23 September 2001

International Response Needed to Deal with International Disaster

By Phillip Kurata
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns said the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington September 11 are an international tragedy that calls for an international response, "particularly in the Middle East."

"[D]ealing with the problem of terrorism, it requires a truly international effort. And that involves friends and partners from around the world, but particularly in the Middle East, and that's something we're going to work very hard at," Burns said in a television interview September 23.

Appearing on the "Viewpoint" program of the Arabic satellite television channel, MBC, Burns said opportunities to resolve the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians may have emerged from the September 11 tragedy.

"Out of even the saddest events...there sometimes comes opportunities," Burns said. "I think the public statements made both by the Palestinian leadership and by the Israeli leadership a few days [ago] about the importance of trying to put in place a ceasefire, about the importance of showing restraint, and beginning the slow, painful, but necessary process of getting back to negotiations based on a familiar foundation in 242, 338, Land-for-Peace, is extraordinarily important."

Burns said that a "very compelling case" is being built against those responsible for the September 11 attacks that killed people from more than 80 countries.

Burns said the international coalition against terrorism would need the participation of "peoples and governments, particularly in the Middle East, who have suffered as much as any part of the world from terrorism and from the use of violence for political ends."

The assistant secretary dismissed suggestions that the campaign against terrorism amounted to a "clash of civilizations."

"This is not about a clash of civilizations. It's not about the West or any other grouping against Islam or the peoples of the Middle East," Burns said. He said the campaign rather was a clash of "all civilized people" against "some governments, and groups of fanatics whose agenda is purely negative and destructive."

Burns said the terrorists would like nothing more than to provoke a clash between the western and Islamic civilizations, which makes the formation of an international coalition so important.

He said the coalition must demonstrate not only what it is against but also what it stands for "in terms of a peaceful resolution, a fair resolution, of political problems." Burns promised the U.S. government will show leadership in seeking a resolution of the Palestinian problem.

"It's something that American governments, for over three decades, have been intimately involved in," Burns said. "We need and we will show leadership on that issue. And I think that's really the ultimate answer to many of the kinds of grievances that I know are very real."

The assistant secretary said "a fair and lasting resolution of the Palestinian problem" is the kind of thing that the September 11 terrorists "would like to destroy and prevent."