31 January 2002

Powell, Jordan's King Abdullah Discuss Mideast, Afghanistan

Secretary of State Colin Powell and Jordan's King Abdullah held discussions in Washington January 31 about the situation in the Middle East, attempts to secure a cease-fire and resume negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, the campaign against terror and Afghanistan, Powell said.

Speaking to reporters after their meeting, Powell thanked the Jordanian king and people for their support, "not just in words, but in deeds," in the campaign against terror.

"The Jordanian hospital that was sent to Mazar-e Sharif [Afghanistan] has taken care of thousands of people who otherwise might not have gotten medical care of any kind," Powell said.

Powell said the Bush administration is working in as balanced a way as it can with Israelis and Palestinians to establish a cease-fire and reopen negotiations. He said retired General Anthony Zinni will be sent back to the region when violence is lower to try to help the parties negotiate a cease-fire.

The secretary repeated that the United States is working for the establishment of a Palestinian state that would live in peace and security next to Israel.

At the moment, the Bush administration is "applying some additional pressure" on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to try to get him to deal with increasing violence and to explain the Karine A ship incident involving an attempt to smuggle weapons into the region, Powell said.

King Abdullah said the majority of Israelis and Palestinians are "sick and tired of the cycle of violence and want a way out," and he praised U.S. peace efforts in the region.

Regarding journalist David Pearl, who was kidnapped in Pakistan while he was on assignment for the Wall Street Journal, Powell said the United States is doing everything it can to locate and rescue Pearl and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is doing everything he can too.

Powell said the U.S. government will not meet, deal with or negotiate about the demands of the kidnappers.

Following is the transcript of the Powell-Abdullah media availability:

Secretary Powell: Well, good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It is always a pleasure to receive, if I may say, my good friend, Majesty King Abdullah. And once again, as is always the case, we had a good exchange of views, we talked about the situation in the region, our hopes for getting back on track with respect to finding a way to get to a cease-fire, and then into discussions which would lead to negotiations. We have not given up hope.

We also talked about the campaign against terrorism, what we are doing in Afghanistan. I think we are both pleased with the progress of that campaign, and I had the opportunity to once again thank His Majesty and the people of Jordan for the solid support they have provided to the United States, to the coalition, not just in words, but in deeds. The Jordanian hospital that was sent to Mazar-e Sharif has taken care of thousands of people who otherwise might not have gotten medical care of any kind.

And so, Your Majesty, welcome again to the State Department, and once again, thank you for all the support you've been providing.

King Abdullah: Mr. Secretary, thank you very much for those kind words of welcome. Obviously it's a great pleasure for us to be back in Washington at a very crucial part or time in the Middle East, where we really hope that through persistent efforts of the United States and the international community we can find a just solution to try and get some sort of relief for the Israelis and Palestinians to get themselves out of the cycle of violence.

It is very apparent that the Israelis and Palestinians alike as peoples are frustrated and desperate to find a way out of the suffering that is going on in that region, and I hope that our visits in Washington will try and find some sort of mechanisms to try and get or bring hope back to both sides to look to the future and peace and stability.

Thank you very much.

Question: Your Majesty, you haven't said anything about the administration's -- let me call it "pressure campaign" against Arafat. You have spoken of frustration, which is code for the Palestinians' problems. How do you feel about Israel's problems and how do you feel about the way the administration is trying to focus Yasser Arafat on stopping Palestinian attacks?

King Abdullah: When I speak about frustration, I speak about frustrations of the Palestinian people; but at the same time, I know that the majority of Israelis want to find an exit. I mean, at the end of the day, let's forget about the politics and the leadership; the peoples, I believe, the majority of Israelis and Palestinians are just sick and tired of the cycle of violence and want a way out. And American policy from that of the President has been from day one to find a mechanism to get both sides out of it, and there has been a tremendous effort, a very strong effort in particular by the Secretary of State to get both sides together. And we are working on formulas to be able to achieve that in the (inaudible) process.

Question: Thank you, sir. First of all, a belated Happy Birthday, Your Majesty. Secondly, talking about a formula this morning on CBS that you would like to reach with President Bush to put the peace process back on track. Can you tell us something more about this formula?

And secondly, you talked about the very balanced role played by the United States towards the Palestinians and the Israelis. I am afraid to say many people in the Middle East don't agree with this point of view.

King Abdullah: Well, there is no formula per se. We have obviously, whenever we come to Washington, the ability to sit with our colleagues to explore the possibilities of being able to move forward. When I am saying fair and balanced, the President is committed to bringing peace and stability to the Palestinians and the Israelis. Obviously the ongoing cycle of violence has been a tremendous obstacle to all of us. What I say is that the President, in his heart, I know, wants to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinians and give hope and security to the Palestinians. And that is what we are here to try and achieve in our visit to Washington.

Secretary Powell: If I just might add a word to what His Majesty said, when the President spoke at the United Nations last fall, he spoke of a vision that he had for the Palestinian people to have a state of their own called Palestine to live in peace and security next to a state called Israel, both respecting each other's rights to exist, both living in security with each other.

It was a vision that I then tried to put some structure to in my speech at Louisville, and I tried to give a balanced speech which showed the expectations that the world had for both sides and what both sides had to do to move forward. And then General Zinni went to the region to try to make that happen, and we were having some success. Unfortunately, in recent weeks the violence has increased to a higher level, and we have got to get that under control. And the ship that came into the region, the Karine A, was a very, very complicating factor. And so we are in discussions with Mr. Arafat and applying some additional pressure to Mr. Arafat to ask him to deal with these two issues of increasing violence and the Karine A.

We will not give up hope and we will continue to work, and we will continue to work with both sides in as balanced a way as we can to get back to a process that will lead to a cease-fire and the negotiations that we must have in due course on the basis of UN Resolutions 242 and 338 to arrive at a peaceful solution to this crisis.

Question: Secretary Powell, as you know, the kidnappers of Daniel Pearl have made demands of the United States. Do you think these demands are such that the United States would ever respond to them? And how concerned are you for his life?

And, Your Majesty, if I may, sir, not to belabor the point --

Secretary Powell: Let's do one question at a time. We've got a lot. With respect to Mr. Pearl, we are deeply concerned about his safety and our hearts go out to his family. And I know that his colleagues at the Wall Street Journal are deeply concerned. We are doing everything we can to try to locate him and rescue him. I have spoken to President Musharraf in Pakistan about the situation, and I know that he is doing everything that he can.

The demands that the kidnappers have placed are not demands that we can meet or deal with or get into a negotiation about. The detainees at Guantanamo are being treated humanely. People have been down there from various countries and various organizations to see them and can provide witness to this fact. And we are treating them in accordance with international norms and all of the agreements we are party to.

So now, one more question for His Majesty, and we have to go.

Question: Mr. Secretary, there have been a lot of voices demanding the US to play a more effective role to defuse tension between the Palestinians and Israelis, like sending General Zinni back to the Middle East. When can this happen? Where are we now?

Secretary Powell: General Zinni is following the situation closely. We are in regular touch with him. He is available. And when we believe the moment is appropriate and we have gotten things under a greater degree of control than they are now with respect to violence, we will consider at that time whether it would be appropriate for General Zinni to return. But we are watching and monitoring the situation closely.