TRANSCRIPT EXCERPTS: STATE DEPT SPOKESMAN ON MIDEAST ISSUES
(Powell's telephone diplomacy, Arafat, appeal for calm)

February 8, 2001

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Secretary of State Colin Powell has spoken by telephone with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and other international leaders to appeal for calm in the Middle East.

In addition to Arafat, Boucher said Powell spoke with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, Tunisian President Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali, and Russian Foreign Minister Ivan Ivanov about the need to restrain violence on a day that a bomb went off in Jerusalem.  Powell's calls were a continuation of a telephone initiative that he had begun earlier, Boucher said. 

Boucher said the U.S. government condemns the car bombing in Jerusalem and extends its condolences to the victims.  "We see no justification, no excuse for this kind of cowardly act of violence," Boucher said.

The spokesman said the peace proposals of former President Clinton are no longer the basis for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

"I think the Secretary has made quite clear over the past few days that the ideas and parameters that were discussed in the last few months are -- were President Clinton's parameters and, therefore, when he left office, they were no longer a U.S. proposal or Presidential proposal. The parties have not agreed on any other basis for final status talks at this point, although they had their discussions at Taba," Boucher said.

Boucher said U.S. officials will be consulting with the parties concerned about how the U.S. government can assist in the peace process.

"In the course of events, as the Israeli government is formed, we will have a chance to talk directly to the Palestinians, talk directly to the new Israeli government, talk to our Arab friends in the region, and get a much clearer idea ourselves about what basis there might be and how we can assist them," Boucher said.

The spokesman said Powell met with relatives of the bomb victims of Pan Am flight 103 to show the U.S. government's respect for their efforts to pursue justice and to hear their concerns.

(Begin transcript excerpts)

QUESTION: (Off mike) -- can confirm now what the Palestinians are saying, that Mr. Powell called Yasser Arafat, and perhaps tell us a little bit about the conversation if, indeed, there has been one?

MR. BOUCHER: The Secretary has continued to make his phone calls to people in the Middle East and people interested in the Middle East along the same lines as the calls that we described yesterday urging moderation, urging restraint, stressing the importance of working with the parties, consulting with the Israeli government once they've formed a government, consulting with our Arab friends in order to decide how to proceed towards peace. This morning he has talked to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, he's talked to Chairman Arafat, he's talked to the President of Tunisia Mr. Ben Ali, and he's talked to Foreign Minister Ivanov of Russia, all on this subject.

Q: I'd like to isolate the Arafat call a little more from the assumptions -- a bit more interesting than the call to the Tunisian President. Did he make the call after the bomb went off? The President's call, apparently, was hours before the bombing. But the timing seems to be that  --

MR. BOUCHER: I think -- yeah, this would have been after the bomb went off. They didn't discuss the bombing in particular; they did discuss, obviously, the need to take steps against terrorism and the need to exercise restraint, to do everything one can, everything they can.

Q: Steps against terrorism?

MR. BOUCHER: Against terrorism, or terrorists, and the need to do everything they can to restrain the violence.

Q: All right. And one last question, now. Your overall description for all four conversations certainly applies to the one to the chairman, right?

MR. BOUCHER: Yep.

Q: Okay.

Q: It seems to be a little bit unusual that he -- the bomb wasn't mentioned at all.

MR. BOUCHER: I'm not sure if it was mentioned at all. I think neither one had any particular information at that point of the phone call on who done it, what happened  --

Q: Was there any  --

MR. BOUCHER: -- who might be responsible. We can't -- we don't know -- have that information worked out.

Q: On the bombing, I presume that you have some words to the -- condemnatory words about it, but did -- which I'm sure you'll get to as well. But did -- wouldn't it have been appropriate if Secretary Powell had asked Chairman Arafat also to condemn the bombing?

MR. BOUCHER: Again, Matt, I'm not saying the bombing did not come up, I'll just say that neither one had any particular information at the point of the phone call about it. I'm not sure how exactly it was discussed. But clearly, asking all the parties to take all the steps they can, talking to them in specific terms about steps that people can take to condemn terrorism, to restrain terrorism, and to restrain violence in general, clearly encompanies (sic) an attitude, a request to take action if there is action that can be taken in a case like this.

