On-the-Record Briefing En Route to Lisbon, Portugal

Secondly, there will be a meeting of the Quartet for Middle East peace. And this will be an opportunity to talk about the way forward that the President outlined on Monday and to have further discussions and consultations about the elements of the President's program; first of all, to inform the Quartet members more about the financial assistance that we are intending to provide and to understand a little bit of what the European Union intends in that regard; the support for the government of Salam Fayyad financially is very important at this time.

Secondly, to examine the political and diplomatic initiatives that the President put forward, including how we help the parties build toward negotiations soon on the establishment of a Palestinian state and then finally, on the international conference, international meeting and how we're going to structure that, because obviously, the Quartet will play a major role.

It will also be the first opportunity to meet with the new envoy for the Quartet, Tony Blair, who brings, obviously, a tremendous degree of respect and a kind of weight to this position. He is someone who everyone knows to be passionate about Middle East peace and I think there's a very good sense that his dedication now to helping the Palestinians to build institutions of statehood, to move forward on economic development, to press forward on creating a strong -- helping to create a strong Palestinian partner is very well timed as we try to move forward toward the establishment of the state.

So those are the purposes for today's trip and today's meetings and now, I'll take your questions.

QUESTION: Is it true, as we've heard from everyone -- I think pretty much everyone that there is no more debate or conversation about the mandate issue for Prime Minister Blair?

SECRETARY RICE: No. Look, I think his mandate was made clear by the Quartet when we met, when they issued the statement, and now, when we meet, we'll have an opportunity to talk more about that. This is a very skilled, respected, historic figure in many ways, in the world, who is absolutely dedicated to democracy, to building a better Middle East. He speaks with passion about the need for a Palestinian state. He has been a great partner for all in the international community, including Arabs and Europeans and the President who want to see a two-state solution come into being.

And so I think what we'll have is a very good discussion about how to move this all forward. It's been very clear that there is really hard work to do on the development of these policies and the institutions on reforming them, on pushing forward on economic development, on organizing the international system. And there is also a political track that, for a variety of reasons, the United States is committed to lead and in coordination with the Quartet. So this is something that is completely complimentary. And if we all work together, and there is plenty of work to do, perhaps we can finally deliver on this.

QUESTION: Madame Secretary, you just said that Tony Blair is a very skilled, respected historic figure. Isn't it a pity you don't use him for larger objectives than only creating policy and institutions?

SECRETARY RICE: I don't think there is any larger objective than having a viable Palestinian state. And that has a couple of elements. One is that this state has to have substance. One of the innovations, I think, that President Bush made in 2002 was that there's been a lot of talk always when we've talked about the creation of the Middle East peace process, about the borders of a state. What is going to be inside both borders in terms of governance and democracy and fairness and rule of law and ability to deliver security and ability to deliver economic benefits is at least as important as what its borders are going to be.

And you're not -- perhaps one of the reasons that we've been -- the world has never gotten there is that there's not been enough attention to what that state would be. And you now have a leadership, I think, with Abu Mazen and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad who are really boring down and paying attention to how to build this Palestinian state and to have an extraordinary partner like Tony Blair for that effort, I think, is one of the most important things that the world can do.

QUESTION: There is still not complete unity on how to deal with Hamas within the Quartet, with Russia still wanting to deal with Hamas. Do you still rule out any possible contact with Hamas if the others are going to break and decide that they need to speak to Hamas? After all, they won the elections.

SECRETARY RICE: First of all, they won the elections and then did not govern responsibly, so that they ended up isolating the government of the Palestinian people, something that no one wanted to see and it was not -- that was done in sorrow, not in anger. That led to an effort at a unity government that collapsed when Hamas essentially took power in Gaza against the institutions of the Palestinian Authority.

Now, I don't think that that kind of behavior suggests that Hamas is an entity that is prepared for a responsible role in the international system. The road forward, though, is really clear; simply adopt the international standard, not the U.S. standard, not the Quartet standard, the international standard which is the roadmap and the associated agreements the Palestinians have signed over decades. And then I think you would see a welcoming of any Palestinian faction that fully accepts and acts on those internationally accepted norms.

