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Question: With the Prime Minister of Israel is coming here tomorrow for a quick visit and you have talks going on at Bolling, what's your current evaluation of the pace of those talks? Is Israel pulling back fast enough? Arafat had some negative things to say over the weekend. Mr. Rubin: Well, some have suggested that these are a waste of time or there's no progress being made. Frankly, that is not our assessment. There are gaps, but on issues this profound and negotiations this difficult, gaps are to be expected. And both sides are making real efforts to move forward, in our view, and they're engaged in serious and intensive discussions. And we believe they've gotten off to a good start. We expect to discuss with Prime Minister Barak efforts to accelerate and intensify these efforts so that we can achieve a framework agreement as soon as possible and conclude an agreement on all the permanent status issues by September 13th of this year, which is a formidable challenge. Question: Well, maybe he overstated, in your view. But he--Arafat--says it's a waste of time. You say, you know, you're going to look at ways to accelerate. So they're not really moving at the pace you'd like, are they? Mr. Rubin: Frankly, it is not our assessment that they are a waste of time. Question: No, I know that. Mr. Rubin: The objective is a formidable challenge to meet the objective of a September 13th agreement. And in order to meet that challenge, we think it's appropriate to pick up the pace by accelerating these talks through discussions with Prime Minister Barak and Chairman Arafat. Nevertheless, we believe these talks have been important, have been serious and have been substantive. Question: He also--I wish I brought the quote. You know, it was an all-purpose quote. He called it a waste of time but he also characterized Barak in a--he didn't use the word intransigent or whatever the Arabic word for intransigent is but he suggested Arafat is--I mean that Barak is holding back, is not giving, is not conciliatory. Is that your estimate of Mr. Barak? Mr. Rubin: Our view has been that both sides would do better focusing their efforts on the discussions in the peace talks, rather than commentary about the other side and that this is not a public relations exercise; this is a serious peacemaking exercise. Question: Somewhat on the same area, when Barak is here, do you anticipate discussing with him this split that you have with Israel on selling of weapons technology to China? Mr. Rubin: We have been profoundly concerned about a particular issue related to the sale of certain aircraft systems to China. That is an issue of concern to us. We have a very close relationship with Israel, a very close defense relationship. And I would therefore be surprised if this issue was not discussed at a series of meetings that Prime Minister Barak has here in Washington. I don't intend to predict where and to what extent it's discussed at any particular meeting, but I would expect it to be discussed. Question: Can I just follow up on that very briefly? What is your opinion or what is the Department's thinking if some members of Congress follow through on their threat to withhold aid to Israel on this-- Mr. Rubin: We don't think it's appropriate to tie this issue to foreign aid. We have said that last week and that remains our view. Question: Is it in a more general sense, what is the most that could be accomplished there? And also there is some new talk out of Syria or at least the biographer of Hafez Assad about a possible middle ground for dealing with the Sea of Galilee issue. Mr. Rubin: Could you repeat the first part? I kind of missed the first part. Question: What is your general take on Barak's sudden announcement of a trip here? Mr. Rubin: Well, it is something we have been discussing with him so we don't consider it sudden from our perspective. We think it's important, as I said, to accelerate the process and look for ways to do that, so we think it's appropriate. With respect to Syria, we have not heard anything from Syria at this point that we believe could address seriously the remaining gaps. We will stay in contact with Syria through diplomatic channels to see if there are ways to overcome those gaps. With respect to Mr. Seale, I don't have any comment on his particular proposal. Question: How do you assess Simon Peres assessment of what was repeated where he says the season is dead for peace with Syria? Mr. Rubin: Well, I don't think that's our assessment. "Dead" would not be a word that we would agree with. You know, there is a lively process of commentary in that part of the world on developments. We try to keep things as even-keeled as we can, and we don't agree with that assessment either. Obviously, there are formidable gaps and we worked very hard to try to see if there are ways to overcome them. And if we thought the prospects were dead, we wouldn't be staying in touch with the Syrians to try to see whether there are ways to overcome the gaps. Question: About the radar, the Prime Minister is going back to the first ever visit by China's President to Israel. Their eight-year relationship has been most manifest by arms deals. How does the US feel about these strengthening of ties between Israel