Excerpt: General Zinni Will Continue to Work with Parties in the Middle East

Zinni returned to Washington in December after almost three weeks of talks in the Middle East to try bring the Israeli-Palestinian confrontation to an end.

"General Zinni will continue to focus the Palestinian authority on security steps to combat terror and to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure, and to promote a continued reduction in the level of violence. He'll also discuss with Israeli - with Israel economic measures that they can take to ease the pressure on the Palestinian population," Boucher said at a State Department briefing.

Following are excerpts from the briefing:
(begin excerpt)

Q: All right. General Zinni -- I don't know if he's there yet, but there's already a dispute as to how much quiet there has to be for how long. And of course it's a recurrent question, because the secretary has carefully avoided saying "zero violence," but "way down" is his prescription. Israel says zero. But more significantly now is the prime minister saying seven days of calm is insufficient. And it seems maybe that the U.S. thinks that it is sufficient or getting -- or you're getting close to the point where you want to kick in with Mitchell. So can you bring us up to date on that?

Mr. Boucher: Well, let me go back and try to sort of characterize where we are with General Zinni and his travel back to the region, describe it to you, tell you what he's up to, and then if you have more detailed questions, we can go to that.

Our senior adviser Anthony Zinni will return to the region this week to continue his efforts to assess the situation on the ground, with a view towards assisting the Israelis and Palestinians to establish a sustainable cease-fire through the implementation of the Tenet work plan and the Mitchell committee report. He hasn't quite gotten there yet. I think he gets there tomorrow.

General Zinni will continue to focus the Palestinian Authority on security steps to combat terror and to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure, and to promote a continued reduction in the level of violence. He'll also discuss with Israeli -- he'll also discuss with Israel economic measures that they can take to ease the pressure on the Palestinian population. His return is part of the continuing U.S. effort to help the parties end the violence, restore confidence, and resume a political process. He's expected to return to Washington early next week to brief Secretary Powell.

I would note in this context that there has been a reduction in violence in the region. We continue to urge Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian Authority to continue their efforts, including arrests of terrorists in the Palestinian territories and firm actions to dismantle terrorist networks and institutions. We've also continued to urge direct contacts between the parties to combat terror more effectively and to sustain and strengthen the relative calm of the past several days.

We'll continue to work with the parties towards the achievement of a durable ceasefire and movement along the lines of the Tenet work plan and the Mitchell committee report, and we're exploring what practical formula can best move this effort forward.

Q: I realize I'm asking the questions that put you on the spot, or put the Near East Bureau on the spot -

Mr. Boucher: Well, don't do that.

Q: But you brought up another one, and of course, you haven't really answered the questions I asked. The cells, the terrorist-

Mr. Boucher: Well, I corrected a lot of misimpressions that were inherent in your question.

Q: Was I wrong? I didn't think you dealt with it at all.

Mr. Boucher: So I considered that a useful contribution anyway. But go ahead, Barry. Ask your question.

Q: Thank you. But I didn't think you -- first of all, you didn't tell us if it's the U.S. view that violence must cease, period.

Mr. Boucher: You didn't ask that question, but the question --

Q: I did. I said the secretary of State has said it has to come down a lot. Israel says it has to end for Mitchell to kick in. Which is the -- what is the U.S.'s position? Secondly, are seven days of calm sufficient in the U.S. view? Israel says no. And your -- what you have just said raises a third question. You've asked for the dismantling of terrorist cells. Must they be dismantled for Mitchell to kick in?

Mr. Boucher: We have always said that ending the violence is part of the Mitchell process, is part of getting it started, part of getting it going, and part of continuing it. What we're looking for is practical steps by the parties. That's what the Tenet plan, that's what the Mitchell plan is all about. We've looked to the parties to continue to take steps, as I've described it today. What we're looking for is an effort to combat terror and dismantle the terrorist infrastructure. That's the way to promote a continued reduction in violence.

So it's not a question of endorsing one or the other sides' criteria or ideas. It's a matter of working with both sides to get them to take steps that can effectively end the violence.

Q: Can I ask you one more? Then I'll withdraw. Does Zinni expect or hope to have Mitchell going by the time he leaves to come back here?

Mr. Boucher: He's going to discuss practical ways of how to move forward. I don't want to predict any particular moment what he can achieve.

Q: Two questions: One is, the Israelis claim that in the last two weeks, despite the cease-fire pledge from Hamas, that they have actually prevented a number of terrorist attacks. How does that factor into the -- what Barry was asking about, in terms of measuring the quiet? Does a thwarted terrorist attack count as not a day of quiet?

And second, about getting both sides to talk to each other, the Israeli president, Katzav, has offered to talk to the Palestinian assembly, and Sharon told him he can't go. Does the State Department have a position on that?

Mr. Boucher: Well, in answer to your first question about what counts as a day of quiet, the only answer to that is, I ain't been counting days of quiet, if you've noticed -- in response to that question, that question, and probably the next one and the next one, okay? So let's just not start assuming something in your questions.

Q: Okay.

Mr. Boucher: The second part of it is, in terms of President Katzav and his travel to the Palestinians, I'll leave that one with the Israelis. That's a matter of their own politics. I'm not going to get into that.

Q: Can I just take it to another bite at the apple? Will Zinni in any way be, in a more general sense, asking the prime minister, in terms of encouraging contacts with the Palestinians, maybe to allow his peacemakers in the Israeli government to meet with the Palestinians, as a general proposition?

Mr. Boucher: We will -- will continue to urge direct contacts between the parties. We've always stressed the importance of direct contacts on security issues. We've always stressed the importance of having direct cooperation between the parties and the value of these meetings on security issues.

Beyond that, on other more political areas, I really don't know that I want to make a grand pronouncement, but I do want to say we always encourage direct contacts.

Q: You mentioned at the beginning the request for Israel to take steps to ease the position of the Palestinian people. Given the reduction in violence of the last week or so, do you think the time is now ripe for the Israeli government to take such steps?

Mr. Boucher: We think the time is right for Zinni to be discussing with the Israeli government the kind of steps that they can take, and that's one of the things he'll be doing when he's out there this weekend.

Q: Okay, and another question: When General Zinni last went to the region, he -- you said he would stay as long as it takes, essentially.

It didn't turn out to be possible in the end. This time he's only going for four or five days. Why the difference, and what's your backup plan if he can't get something agreed in these four days, and then has to leave --

Mr. Boucher: I think it's important to remember in all this, you know, if Zinni is in the region and he stayed for a while to get -- try to get things started, to get some ideas himself, listen to the parties, get some ideas himself about where to go -- and as we've said before, in fact, he's been working on ideas, had worked with the parties on ideas of how to get moving along this line of the Tenet- Mitchell processes, and that process was disrupted by the series of attacks.

And since then we've managed to see a reduction of violence, some very strong statements by Chairman Arafat, some efforts to carry that out. So I think the, you know, the mission continues. The involvement of the United States, the involvement of General Zinni continues. At this stage he's going out there to talk to them about practical formulas to move forward, and then he'll come back and talk to the secretary. So we always assumed he would be back and forth, we always assumed his first trip would be the longer -- would be for a fairly long period of time. And from here on in, it'll depend on what we think the best step is at any given moment.

Q: Okay, if I can say, you do envisage a strong likelihood that he would return again after coming back for consultations --

Mr. Boucher: I think I'd better let him get there before I talk about his next trip, okay?

Q: Along that -- along that line, though, is there a date specific for his return to the U.S., or is that something that will be decided once --

Mr. Boucher: Early next week.

Q: But -- but no definite --

Mr. Boucher: I don't have a particular date for you at this point.

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