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James B. Rubin, Assistant Secretary Bureau of Public Affairs Excerpt from Daily Press Briefing on The Middle East Peace Talks October 13, 1998

QUESTION: There's a report out of Israel quoting Netanyahu as saying he is not ready or not in a position to strike a deal with the Palestinians. Do you know anything about that?

MR. RUBIN: Secretary Albright, in addition to speaking to a number of--let me just give you that list. I'm really not avoiding your question, but I want to impart some information here. She spoke today to Foreign Minister Ivanov, French Foreign Minister Vedrine, Polish Foreign Minister Geremek on Kosovo, and she also spoke to Prime Minister Netanyahu about the Middle East peace process late this morning.

Clearly, there are a large number of hurdles that have to be overcome if we're going to get an agreement. We do believe we've put ourselves in a better position to get that agreement as a result of the work that we've done in the last week. But such an agreement is by no means a sure thing. It will require some tough choices by both sides if we're going to get such an agreement. The preparations continue, and will probably continue up to the moment when the leaders arrive for their first meeting on Thursday morning.

We will continue to work the problem; we'll continue to try to come up with the most creative ways we can to help them overcome the remaining gaps, and widen the areas of agreement.

Maybe I--let me make a proposal for those of you who may be having to cover this over the next few days. I'm going to switch from "narrowing the gaps" to "broadening the areas of agreement."

QUESTION: Don't drop hurdles.

(Laughter.)

MR. RUBIN: But I will not eliminate hurdles.

QUESTION: Hurdles are big.

MR. RUBIN: We're going to try to broaden the areas of agreement and the understandings underlying that.

As far as whether we can achieve an agreement, which is what the report refers to, nobody knows the answer to that question. The only people who can contribute to answering it in the affirmative are the two leaders who need to make the tough decisions.

QUESTION: Have you lost "the big mo"-- momentum?

QUESTION: Did he articulate that to the Secretary this morning? And what's the--(inaudible)--right now?

MR. RUBIN: Well, I wouldn't be in a position to describe his side of the phone conversation. I can tell you that Secretary Albright continues to work; that we continue to believe that we're in a far better position to overcome these hurdles, and to broaden the areas of agreement, as a result of the work that's been done in recent days and weeks. But whether we will be able to do so remains an open question.

QUESTION: Earlier, I thought there was a report that said that the Israeli Cabinet was willing to support Netanyahu in a land--for--

MR. RUBIN: I've heard different accounts. Usually they have a Cabinet meeting and you have five different versions of what happened. So I'm not going to try to predict what they're going to decide in their Cabinet meeting, or how it will be reported.

Let me just say that Secretary Albright has been dealing directly with Prime Minister Netanyahu to try to continue to lay the groundwork over the phone for the meeting that we expect to begin on Thursday morning. She is expected to speak this afternoon to the new Foreign Minister, Ariel Sharon. That hasn't happened yet; it may have happened by now.

(Laughter.)

But it hasn't happened yet.

QUESTION: Jamie, let me try on this. None of us are in the room, but the argument or the cutting edge seems to be security again. The people in the Cabinet who are dubious about this agreement are raising security questions. Can you broaden or be a little more specific in what--you say things have to be done still. Is the security issue something that still needs more work in Wye? Or is the sine qua non--you remember--or has the Secretary squeezed out of the Palestinians--

MR. RUBIN: I think we should switch places in the future; it would be a lot easier.

QUESTION: No, I'm using the words; I like talking Latin. No, has she squeezed out of the Palestinians--or extracted from the Palestinians about what can be given now in security, or is there more negotiating to do?

MR. RUBIN: One of the areas where we want to broaden the understandings and broaden the agreement is on security. We made substantial and significant progress on it during the Secretary's trip and in subsequent days. But we need to broaden the understandings and expand the areas of agreement in that area, as well as many other areas.

QUESTION: And? You remember--because it's been about a week now, hasn't it--there were things that were pretty much in place and in fact--

MR. RUBIN: It's only been six days since we were there.

QUESTION: No, no, no--but Friday night Dennis was going to pack his shaving kit and come back.

MR. RUBIN: He's back.