On the bombing itself, let me say that we do, in fact, condemn today's car bombing in Israel, as you asked. We offer our deepest condolences to the victims of this terrorist attack. We see no justification, no excuse for this kind of cowardly act of violence. And we, at this point, can't speculate on who was behind the terrorist incident until the facts are established. But we do call on both sides to take all steps they can to prevent acts such as this. There's no excuse or no justification for any other course of action other than the 100 percent effort against terrorism.

Q: Would a reprisal to the bombing be an act that's sort of like this? What's missing is the terminology "the boilerplate" we used to get -- that we've gotten for years. I just -- we're all listening hard but we don't hear peace process any more; we hear more specific references. You're not giving any advice to the Israeli government on how to respond to the bombing, are you?

MR. BOUCHER: Barry, don't listen too hard. (Scattered laughter.) Clearly, remember what you've heard in the past three days -- past week -- repeatedly from the Secretary of State. We want to avoid a cycle of provocation and counterprovocation. We want to avoid -- we want the parties to take steps, not only to avoid violence in general, and certainly to take steps against terrorism, which I just said again, but also to avoid getting back into a cycle where one party does something and another party does something else.

Q: All right, just quickly on the Palestinians. Well, the Palestinians are describing the conversation, saying that it's a -- describing with some -- what should I say -- in a positive way that it renews or reaffirms the U.S. relationship with the Palestinians that Mr. Powell said he'd seek. Mr. Arafat, when he's in the region -- do you know how long the conversation ran? And can you say anything about what Arafat said in response?

MR. BOUCHER: I would expect the Palestinians to describe what the Palestinians were saying. I've described what the Secretary was saying. He's done -- the Secretary has done a whole series of these phone calls to different people. They mostly run about 10-15 minutes. I don't know exactly how long this one ran. But, clearly, he's talked to Chairman Arafat before. And, you know, at this point, we'll continue to work with them and we will look forward to seeing them when we have a chance.

Q: Richard, already, and probably inevitably, the question of the starting point for any future peace negotiations has emerged, with the Palestinians of course saying that they can't go back to point -- square one and the Israelis saying that anything that Barak discussed is no longer valid.

Can you state -- I don't think you've actually said this under the new administration. Could you state where the United States stands on this? What should be the starting point for any new peace negotiations, given that the sides themselves can't agree on it? And what offers have any validity, what of the many offers remain valid, if any?

MR. BOUCHER: I think, first of all, it's not necessarily up to us to prescribe the starting point, it's up to the parties to agree. And, obviously, the prime minister-elect in Israel first needs to form a government. As he prepares to take office, we'll consult with him, we'll consult with the Palestinians, we'll consult with our Arab friends to elicit their thinking about how they see the period ahead. And then once we've had a chance to consult with both sides regarding their view of the negotiations, we'll have a better idea of how we can assist the parties to achieve peace.

I think the Secretary has made quite clear over the past few days that the ideas and parameters that were discussed in the last few months are -- were President Clinton's parameters and, therefore, when he left office, they were no longer a U.S. proposal or Presidential proposal. The parties have not agreed on any other basis for final status talks at this point, although they had their discussions at Taba.

And so we'll be talking to the parties and we will consult with them. We'll have a better idea at that point how we can best assist them to achieve peace. But as we said, it's premature to try to describe it at this point because they haven't formed a government; we haven't had a chance to do that.

Q: Can I just follow that? The Palestinians seem to be saying, in effect, that they still consider the Clinton parameters to be an offer that stands in some sense. Are you saying you completely disagree with them on that?

MR. BOUCHER: No. I'm saying that I'm not going to stand up here and try to respond to everything that someone "seems" to be saying. I'm saying that in the course of events, as the Israeli government is formed, we will have a chance to talk directly to the Palestinians, talk directly to the new Israeli government, talk to our Arab friends in the region, and get a much clearer idea ourselves about what basis there might be and how we can assist them.

Q: Are there any efforts right now from the U.S. to work on simply security cooperation as under Clinton? Tenet was down there several times. There was a lot of talk about these committees set up under Wye. Anything on that?

