Text of Powell Speech on Middle East
The Associated Press
Friday, March 29, 2002; 1:32 PM
A text of Secretary of State Colin Powell's briefing on Friday, as transcribed by eMediaMillWorks Inc.:
Well, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
The president and his national security team have been following the very serious situation in the Middle East since last night. Early this morning, we began a National Security Council meeting which included the president via television remote, as well as the vice president, the secretary of defense, myself of course, the director of central intelligence, Mr. Tenet, national security adviser Rice and chief of staff Andy Card.
Last night also I was in a conference call with the president and Dr. Rice to review the situation, and immediately after talking to the president I also had the opportunity to talk to Prime Minister Sharon, who was in the middle of a cabinet meeting, as you know, in Israel.
In that conversation with Prime Minister Sharon, he advised me that the cabinet was meeting to decide what action the Israeli government should take in response to the recent spate of terror incidents, and he also advised me that whatever actions they might decide to take, it would not include bringing any harm to Chairman Arafat or killing him, and subsequent statements by Israeli officials suggest that it is not their intention either to capture him.
They have determined to isolate him, and as you know, Israeli Defense Forces are now operating in Ramallah, and there has been a significant call-up of Israeli Defense Forces.
I have a call in to Chairman Arafat and hope I will have a chance to reach him right after this press conference.
General Zinni remains in the region, and he and our diplomatic representatives in the region are in touch with both Israeli and Palestinian officials. General Zinni did speak to Chairman Arafat earlier today.
Once again, terrorism, terrorism that targets innocent civilians, have dealt a serious blow to the effort to achieve a cease-fire and to find a political solution to the crisis in the Middle East. Once again, terrorists have set back the vision of the Palestinian people for a state that would live in peace, side by side with Israel. The United States condemns these acts of terror and those responsible for them.
In recent weeks, there was cause for some guarded optimism. As you know, beginning last fall, the president put down his vision at the United Nations for a Palestinian state living side by side in peace with a Jewish state, Israel. We also saw positive reaction to the speech that I gave in Louisville. And then just a couple of weeks ago, the United Nations passed an important Security Council resolution introduced by the United States, and went through the Security Council in a record period of time with a vote of 14-0 and only one abstention, Syria, calling for a state for the Palestinian people.
The Arab summit in Beirut earlier this week, while it did not provide a complete solution, it laid out a vision, a bold vision, what was put forward by Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, and it was embraced by all of the Arab nations.
Prime Minister Sharon, in recent weeks, showed a great deal of flexibility with respect to conditions he had previously held to, with respect to what it would take to get into the Tenet work plan.
© 2002 The Associated Press
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