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RUBIN PRESS READOUT ON MIDEAST PEACE TALKS, 10/22
(King Hussein delivered a strong message to the participants)
Wye Mills, Maryland -- Following is the transcript of State Department Spokesman James P. Rubin's telephone readout to the press on the status of the peace talks at 10:45 p.m. October 22:
(Begin transcript)
Office of the Spokesman
(Wye Mills, Maryland)
October 22, 1998
Readout by Telephone of the Press
By James P. Rubin
Chesapeake College
(10:45 p.m.)
RUBIN: Hello. Do we have the group assembled?
Okay, the King arrived, and he spent about twenty minutes with a large group including roughly four members from each of the delegations -- the Secretary and Sandy and Dennis Ross, in addition to the President. The Ministers from the Israeli side who were there are pretty much the same group that I have been reporting to you. It was about twenty minutes and it was held at the large table overlook~ing the river in the Wye Woods Conference dining facility.
I would say it was a very strong push by the King in the interest of peace. It was the kind of statement he made to the group that reflected the special moral authority he has in the region and the high regard all or these leaders have for him. They all ~ex~pressed that regard. I think the participants were all moved by his presence and hopefully we will be encouraged to make some of the additional decisions necessary for us to move forward towards an agreement.
It lasted roughly twenty minutes and then he retired a private room with the President where he is there with his wife Queen Noor right now.
QUESTION: Jamie, what you are describing editorially is the King's speech. Can you give us any words so we can make our own judgment of whether it was a strong emotional pitch?
RUBIN~: I said it was a strong message -- it was not emotional m~~essage, it ~was a strong message. The King walked into the room fine, he shook hands around the table, he greeted each of the leaders, there were a lot of pictures taken, and then each of them expressed their pleasure that he was there with them. Then he spoke for several minutes explaining how pleased he was that progress was being made and how important peace will be to not only the people in the room, but to their children and their children~'s children.
I~'m giving you the best actual representation of what happened that I can. I~'m not going to quote the King. I~'m going to describe what I observed because I was in the room.
QUESTION: Jamie, you referred to a television show named "One Day at a Time" a few days ago. Do you have any new shows t~o talk about now?
RUBIN: No, we are just moving forward as quickly as we can.
Q: Is it still a $64,000 question?
RUBIN: Absolutely.
Q: What time did the King join the groups?
RUBIN: At about 10:00 to 10:20 p.m. the meeting took place.
Q: Can you give us some more direct quotes from the King?
RUBIN: No, I ~just prefer to give you the best representation I can give of what I heard.
Q: Jamie, is there any talk of maybe suspending the talks for the night and coming back tomorrow morning?
RUBIN: I haven't heard that. I think that they are going to continue their work.
Q: What was he pushing for? You say he was pushing a strong message. What was he pushing for?
RUBIN: For being able to continue the progress that has been made so far, and that he would be waiting to hear from the leaders and hoped to be able to hear that all the issues w~ere resolved.
Q: Mow many issues are left?
RUBIN: I don't want to be more specific than we were before. We are pretty much where we were the last time I ~checked.
Q: Is he staying the night Jamie?
RUBIN: I believe that he must be staying the night. Yes.
Q~: Now that we are all listening in, would you repeat now the latest on what you are saying about the PLO covenant issue?
RUBIN: What I said on that earlier when Joe and I we~nt over there, we gave you our best judgment of where things were when we left.
When we returned we sensed there had been movement in the last hour while we were gone. So I indicated to someone for all of you to hear that we believed that substantial progress had been made on that issue, but some details are still being worked.
Q: Are there internal -- within the Israeli delegation, are there some divisions that you sense on the resolution of the charter question?
RUBIN: I'm sorry I can't hear the question.
Q~: Is part of what is going on now trying to resolve the internal Israeli divisions on the question on how to resolve the charter?
RUBIN: I don't want to get into any comment about ~what is going on within delegations.