and China, particularly if it results in Israel selling some of its know-how to China? Mr. Rubin: Well, we have long had concerns about Israel and other countries supporting Chinese military developments. That is a matter of concern to us, whomever the seller is and so, clearly, we have concerns about this particular sale. And we have a very active dialogue with Israel and we have discussed these matters in the past and we intend to continue to discuss them vigorously. Question: On Syria, you said that you have not heard anything from Syria that would address the gaps remaining. There is a report out of Israel that Syria did deliver a tough-line reply last week, a follow-up to the Geneva meetings, in which they actually retracted some of the concessions from Shepherdstown. Have you received any such document? Mr. Rubin: Obviously, I wouldn't comment on the specifics of any diplomatic discussion, nor would I care to comment specifically on that report. But I think what I said answers the question, which is on Friday we had indicated or were prepared to indicate that Syria has responded to ideas presented by President Clinton, but I am not going to go into details in substance. From our standpoint, we have not heard anything that, in our view, could address seriously the remaining gaps. But we will continue to see if there are ways to overcome the gaps. Beyond making those general characterizations, I don't think it would be appropriate to go into more detail. Question: You said on Friday you were going to say that, if you had been asked, that the Syrians had responded. Were you also at that point going to say you had not heard anything? Mr. Rubin: No, I was going to say we were studying it. Question: Now you've studied it and the point comes up-- Mr. Rubin: Now you know how hard we worked this weekend. Question: So Syria's response that you got was not--was not enough to-- Mr. Rubin: We have not heard anything from them that could address seriously the remaining gaps. But we will continue to see if there are ways to overcome the gaps. Question: Okay, now you said-- Mr. Rubin: Please, there are some others. Question: In the words you just used, you said "ideas presented by President Clinton." Were they Clinton's ideas or the -- Mr. Rubin: I never said the ideas presented by-- Question: "Syria has responded to ideas presented by President Clinton." Mr. Rubin: You must have been quoting someone else because I didn't say that. Question: You didn't say, "Syria has responded to the ideas"? Mr. Rubin: Oh, this thing in--the ideas--what he was presenting was Prime Minister Barak's ideas, okay? Question: Thank you. Question: Jamie, this response by Syria, was it in writing or was it over the telephone and-- Mr. Rubin: I am not going to be able to get into the specifics of that other than to say that we still believe that there are gaps and we are going to continue to work to see if we can overcome them. We have been in contact with Syria. They have sent us some additional proposals and I have indicated our view of that. Question: I believe another issue that will be discussed is the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon. Can you say how the US views this and what the US can do to help try and maintain stability in the region given this development? Mr. Rubin: Yes. We have been in close contact with the Secretary General, with the Israelis, all with the same objective, which is that we are going to do what we think we can do to support the full implementation of Resolution 425 of the UN Security Council; and we expect all parties to do the same, to cooperate and consult in such a way that the Israeli withdrawal can be safe and orderly. Question: Can you elaborate on that and say what you think you can do? Mr. Rubin: We are going to continue to work on that. We don't think it's quite ripe for elaboration at this time. Question: If I could get back to the Syrian response? Mr. Rubin: Right. Question: Was there any difference in that proposal, in the counterproposal, than what President Assad had said to President Clinton, or was it merely a reiteration of what he had said? Mr. Rubin: My understanding is there were differences. But I think what's fair to say is we have not heard anything from them, anything from them, that could address seriously the remaining gaps. Question: Did you regard this response as them playing the ball back from their court into your court? Mr. Rubin: I am not going to psychoanalyze the Israeli and Syrian tennis game. What I'm telling you is what has happened. And as far as what we heard, we have not heard anything that could address seriously the remaining gaps. Question: Are you going to respond to this response of theirs? Mr. Rubin: We are going to stay in touch with the parties to see if there are ways to overcome the gaps. Question: Jamie, your study that went from "we're studying it" to "we didn't find anything new in it," did that involve conversations with the Israelis or was that a purely American study? Mr. Rubin: I don't think the Israeli factor was particularly germane. I can't rule out that they were contacted, but that wasn't the issue. [end of excerpt] Full transcript of Daily Press Briefing on 4/10/00
Peace Process | Near Eastern Affairs | Department of State | Secretary of State |
