30 January 2002

Israelis, Palestinians Must Find Way to Move Forward Toward Peace

Secretary of State Colin Powell says Israelis and Palestinians must find a way to create conditions for a cease-fire so that they can move forward with the Mitchell peace plan toward the goal of establishing a Palestinian state existing in peace alongside Israel.

In an interview with Moroccan television January 30 in his State Department office in Washington, Powell said the U.S. government does not hold one side or the other responsible for the violence.

"[I]t is not a matter of holding one side or the other responsible. Both sides must find a way to come together and to create a cease-fire condition so that both sides can move forward into the Mitchell Plan which both sides have agreed to and said they would comply with," Powell said.

The Mitchell plan calls for a cease-fire, a cooling off period, confidence-building measures and final status negotiations to create a Palestinian state.

Powell said Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat needs to take stronger action against terrorism and to provide an explanation for the attempt to smuggle weapons into the region aboard the Karine A ship that Israeli forces intercepted in the Red Sea in early January.

Powell said the Palestinian terrorists are not helping the Palestinian cause.

The terrorists "are not only threatening Israelis and killing Israelis, they are threatening the hopes of the Palestinian people by thinking they can prevail militarily over Israel through bombings and through suicide bombings, killing young people for a cause that, however just it might be, this is not the way to pursue their cause," Powell said.

Bringing the violence under control is the first step toward realizing the Bush administration's vision "of two states living side by side in peace, one called Israel, the other called Palestine," Powell said.

The secretary said the U.S. government is working closely with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat because he is the person the Palestinian people have chosen to lead them.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would like to see the establishment of a Palestinian state because Sharon "knows until the Palestinian people have their own state, living side by side with the state of Israel in peace and security, both able to provide for their people, there will be no peace in the region," Powell said.

Powell said Israel shares responsibility for the violence because of its "provocative" actions but the secretary denied that Sharon engages in terrorism.

"[W]e have a democratically elected leader who came in and found a situation of intifada, where he was being challenged and Israelis were being killed. He committed himself to a peace process, but he also committed himself to the Israeli people, that he would provide a level of security," Powell said.

Turning to relations between the United States and Morocco, Powell said the two countries have been friends for hundreds of years and he thanked the Moroccan people for supporting the United States in the campaign against terror.

Regarding the Western Sahara dispute between Morocco and the Polisario group, Powell said the United States supports a settlement that is mutually acceptable and allows the parties to "move toward economic development and the liberalization of society."

Following is the transcript of Powell's interview with Moroccan television:

Question: Mr. Powell, good evening, and thank you for answering to our questions in your office in Washington. We shall start, of course, with the situation in the Middle East.

We have never been so far from peace after having been so close to it less than one year ago. And today, the United States holds only Palestinians responsible for the situation. Why? And don't you think you are maybe adopting an unfair position?

Secretary Powell: No, I don't think we have an unfair position, and it is not a matter of holding one side or the other responsible. Both sides must find a way to come together and to create a cease-fire condition so that both sides can move forward into the Mitchell Plan which both sides have agreed to and said they would comply with.

At the moment, we have a difficult situation in that there is a level of violence in the region that is keeping us from getting to that cease-fire, and we have communicated to Chairman Arafat recently with great emphasis that because of the ship Karine A, which was bringing all kinds of new weapons into the region, and escalatory weapons, he has to provide an answer to the international community as to who is responsible for this.

And we also believe he has an obligation to take stronger action against those forces against peace and a cease-fire on the Palestinian side. They are not only threatening Israelis and killing Israelis, they are threatening the hopes of the Palestinian people by thinking they can prevail militarily over Israel through bombings and through suicide bombings, killing young people for a cause that, however just it might be, this is not the way to pursue their cause.

So we do say to Chairman Arafat that he has to do more to end the violence. And when the violence is down, under control, then there is a plan for both sides to give to each other reciprocally, as partners moving forward to peace, heading to the vision that President Bush put out there and I put out there of two states living side by side in peace, one called Israel, the other called Palestine.

Question: Okay. Violence is in the both sides, anyway. When you say "responsibility," you mean ultimately Yasser Arafat? When we see the declarations of President Bush last week, he said that Yasser Arafat's step up to terror. The American envoy Anthony Zinni compared him as a mafia leader, and you have said yourself that you would closely look at the way you will sanction him. Does that mean clearly that you don't think today Yasser Arafat is a good interlocutor for the Palestinians in the peace process?

Secretary Powell: Well, it is up to the Palestinian people to determine who their leader is, and it is up to the Palestinian people to determine who the leader of the Palestinian Authority should be, and they have said that it is Yasser Arafat. And that is why I work closely with Mr. Arafat. I speak to him on a regular basis. We are candid with each other, pointing out the realities of the terrible situation that we are in, and pointing out that however close we might have been a year ago, there is a plan, there is a way to move in that direction again. And that plan is called the Mitchell Plan. It begins with bringing the violence down. And he has to do more. I don't think General Zinni quite said that, but I will certainly check in the transcript he made.

Question: (Inaudible) Kofi Annan said he called for the end of the house arrest of the Palestinian leader. Yesterday I saw a first measure toward peace in the region. Don't you agree with that?

Secretary Powell: The first measure to peace in the region is to end the violence, bring it under control. If people are interested in --

Question: How, Mr. Powell?

Secretary Powell: How is to have the Palestinian Authority, led by Yasser Arafat, to take greater steps to not only say to these people this is the wrong thing to be doing, as he did in his speech on the 16th of December, but also to bring under control the Palestinian organizations which are setting these young people into suicide bombers because they are determined to destroy Israel. It won't work. It doesn't help the Palestinian cause. It will not lead to peace.

