Press Conference with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak
(July 15, 1999)
President Clinton. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
I am delighted to welcome Prime Minister Barak to Washington. As all
of you know, he is the most decorated soldier in Israel's history. And
as a soldier, as Army Chief of Staff, Interior Minister, and Foreign
Minister, he has made immeasurable contributions to his nation's security
and its emergence as a modern, thriving democratic society, time and
again taking on tough tasks and getting them done right.
Now, as Prime Minister he has put Middle East peace
at the top of his agenda, telling his fellow citizens that Israel's
triumph, and I quote, "will not be complete until true peace, trust,
and cooperation reign between Israel and its neighbors."
Mr. Prime Minister, if your mentor, Yitzhak Rabin,
were here today, I believe he would be very gratified, seeing the leadership
of his cherished nation in your most capable hands.
For more than half a century, the United States has
stood proudly with Israel and for the security of its people and its
nation. Now, Mr. Prime Minister, as Israel again walks bravely down
the path of peace, America will walk with you, ready to help in any
way we can.
As we have seen before here at this house, as Israelis,
Palestinians, Egyptians, and Jordanians have come together, what at
first seems unlikely, even impossible, can actually become reality when
the will for peace is strong. America will help as you move forward,
as you put implementation of the Wye River agreement back on course,
as you work for a final status agreement, as you seek to widen the circle
of peace to include Syria and Lebanon and to revitalize talks among
Israel and the Arab world to solve regional problems and build a prosperous
common future. I look forward to our meeting and to strengthening the
bonds between Israel and the United States.
First, Mr. Prime Minister, again, welcome. The podium
is yours.
Prime Minister Barak. Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen,
I came here as a messenger of the people of Israel who have called for
change and renewal, and I am determined to bring about change and renewal.
I and the people of Israel attach great importance to the relations
with the United States, its friendship and support and its invaluable
contribution to the peace process. The United States has always been
true and tried friend of Israel, and President Clinton personally has
played an important role in changing the Middle East landscape.
I came to Washington following a series of talks with
a number of Middle East leaders. I assured them that we would work as
partners with mutual trust in order to overcome all the challenges and
complications that are still awaiting us down the street.
We agreed that we need to abide by the previous agreements
signed by all parties, including the Wye accords. It is our intention
to inject new momentum into the peace process and to put it back on
all tracks. For this, we need American leadership and support all along
the way.
Mr. President, we are on the threshold of the 21st
century and the third millennium. Mothers, fathers, and children all
across the Middle East yearn for the dawn of a new era. They expect
us to provide them with a better and safer future. We cannot let their
hopes down. Together, as partners in the search for peace, we can help
transform the Middle East from an area of confrontation and enmity to
a region of peace, security, and prosperity.
I look forward to all my meetings here, and I hope
that this visit will usher in a new era in the peace process and further
deepen American-Israeli relations.
Thank you very much.
Q. Mr. Prime Minister——
Q. Mr. President——
President Clinton. Let me tell you—here's what
we'll do. We'll take a couple of questions from the Americans and a
couple of questions from the Israelis, but we'll start with a question
from the American press.
Sam [Sam Donaldson, ABC News].
U.S. Role in Middle East Peace Process
Q. Mr. Prime Minister, when you say as you did the
other day, words to the effect that the United States perhaps should
step back somewhat and let the parties do more of the work, what do
you mean by that?
And, Mr. President, how would that change U.S. involvement
in the process?
Prime Minister Barak. I think that the United States
can contribute to the process more as facilitator than as a kind of
policeman, judge, and arbitrator at the same time. This was the tradition
when Yitzhak Rabin was leading the peace process, and I deeply believe
that this is the right way to have the best kind of inference and the
best kind of contribution that the United States can bring into the
peace process.
It is clear to all of us that without United States
participation, contribution, and without the leadership that had been
shown in the past by the President—and I hope will be shown in
the future by the American administration—we won't be able to
reach a peace. And I'm confident that we'll find these resources and
move forward towards peace that all our peoples are awaiting.
President Clinton. I agree with what the Prime Minister
said. I thought that the peace process worked best when we were essentially
facilitating direct contacts between the parties and helping to make
sure that there was a clear understanding, helping to make sure that
we were there to do whatever we could do to, now and in the future,
to make sure that it would work.
