
they need to have agreement on, and that we are trying to get back to
a sense where this trust that's necessary to move the process forward
is reestablished. And I think that it's important that they both have
the same understandings. What is essential, and we have said this very
often, that Chairman Arafat must do 100 percent effort in the area of
security and that that is an essential component of this process. And
as I described to you how this is going to work, what would happen is
that Israel would implement some part of the FRD early, and in
parallel with that further step, the Palestinians would take further
steps, principally in the area of security. And then the process of
implementation would continue in this kind of parallel steps.
Q: Right, and you might be on the scene as this process is launched.
So do you still have a position -- if you don't want to give us a
figure, which you never have given a figure --could you characterize
the extent of the withdrawal? You wanted a sizable one, a credible
one? Does the U.S. have a view how much land ultimately, as a result
of this parallel process, Israel should give up?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: No.
Q: Or would you try to attach some new adjectives?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: No, I think the adjectives are okay.
Q: You still want credible size --
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I stand with those adjectives.
Q: Credible and sizable?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Yes.
Q: Madam Secretary, when you talk about this parallel process, do you
also have in mind a generally concurrent development of the other two
parts of your four-part program, namely the timeout and the start of
permanent status talks? Do you see all four elements proceeding in
parallel, or only the two that you mentioned?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: No, I think we see all of them -- well, we stick
with our four-part package, and this is a piece of it. And obviously
what we would like to do, as we've said, is to marry this interim
process to permanent status talks and discussion of trying to avoid
the kinds of actions that we think undermine or complicate this
atmosphere of trust that's necessary to go forward.
What I have to tell you, I think, even more than in our previous
meetings on this subject is that it's very clear to all of us that we
are down to a period where the decisions are very hard and the leaders
have to make these decisions. And we would like to help them make
them. But in the end, these are tough decisions. They require time,
they require thought, and they mostly require a sense of mutual
respect.
Q: One last question -- in the public speeches they make to us and to
their audiences, there are at least a half a dozen issues where
they're enormously apart. Is this because this is the end-game phase,
are they playing -- privately, do you find them as widely apart on
six-ten issues, or are they just playing to the gallery?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Well, look, I think that they both believe that
they are down to the very tough issues. I respect them for this. I
think this is not a matter of -- these are not peripheral issues we're
dealing with. They're not cosmetic. These are down to the guts of the
issues here. And so I don't -- I wouldn't characterize people as being
insincere in the way that they characterize the decisions that they
have to make.
Q: One more question, Madam Secretary. You mentioned that the
President laid out his ideas, and you've heard from each of the
parties their constraints. Can you tell us, did you get any sense of
give or flexibility from either of these leaders during this week's
talks?
SECRETARY ALBRIGHT I think that what I have a sense of is that while
each of them is obviously determined to make the toughest case for his
arguments, I do sense that there is some understanding of the other
guy's problems. I mean, this is what a negotiation is about, and I
think they both understand that.
Thank you.
(end transcript)