As to the Quartet, yes, Russia has a different policy because Russia does not list Hamas as a terrorist organization. The EU does. Of course, the UN doesn't have a policy to do that. But the Quartet, as the Quartet, has been very clear as to what its policies are. And Russia has been a part of the construction of that Quartet policy.

QUESTION: Madame Secretary, in an open letter, 10 foreign ministers from the European Union criticized the wait-and-see attitudes of U.S. and of the Middle East peace process. Is the conference the President announced on Monday a response to that or is it something you decided to organize completely independent?

SECRETARY RICE: It was not a response to that letter. The President has been thinking about how to move this process forward for some time. He is the person who called for a two-state solution, including establishment of a Palestinian state. He is the person who has, I think, really, in an innovative way, talked about the importance of the internal nature of the Palestinian state and by the way, not just the internal nature of the Palestinian state because it will make a good partner for Israel, but because it will make a good governing body for the Palestinian people.

This is, first and foremost, about the Palestinians. It's so that they live in a state and have leaders that are not corrupt, so that they live in a state and have leaders that can deliver on rule of law. Any people in -- peoples in the world deserve good governance and the Palestinians deserve good governance. So quite apart from the question of the two-state solution or quite apart from the Middle East peace process, the importance of building those institutions is very great. And so the President was thinking about how to do it. He's discussed it. This has been an idea that his -- a number of his allies have talked with him about. But no, it was not in response to that letter.

QUESTION: How are the plans going for the conference or meeting or whatever you may like to call it? And have the Saudis indicated to you that they will definitely attend? And what sort of role would you anticipate the Saudis to play in this?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, I would hope that anyone who is -- any state that is committed to a two-state solution and wants to see one come into being would be a participant in this conference. And we've not yet, of course, done much in the way of planning. It's just been announced. I'll have consultations here at the Quartet. I'll have consultations when I go out to the region. As a part of the trip that I go out with Secretary Gates, I'll go also to Israel and to the Palestinian territories. I'll see a number of regional leaders during that time. And we can work on moving forward.

QUESTION: What exactly are you hoping the Quartet is going to do in terms of not just the conference, but the rest of the President's agenda or what he put out in his Monday speech? Is it just an endorsement of a statement or is there something more they can do? And do we have a date yet for the next Iran-U.S. meeting in Baghdad?

SECRETARY RICE: We don't have a date yet for the meeting between Ryan Crocker and his counterpart, but it's being arranged, being worked out. I think that the Quartet members have already made clear that they endorse what the President said and they certainly said it to me in phone calls. They've said it in -- they've said it publicly and I think people now want to see how we can all move forward. This is a time when one senses a lot of energy in the issues concerned with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and a real desire, I think, to move forward and to try to resolve it.

And there's a lot of work to do and we want to make sure that everything is well-prepared because we don't need another failed negotiation. But I think we do need the kind of international energy that the Quartet can bring and we certainly need the kind of energy that Tony Blair can bring to the issues about helping to establish the -- institutions of the Palestinian state and moving forward, then, toward negotiations.

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

SECRETARY RICE: Well, I don't know if it'll be in 18 months, but I think it's realistic that it can be done and I certainly plan, during my remaining time and I think you got a very clear signal from the President that he intends during his remaining time, to make it one of our highest priorities.

QUESTION: Okay.

SECRETARY RICE: Thanks.

QUESTION: Oh, first of all, would the U.S. be ready to recognize the independence of Kosovo without the consent of the Security Council or the UN General?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, without regard to process, the President has made very clear that the United States believes the Ahtisaari plan had the right basis and that there will have to be an independent Kosovo. And so we'll work through process and work through how we get there, but the United States is absolutely committed to that.

QUESTION: (Off-mike.)

SECRETARY RICE: We're committed to an independent Kosovo and we will get there one way or another.

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