The Mitchell Plan -- I hate to come back to it, but the Mitchell Plan is the path forward that will allow us to get to negotiations under the UN Resolutions 242 and 338, which will provide a state for the Palestinian people. I want that. Mr. Arafat wants that. The Palestinian people want their own state. President Bush said that's his vision. And even Prime Minister Sharon has said that is what he would like to see because he knows until the Palestinian people have their own state, living side by side with the state of Israel in peace and security, both able to provide for their people, there will be no peace in the region.

The Israelis are not satisfied with this situation of violence either, and they have done things that have been provocative. It is not all one-sided, but right now what we have to do, before anything else can happen, is to bring the violence under control.

Question: Can we talk of a (inaudible) position of the United States today, Mr. Powell? When we see the different statements of your administration, and this does not reassure the common man in the streets in our countries, what can you tell them?

Secretary Powell: I could say to all of the people of Morocco, and all the other countries in the region, that the United States has a single objective, a single purpose, and that is to bring peace to the Middle East, to help the two sides find a way to move forward. It would be the easiest thing in the world for the United States to say, "What does this have to do with us? Why are we bothering with this?"

But we bother with it, we are involved in it, because we want to see peace. We want to see a homeland for the Palestinian people. We want Israel to live in peace and security. They are going to have to share this same land that God has given to the people of the region, and I want the Moroccan people to know that the United States will remain engaged, trying to find a solution that will allow these two peoples to live together. We will not walk away. It would be easy, but we won't because we believe we have an obligation to the people of the region.

Question: This question comes from my (inaudible) after witnessing the extraordinary solidarity from most of our countries following the events of September 11th. Aren't you concerned to see this solidarity weakened because of the critical situation in the Middle East?

Secretary Powell: Well, there is great solidarity. Many people said that, one, we couldn't bring such a coalition together; and, two, it would not stick together. But it has stuck together. And the reason this coalition remains strong is because everybody now recognizes that what Usama bin Laden, the al-Qaida and the Taliban were doing was not faithful to the Muslim beliefs. In fact, it was quite the contrary. Islam believes in peace and bringing up those who are in need, not murdering innocent people.

And so the coalition has stayed together because everybody can see the value of such a coalition to fight terrorism, which contaminates all of the civilized countries of the world. There is no question that the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians is a problem for us and for the region, and it is something of an overhang. It's a dark cloud. It's a dark cloud in the region that we are trying to dispel. But it has not broken the coalition apart. And frankly, I must take this opportunity to thank the Moroccan people for their support of the United States in this campaign.

Question: I believe the problem is the definition of what is terrorism. Everybody talks about terrorism. All the speeches given by the American leaders, they talk about terrorism. However now, nobody gives a clear definition of terrorism. Maybe it's a problem. To make a difference.

Secretary Powell: The killing of innocent people -- the random killing of innocent people for false political objectives in the false practice of a religion.

Question: Does it concern the Middle East process?

Secretary Powell: To some extent, yes. Those who would go into a crowded market and set off a bomb that it is known will kill many dozens of innocent people or injure them, this is an act of terror. However terrible the situation is seen by people who would do such a thing, this seems to us and to me not the right solution to the problem. What you end up with is the person who did it dead, the cause not served well, and many innocent people dead.

Question: Okay. Sorry to insist. Don't you consider the way Ariel Sharon rules, his politic in the territories is also terrorism?

Secretary Powell: I wouldn't characterize it as that. I would say that we have a democratically elected leader who came in and found a situation of intifada, where he was being challenged and Israelis were being killed. He committed himself to a peace process, but he also committed himself to the Israeli people, that he would provide a level of security.

We had been trying to blend these objectives together so that we can find security for the Israeli people, so that we can move them in the direction away from the direction that causes such distress throughout the Arab world -- settlements, the bulldozing of homes, the occupation of areas. We want to move away from these things, and the way to do that is through the Mitchell Plan. But we can't get there without an end to the violence. And we saw last year that there was considerable progress, but it wasn't enough progress.

We've got to get back on that track of negotiation, and the way through -- the entry level, the entry gate, the door -- is to end the violence. And I hope that's what we will be able to achieve, and everybody has a role to play. Mr. Sharon has a role to play in being constrained with respect to his reaction and avoiding provocations, and Mr. Arafat has a role to play. Both leaders have a role to play.

Question: Okay, Mr. Powell, two last questions, on Morocco and the relationship between Morocco and the United States. At which level do you put Morocco on your foreign policy today?

Secretary Powell: Very high. Morocco has been a friend of the United States for hundreds of years, one of our oldest and dearest friends. I've been privileged to visit Morocco on a number of occasions. I keep in touch with His Majesty, and he has been very helpful with his advice. And there are not any great fights with Morocco. It's a strong relationship, and we discuss issues openly and candidly. And of course, one of my predecessors, Secretary of State James Baker, is working with the Moroccan authorities to try to find a solution to the problem of the Western Sahara.

Question: Yes. Actually, the General Secretary of the United Nations concluded that the referendum is not applicable. So we are going toward a political solution, supported by the United States, in which peace and stability would be assured. What is your vision -- this is my last question -- on the stability and peace?

Secretary Powell: I have a simple answer. I support what Secretary Baker is trying to do to find a solution that both sides can agree to, a mutually acceptable and agreeable solution that will bring peace to this land, so that we can get away from this kind of difficulty and conflict and move toward economic development and the liberalization of society.

And I might take this opportunity to congratulate His Majesty for the economic steps he has taken and the actions he has taken since his reign began.

Question: Mr. Powell, thank you.

Secretary Powell: Thank you very much.