We took a more active role, in effect, as a mediator
when the bonds of trust and the lines of communication had become so
frayed that we were in danger of losing the peace process. And I did
not want that to happen, and I didn't think either side wanted that
to happen. So we did what was necessary to keep it going. But, obviously,
if there is a genuine priority put on this—there's a sense of
trust and mutual communication on both sides—the people in the
region have to live with the consequences of the agreements they make;
it is far better for them to take as large a role as possible in making
those agreements. And so, to that extent, I agree with the Prime Minister.
Do you want to call on an Israeli journalist? Is there
anyone——
Visit of Prime Minister Barak
Q. Mr. President, when you say that you are waiting
for Mr. Barak as a kid that's waiting for a new toy, you don't think
that by this remark you're making some kind of patronizing on Mr. Barak,
that you want to play with him? What kind of game do you want to play
with Mr. Barak?
President Clinton. No, I don't think it's patronizing
at all; it's just the reverse. What I'm saying is that the United States
is a sponsor of the peace process. We have done what we could consistently
for more than 20 years now through all kinds of administrations to try
to advance the peace process. I have probably spent more time on it
than anyone has, and certainly I've spent a lot of time on it.
But my view is that we should not be in a patronizing
role, we should be in a supportive role. We should do what is necessary
to keep the peace process going. But you heard what the Prime Minister
said. He said that the United States' role was essential, it was best
if it worked as a facilitator. He has already gone to see all the leaders
of the region with whom he must work, or many of the leaders of the
region with whom he must work, which I thought was the right thing to
do in the right order. So I was supporting the position that he took.
Prime Minister Barak. Wolf Blitzer [Cable News Network],
you are half American, half Israeli, so you get priority. [Laughter]
Q. Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. I think what the
previous reporter, Shimon Shiffer, was asking the President—I
don't think the President necessarily understood the question. Your
comment at the Democratic fundraiser in Florida the other day, when
you said you were as excited as a young kid with a new toy about the
meetings that you're going to have with the new Prime Minister, which
today have caused some consternation, headlines in Israel—that
you were referring to the Prime Minister as a new toy.
President Clinton. No, no—I see, yes——
Prime Minister Barak. May I tell you Wolf, that I feel
like someone who got the mission of diffusing a time bomb, and I believe
that we are all under urgent need to deal very seriously not with a
tricky interpretation of an innocent favorable statement but by looking
into the real problems and focus on solving them.
President Clinton. Yes, let me say, though—I
didn't understand, you're right. Thank you, Wolf. That is—in English,
what that means is that you are very excited. It has no reference to
the Prime Minister. For example—[laughter]—I would never
do that. For example, if I—no, no, if I were taking a trip to
Hawaii, I might say, I'm as excited as a kid with a new toy—doesn't
mean I think Hawaii's a toy, if you see what I mean. It means that—it's
a slogan, you know. In American English, it means I am very excited
about the prospect of the rejuvenation of the peace process. And that's
all it means. I would never say such a patronizing thing, ever.
So I thank you; thank you, Wolf. This is a historic
moment. Blitzer helps me make peace with the press and the people of
Israel. That's wonderful. [Laughter] Yes, now you get a real question.
Middle East Peace Process
Q. Mr. President, the Prime Minister has suggested
that he's going to have to use up a lot of his domestic political capital
in Israel in order to fully implement the Wye agreement. Would it be
wise to go right away to the final status issues and let them save some
of that political capital for the tough decisions Israel is going to
have to make down the road? Would you be willing to go along with deferring
some of the agreements that were achieved at Wye?
President Clinton. First of all, I'm not quite sure
that's what he said, but I think that those kinds of questions ought—may
be properly to be asked of us after we have a chance to have our meeting.
But the problem is, we have—maybe we ought to let him answer it—but
there is another party there, and they have their expectations. So maybe
I should let the Prime Minister answer that.
Prime Minister Barak. We abide by an international
agreement, Wye agreement included. It had been signed by an Israeli
freely elected government, by the Americans, and by Chairman Arafat.
We are committed to live up to it. But there is a need to combine the
implementation of Wye with the moving forward of the permanent status
agreement. It could be this way—first Wye, then final status.
It could be this way, but only through an agreement with Arafat after
mutual, open, frank, and direct discussion.
If we together agree, whether with the Americans and
Arafat, that something could be made in order to bring those two elements
together, I hope and believe that even the international press would
not resist it very forcefully.
President Hafiz al-Asad of Syria
Q. Prime Minister Barak, you have met with President
Mubarak; you have met with President Arafat; you have met with King
Abdullah. What are the possibilities of a meeting between you and President
Hafiz al-Asad?