QUESTION: He's back--but you had a couple of things that frankly, you could have had solvable months ago--the Gaza industrial zone, the seaport. Are any of those things clicking into shape?

MR. RUBIN: There was an agreement and understanding reached on the Gaza industrial estate.

QUESTION: There was?

MR. RUBIN: During the Secretary's visit.

QUESTION: Well, all right, it's near, but it is--virtually--

MR. RUBIN: An understanding was reached. That is my understanding.

QUESTION: Is there anything--the left-behind folks--did the left-behind folks accomplish anything you want to tell us about?

MR. RUBIN: They continue to do their work. I don't have any new completed packages to report to you.

QUESTION: About the Turkish-Syrian border--

MR. RUBIN: On this subject?

QUESTION: Is the Secretary planning to be out at the Wye Plantation the entire time, or does she have other plans during those days?

MR. RUBIN: She has blocked out the entire period from Thursday through Sunday to be a the Wye River. Those of you who are going to be there--I've been advised (that ) the people who are going to be hosting this event would very much like you to use its proper name, which is the Wye River. You can do what you want; I'm asking you on their behalf--

QUESTION: They're disavowing slavery a little late.

MR. RUBIN: I'm asking you on their behalf--

QUESTION: They're a little late to--(inaudible)--

MR. RUBIN:--to use Wye River; and as always, you will do whatever you think is best.

QUESTION: We know; we went through that.

QUESTION: Sunday, what if the talks--the talks are supposedly open-ended. Does she have other plans for the first few days of--

MR. RUBIN: The President?

QUESTION: No, does she have plans for the next few days after that?

MR. RUBIN: She is blocked out Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with no other plans scheduled, to be at the Wye River--what's the last word? Wye River Conference Site.

QUESTION: See. It's catching.

(Laughter.)

QUESTION: What about after Sunday, is my question?

MR. RUBIN: We have no reason to think that it will go beyond Sunday at this time.

QUESTION: I thought it was open-ended and secondly, that they were planning up through the 19th?

MR. RUBIN: What date is Sunday? 16, 17, 18, 19--so maybe we'll be home by then. My understanding is she has blocked out Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday; but I'll bet you she'd be available for a few more hours if it could advance the Middle East peace process.

QUESTION: Is she literally going--

MR. RUBIN: The Wye River Conference Center.

QUESTION: Yeah, I know. They've got a PR firm. Are they going up Thursday?

QUESTION: On Monday does she have plans for next week?

MR. RUBIN: She'll be there Thursday; I don't know when she's leaving.

QUESTION: Does she have plans for the following week--I mean, travel or other visitors so she won't be able to stay at the Wye River Conference Center?

MR. RUBIN: Roy Gutman, yes. At least one of them fell for it.

(Laughter.)

QUESTION: He wants to be on the tour.

MR. RUBIN: (Laughter.) Maybe he'll eat better than you will, Barry.

As I said, this is a matter of extreme concern to the Secretary--that in the absence of an agreement very soon, that the Middle East peace process can fall apart and we can face grave danger in the region in the coming weeks and months. Therefore, she has committed a very large amount of time to this subject in recent weeks. She's committed, as I said, the next Thursday through Sunday to be there. My understanding is that it's supposed to end on Sunday; but again, if it carried over, I would be surprised if she wouldn't be in a position to adjust her schedule accordingly.

QUESTION: Do you have any schedule of press events or press arrangements at the Wye River Conference Center?

MR. RUBIN: Why don't we do this after the briefing? We can discuss this.

QUESTION: My question was sort of like that; do you want to wait until after? The question came up, will the press at least be at the beginning taken through to be shown the facilities--where they'll sit, where they'll meet?

MR. RUBIN: After the briefing, why don't we have a session talking about press arrangements. Any more on the substance?

QUESTION: What kind of involvement President Clinton will have in these talks?

MR. RUBIN: Well, he has a spokesman, and I wouldn't want to pre-empt his spokesman on the President's involvement. But from the Secretary, I understand that he will be heavily involved.

QUESTION: Is there going to be a session Thursday morning at the White House with them?

MR. RUBIN: I'd like to leave that for the White House to announce.

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