Just one more detail is that before the King spoke, the President began the meeting by essentially reviewing the state of play, and how much work had been done and where progress had been made in the course of the last several hours, and then opened the floor for the other leaders to speak before the King spoke.
Q: Can you give us that same review Jamie?
RUBIN: No.
Q: Well, why don't you give us a general sense.
RUBIN: Really, I'm doing the best I can on substance. I'm not going to let anything I say interfere with the work that they are doing, and that has been my guide all along.
Q: Jamie, did the King speak on behalf on any particular compromise concerning the covenant?
RUBIN: The information I gave you in that last sentence is as far as I am prepared to go.
Q: Is the President staying the night?
RUBIN: Again, I think I have told you before, logistically I think that is probably not likely because of where we are. But he certainly is continuing the work, and I see no preparations for his departure whatsoever. On the contrary~ he is with the King now and the others have broken up into small groups to work around the fireplace and around the picture window and the various tables and nibbling on food and meeting in ones and twos to continue the work that has been going on.
Q: Jamie, does Sharansky's departure complicate things?
RUBIN: I don't think so.
Q: When did he leave?
RUBIN: I don't see him there now, so he is not here right now.
Q: Jamie, did any of the other leaders speak? You said Clinton ...
RUBIN: He reviewed where we were and expressed his pleasure at the King's presence, and then both Prime Minister Netanyahu and Chairman Arafat spoke before the King spoke.
Q: Physically, where is the King going to be staying?
RUBIN: He has been at the Carmichael Farm is my understanding.
Q: Could a prudent person go to bed for the night and be back early and not miss anything?
RUBIN: I don't know how to answer that without giving you any steer that could prove to be wrong. I'm not going to bed.
Q: Jamie, has the issue of May 4 been raised tonight in a sudden way...
RUBIN: No.
Q: ... or any way at all?
RUBIN: I haven't heard that it has been a particular problem that I have heard about. I try to keep abreast of them. I ~just haven't heard that. Other than in the context of the issues that I spoke to you about when I was there earlier.
Q: Well, I mean no one is trying to use it at the sort of last minute to sort of get guarantees one way or another?
RUBIN: I haven't heard that.
Q: Did Netanyahu and Arafat agree with the P~res~ident's assessment of the state of progress.
RUBIN: They didn't dispute it.
Q: Did they all sound like they were on the same page as far as the peace process?
RUBIN: Yeah, it seemed that way.
Q: What was the King's health like?
RUBIN: He looked fine. He walked in, he strode in the room, he shook a lot of hands. Obviously he is undergoing treatment, but he looked fine and spoke to everybody. I'm not a doctor. Other than telling you what I saw, which was that he walked in the room in the same way that I have seen him walk in the past and shook hands and spoke in the same tones that I have heard him speak in the past.
Q: Jamie, why is this taking so long?
RUBIN: Well, these are tough issues, these are difficult issues. They are issues that each of the parties have serious concerns about and so they are working their way through them.
Q~: Was that a direct quote from the King?
RUBIN: No, none of the words I used were quotes. I was trying to reflect as best as I could what I heard.
Q: But he does say those words sometimes, "For the children and their children's children."
RUBIN: I'm just giving you the best reference that I could.
Q: Are there agreements in principle on more of the issues now than there were when you came to see us.
RUBIN: I have no new substance to report.
Q: Jamie, if some agreement was reached, would it be initialed and then later there would be a ceremony? How would that work?
RUBIN: I think if agreement were reached, as Joe said earlier, it would be pretty easy to work on presentation and all the other issues.
Q: Well, right, but would there be like an initial -~- and like people would initial now and later ...
RUBIN: That's ahead of where I am.
Q: Are you still several hours away from an agreement if it happens tonight?
RUBIN: Well, they are continuing to work, and all I can tell you is that I don't think anyone knows the answer to that question.
Q: Thank you.
(End transcript)