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For Immediate Release October 5, 1996
SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: Welcome to the Africa trip, with a short detour in the beginning. Just a moment or two about our schedule, which is been put together, more or less, at the last minute. I'll be meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu at three o'clock tomorrow. We will then go down to Gaza to meet with Chairman Arafat at six o'clock. On Monday morning I'm having breakfast with Foreign Minister Levy, and meeting with President Weizman. We will then go to the airport for possibly a noon departure for Bamako.
The way I see the situation is that the parties are now taking advantage of what was achieved in the Washington meeting. The situation is relatively quiet. The violence seems to have subsided and that, of course, I think, was at least partly accountable, maybe more than that to the Washington meeting.
Second, the parties are taking advantage of the improved personal relationship, that resulted from the personal time they had together, in the Washington meeting.
Finally, the parties will be in a position to take advantage of the resumed negotiations, with the presence of the United States, resumed, intensified, continuous negotiations with the United States as a facilitator.
I think the time between the end of the Washington Summit meeting and now has been valuable for the parties. I was reminding myself that the decisions in the Washington meeting were taken at the very last moment. As you know, until the very intensive discussions on that last morning at the State Department and then at the White House, the basic outlines of the agreement were not reached. So, in the time since then, the parties have had an opportunity to reflect on what was done there and probably more importantly to begin to prepare for these meetings, which are going to commence tomorrow.
I have looked forward to this Africa trip -- which I very much wanted to take and will take -- but I simply didn't feel comfortable in leaving for Africa without coming out and having another opportunity to talk to the two leaders and indicate the President's views and my views. It seems to be a good opportunity to basically stress three points:
First, the need to have some significant results come from these resumed negotiations. Second, the urgency of the matter and the shortness of time for making this kind of progress. Third, to stress the importance of the commitment they made in Washington to become personally involved in the negotiations, if they are not making significant progress. Those are three important points that I will look forward to making to both of the leaders when I meet with them tomorrow.
I think maybe that's enough to give you the background and the reasons for my trip.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, when you talk about urgency how much time do you think we have, a week, two weeks, a month to show progress and can you talk a little about the Europeans and how they see it; Chirac, in particular, seems to want to get his hand into these negotiations?
SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: I don't think one could make any specific time-line. It's clear that the sooner the better is as far as progress is concerned. I think the parties in the region will be assessing the way the negotiations are conducted and I do think there is an element of urgency about the that needs to be appreciated by the parties.
With respect to the Europeans, it's clear the Europeans have a very strong, legitimate interest in these negotiations. It's, in many ways, exactly the same interest as ours. They have been a major supporter of the Palestinians from a financial standpoint and they've made a further commitment along those lines. I think that their communicating with the leaders, urging them to reach some conclusion, is positive. But we also have to remember that these are bilateral negotiations and I think any major change in the bilateral character of these negotiations is not likely to take place. These are not multilateral negotiations.
The United States has a history of assisting the parties. We know the agreements very well and we have gone back and forth between the parties, as Chairman Arafat has shuttled by telephone as well as in person. I think those are the plus factors with our being able to serve as a facilitator of the negotiations without breaking their essential bilateral character.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary I observed the events of this past week from a safe distance of 2000 miles, while I was on vacation. When you're simply not a direct participant, you're looking at this from the outside, it does seem to me that there has been a quality of unilateralism and pronouncement-issuing on the side of the Israelis. That is part of the problem and not part of the solution. I wonder if you could tell me a little bit about how you think the Israelis are going to proceed now to break this pattern of simply making their own decisions?
SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: I think the Israelis as well as the Palestinians recognize that the full core and focus of these resumed negotiations is on the implementation of the interim agreement. These are not the final status talks. They are not talks to revise the interim agreement; they are talks to determine how to implement it. That's a subject in which the Israelis have a very strong interest and I think the Israelis will approach the resumed negotiations in terms of how they can implement and carry out the interim agreements, in light of the new circumstances in the region. Not to change the agreement, but to reflect in security measures and other measures the reality that there have been some changes resulting from this serious tragic episode of violence over the course of the week prior to the Washington meetings.
I think that they will be approached on a bilateral basis seeking a basis for this implementation and I think that the bilateral process will be considerably enhanced by the several hours that Prime Minister Netanyahu and Chairman Arafat spent together in Washington.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, I was a little puzzled that you decided at the last minute to make this detour because one would think having talked to you and the President on Wednesday, that there would be little new to say to the two men that has changed in the last two days. So I'm wondering why a decision was made let's say on Thursday that wasn't made on Wednesday?
SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: I talked to the President about the situation. We both felt the Washington meeting had come together, really, at the last minute. The parties had not had time to reflect on the decisions that were reached there or to prepare for the meetings. As I said to you, I simply -- from a personal standpoint -- felt I did not want to launch on the Africa trip with preoccupations of that, without another opportunity to meet with the parties and to stress those three points. That is the importance of significant progress, the urgency of it, and essentially a reminder of their commitment that they would become personally involved if the progress wasn't made.
It seemed to the President and it seemed to me that this was a useful message to convey before or right at, contemporaneous with the commencement of the talks.
What it reflects, among other things, is the importance of continuous U.S. involvement. Our involvement can't just be sporadic, but we have to be involved on a very regular basis and so I think that this is a good time to be there and it's a different time than the moment when they concluded in Washington. This is the beginning of a new phase, a resumption of the negotiations.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, what can you possibly say to either of the parties on this trip that wasn't already said to them in Washington and secondly, what do you say to cynics who say nothing is going to happen until after the U.S. election and that this is really just a stalling motion to prevent violence until that moment?
SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: As far as what we can say, it seems to me we can, in the context of the will to calm the area, in the context of the new personal relationship between the parties, and the resumed negotiations, emphasize the importance of making progress, talk to them about the issues on the agenda and try to assess with them the areas that are the most promising. Clearly, the issue at the top of the agenda is Hebron, but there are other issues and I think for the benefit of some days' reflection on their part and some reflection on our part, it is very timely and important that we have this opportunity to talk with them.
I was very pleased by the immediate positive response from both of them when I offered to come out to the region. I think that the U.S. elections are not a factor in this situation. We have a situation that is quiet on the ground, at the present time, but it remains a dangerous situation. The United States will be working on these problems every day before the elections and every day after the election with the same quality of urgency and concern. There seems to be some tendency around the world, not just on this problem, but problems in almost every region to think that somehow things are going to change dramatically, after the U.S. election. My own feeling is that we will have the same responsibilities and the same problems, same opportunities after the election as before; hoping first that President Clinton is re-elected.
Thank you very much and thank you all for coming on this trip. I think we're going to have a very good trip to Africa. I'm looking forward to that. I appreciate you all making the trip, thank you.
[end of document]
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