MR. BOUCHER: I'll have to get you an update on what we may still be doing on the ground. Clearly, the issue of violence remains of great concern and is one that we speak out on frequently, is one that our emissaries in the region talk to the parties about.

I'll see if there's any more to say than that, in terms of the actual format of cooperation, things like that.

Ben?

Q: Could you be a little more specific on what Mr. Powell and Mr. Arafat spoke about?

MR. BOUCHER: I just talked about it for 10 minutes, and I think that was about the length of the conversation, so I think that's about as much as I can do.

Q: (Off mike) -- another call?

MR. BOUCHER: Another call?

Q: Unless someone has more on Middle East.

Q: Yeah. I just would ask you if I could -- he's made enough -- several calls now to people in the region. Can you summarize in any way how they're responding to this effort to put the peace process -- oh, forgive the phrase -- to put the peacemaking in a broader context, in a more regional context? Is it getting a good reception? The President talked to the sultan of Oman today, for instance.

MR. BOUCHER: Yeah.

Q: This is a flurry, a significant flurry of calls.

MR. BOUCHER: Yeah, primarily directed at this point of all the parties in the region doing what they can to restrain violence, to make sure we take this period calmly, to make sure that we all look at what is going to be done and judge by what is done rather than by assumptions. So in terms of the regional approach to peace that Secretary Powell has described and I think the President has described, as well, I mean, certainly the regional parties and people interested appreciate the need to pursue a regional approach, appreciate the fact that we want to work with them to achieve peace in this region. And so I think I'd say the reception is generally positive. But obviously, as we get down to work, as we talk to people more specifically, there may be -- (different/just some ?) views at that point about how we proceed.

Okay, you had another  --

Q: Ivanov call.

Q: One more Middle East.

MR. BOUCHER: Okay.

Q: Well, this is Middle East.

MR. BOUCHER: Well, it's Middle East too. It's a similar phone call, is all I have to say on that.

Q: While the administration is taking a step back from participation, Sharon is immediately, within 24 hours, sending this team of three top advisers to Washington. Do you see that as a way for the Sharon side to engage the U.S. further in peace talks, or are they presenting it to you as a wider agenda of simple bilateral relations?

MR. BOUCHER: Well, let me not accept any of the alternatives nor the premises of, but other than that, I'm happy to answer your question. I  --

Q: How do you do that, if you don't accept any of the  --

MR. BOUCHER: Tell her what the facts are. Tell you what the facts are.

This administration takes a step back from participation. We stopped participating in the Taba talks two weeks before the new administration came. We weren't participants there. So I don't want to  --

Q: (Inaudible)  --

MR. BOUCHER: -- I don't want to accept -- the premise was somehow today we're taking a step back from participation. We're looking at the situation, we'll be talking to people as they go forward, and we'll be involved, we'll be engaged, as the Secretary has told you.

Q: And then why you're not sending people there, for example, because we used to. Go ahead.

MR. BOUCHER: We stopped doing that two weeks before the new administration took office.

The visit by several members of the, I guess -- I don't quite know what to -- the Likud Party members, or members, people, advisers to the prime minister-elect -- we know of it.

We're in touch with the people involved. We'll be talking to them. No meetings scheduled at this point, no schedule set up for them yet.

Q: How about the Ivanov call? I realize it was generally the same thing, but did the Secretary in that call suggest to Foreign Minister Ivanov that the United States might at this juncture particularly welcome some re-energizing of the Russian role in peacemaking efforts?

MR. BOUCHER: I think I'll have to see how to characterize that. I don't -- I don't know that that was discussed one way or the other. I'll have to check.

Q: And nothing else came up in that -- just Middle East?

MR. BOUCHER: Not that I'm aware of, no.

....

Q: Could you fill us in on the purpose of the visit to the Secretary of the Pan Am 103 families?

MR. BOUCHER: The Secretary's meeting right now with the families of Pan Am 103. I think there is 48 people who are coming, meeting with him upstairs, on the eighth floor. He wanted to get together with them and talk to them personally about their concerns, as I said the other day, to show our respect for the efforts that they have consistently made for the pursuit of justice and to hear from them about their concerns, to consult with them and discuss how we move next on these issues, after the trial and the verdict.

(End transcript excerpts)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.  Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov )