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James P. Rubin, Spokesman On-the-Record Telephone Briefing, Middle East Peace Process Shepherd College, Shepherdstown, West Virginia, January 6, 2000 |
 SPOKESMAN MR. RUBIN: Good morning. I just want to give you a very quick update, and then I have to get back to this business here, but just to give you a little to get started with. Secretary Albright is scheduled to meet with Foreign Minister Shara in about an hour or so. No committees have met this morning. The Security Arrangements Committee met, I believe, for a total of about seven hours yesterday, excluding some breaks. The Normal Peaceful Relations Committee met in the morning. No committees have met yet this morning, but substantive work has gone on through informal contacts by the United States. So that's really where we stand this morning, and I'm going to try to get some more for you by mid-day. QUESTION: Do you have a comment about the Syrian Government asking this morning that ten Palestinian organizations that operate in Damascus that they can continue operating, fully armed, to liberate all of Palestine. It's been all over the Syrian media this morning. MR. RUBIN: Well, I'll have to take a look at that report before I can comment on it. QUESTION: Jamie, did you guys ask both sides that no committees meet this morning until after the Albright-Shara meeting? MR. RUBIN: I don't know who asked who, but we didn't seek committee meetings this morning. QUESTION: Why not? MR. RUBIN: Because we think the best needs this morning are for the substantive work to go on informally, through direct contacts by us with the parties and other discussions. So that's what we think is best for this morning. QUESTION: Have we hit a snag? MR. RUBIN: Substantive work continues. QUESTION: Jamie, do you still stand by your statement that all committees will meet in a couple of days, by the end of this week? MR. RUBIN: That's our intention, yes. QUESTION: Will the Security Committee meet today? And the Borders Committee? MR. RUBIN: I've told you all I can about the schedule for the committees. QUESTION: The Syrians are angry that the Borders Committee has not met yet. MR. RUBIN: Sorry? QUESTION: The Syrians are unhappy that the Borders Committee has not met yet. MR. RUBIN: Well, thank you for informing me about the opinions of the Syrian delegation. We happen to actually be here with the Syrian delegation, and we are not aware of anything other than it is our view that the substantive work should continue through indirect discussions. QUESTION: When is the President coming back? MR. RUBIN: My understanding is the President will be returning as a result of Secretary Albright's recommendation later today, in the mid-afternoon timeframe. QUESTION: Jamie, when you talk about sort of informal, that's US and the Syrians on one hand, the Israelis on the other? MR. RUBIN: Right. QUESTION: But again, we have to deal with the -- obviously, reports from the two other delegations that obviously have a political spin to it. Has there been no, as far as you know, even informal Israeli-Syrian meetings apart from the formal Security and Peaceful whatever Committees. MR. RUBIN: I'm only aware of the structure as I described continues; namely, that the places where there is direct contact between Israelis and Syrians is in the formal committee structure. The informal discussions and contacts is where we meet with each of the sides at different times and work that way. QUESTION: Wasn't this supposed to be a situation where all the working groups were supposed to meet concurrently? Wasn't that the compromise because, if you've got Water and Security or -- excuse me, Normalization and Security meeting, that looks like the Israelis won? Even though you don't want to talk about ping-pong, the Israelis got their way on the agenda. MR. RUBIN: I think I addressed this question yesterday. The discussions and contacts in which substantive content is addressed and reviewed has been going on on all issues through either direct -- excuse me, either through contacts or some discussions by the United States or through formal committee meetings. All of the committees were established yesterday -- I'm sorry, the day before yesterday, and all of the committees will meet this week. That is what I can tell you about the procedure, and you'll have to make your own judgment in terms of your scorecards. QUESTION: Jamie, is there any area where you can report progress so far? MR. RUBIN: Substantive work continues, and I think I have exhausted what I can say this morning. I'll see you all at 1 o'clock. QUESTION: Did the Water Committee meet yesterday or not, the Water Committee? MR. RUBIN: No. QUESTION: Jamie, are we still in the chugging-along phase? It's not yet on the fast track, right? MR. RUBIN: For the second day running so far, we continue to chug along. Chug-a-lug. QUESTION: And are the committees going to meet -- do you want them to meet this afternoon or would that be a decision taken after the Albright-Shara meeting? MR. RUBIN: When I have intended plans for committee meetings, I will give them to you. QUESTION: Jamie, you may not have the answer to this now but, if possible by mid-day, can you check on the weekend plans of both delegations? MR. RUBIN: I think this is a day-by-day exercise and I don't think I'll have much for you. QUESTION: Jamie, if you (inaudible) the Clinton sentence because, after all, you're the spokesman for the whole meeting, the whole conference, the President is likely to come here to -- will you finish the sentence? MR. RUBIN: Yes. Secretary Albright has recommended that the President return today to help the parties and help her get the parties rolling up their sleeves and proceeding to do the substantive work in a professional and, hopefully soon, an accelerated way. QUESTION: Are you likely to bring any new ideas, Jamie, or is he here to elicit new ideas? MR. RUBIN: I would wait till the President comes before I tell you what he is likely to bring. QUESTION: Are the parties going to continue their negotiations maybe in Washington at the end of the week? MR. RUBIN: I don't have any new venues to offer you. We're taking this one day at a time here at Shepherdstown. QUESTION: Thank you very much. MR. RUBIN: Bye. [end of document]
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