Prime Minister Barak. We still wait to see. When the
time comes, I hope we'll be able to meet. It takes two to tango. I'm
ready; the arena is ready; maybe the dancing instructor is ready. We
have to find opportunity and begin.
President Clinton. Now, let me say that is not a patronizing
remark toward President Asad as the Prime Minister's dancing partner.
[Laughter]
Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International], go
ahead.
Israeli Settlements
Q. Mr. Prime Minister, when do you plan to disband
the heavily armed settlements in Palestine?
Prime Minister Barak. I'm not sure whether I understood
the question, so could you please repeat it?
Q. There are more and more settlements being built
around Jerusalem and so forth. Are you going to disband them?
Prime Minister Barak. No. I'm not going to build new
ones. I'm not going to dismantle any one of them. Israeli citizens live
in them. They came to these places, almost all of them, through an approval
of the Israeli Government. We are responsible for them. But the overall
picture will be settled once we end the permanent status negotiation
and whatever will be agreed, we will do. I believe in a strong block
of settlements that will include most of the settlers in Judeo-Samaria
and the Gaza Strip.
Thank you.
President Clinton. Thank you.
Arab-Americans
Q. Mr. President, many Arab-American organizations
in this country are very skeptical about Arabs getting a fair chance
in Israel, while Arab-Americans from Arab descent and from this country
going to Israel having very harsh treatment. There are four people sitting
in jail without due process. They are badly treated at the airport.
Can you comment on that?
Prime Minister Barak. I will answer. I'm ready to look
into this problem. We have no intentions to humiliate or to intimidate
any Arab citizens, be it Israelis, Americans, or of other countries.
And I cannot respond directly to the story you are telling since I don't
know the details.
President Clinton. Thank you very much.
Palestinian Right of Return/Location of U.S. Embassy
in Israel
Q. Mr. President, do you personally believe in the
Palestinian right of return, even though your comments perhaps at the
press conference with Mr. Mubarak might not reflect a change in U.S.
policy?
And to Prime Minister Barak, one issue here in the
States has been the question of moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from
Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. Do you think that that has to happen? I'm sorry—from
Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Thank you. Do you believe that that needs to
happen now?
Prime Minister Barak. Be careful about the directions.
[Laughter]
Q. Do you believe that that needs to happen now, or
can that wait for progress in the peace process?
President Clinton. Do you want me to go first?
First of all, as you correctly stated, nothing that
I have said should be interpreted as a change in United States policy.
I do think there will be a general atmosphere when the peace is finally
made which will be positive. That's all I said.
On that question, the question you asked me that is
explicitly an issue stated for final status negotiations by the parties;
that's part of the final status talks. The United States, as a sponsor
of the peace process, has asked the parties to do nothing to prejudge
final status issues. We certainly should be doing nothing to prejudge
the final status issues. That is why I have had a consistent position
on that, on the Embassy, on every issue. Whatever else we do, the United
States has no business trying to prejudge these final status issues.
That's what the parties have to work out in the final status talks.
Q. But Mrs. Clinton has certainly prejudged them.
Prime Minister Barak. As the Prime Minister of Israel,
I would like to see all the Embassies from all around the world coming
to Jerusalem, and we will do whatever we can to provide the preconditions
for it. I feel that the essence of the peace effort that we are trying
to drive forward right now is to bring within the shortest possible
time a new landscape, political landscape in the Middle East that will
make the whole question irrelevant; you will see all the Embassies together,
side by side, in Jerusalem.
Thank you very much.
Israeli Astronauts
Q. Mr. Prime Minister, is there going to be Israeli
astronauts on the space station? Are you going to discuss this issue,
and do you desire such?
Prime Minister Barak. I like Israelis, especially Israeli
astronauts. There is an officer, highly competent officer in our air
force, and I would be more than glad to see him walking in space when
we enter the new millennium, maybe in 2001 or 2002.
Thank you.
President Clinton. Thank you. We have to go to work.
First Lady's Views on Middle East Peace Process
Q. Mr. President, what about Mrs. Clinton? She's prejudged
the issues. What about Mrs. Clinton's prejudgment, Mr. President? Tell
us about Mrs. Clinton's prejudgment, sir.
President Clinton. That's why Senator Moynihan's law
is good; every individual Member of Congress can express a personal
opinion, but because of the waiver, the United States does not have
to prejudge the final status issue. That's good. That's the way the
law is set up, and it's good.
Q. Also, she's not President, is she?
President Clinton. That's right.
Sources: Public Papers of the President |