*EPF206 03/20/01
White House Report, Tuesday, March 20, 2001
(Bush/Sharon meeting, women business leaders) (860)

U.S. WILL NOT FORCE PEACE ON MIDEAST, BUT WILL HELP FACILITATE IT, BUSH SAYS

The Bush administration "will not force peace" between the Palestinians and the Israelis, but will work "with those responsible" to help facilitate it, President Bush told reporters following his March 20 meetings at the White House with Israel's new Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Bush and Sharon, who had met once before when neither occupied their present positions, first met privately for lunch and then in a larger session in the Oval Office that ended with a brief question-and-answer session with reporters.

"We both talked about how to best keep the peace," Bush told reporters at the end of the Oval Office meeting.

"I assured the Prime Minister that my administration will work hard to lay the foundation of peace in the Middle East ... to give peace a chance. Secondly, I told him that our nation will not try to force peace, that we'll facilitate peace and that we will work with those responsible for peace," Bush said.

Sharon said Israel will not reopen negotiations with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat until violence subsides in the region.

"The first thing and the most important thing ... is to bring security to the citizens of Israel," Sharon said. "That is the first thing we have to accomplish" before "we start with our negotiations."

On Jerusalem, Bush said the city's future should be determined by final status negotiations between the parties. But he also noted that in the presidential campaign, he had said he would begin the process of moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

Bush said he had not decided whether to invite Arafat to the White House.

Earlier, at his morning briefing with reporters, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said that Bush "believes that the most productive way to secure peace in the Middle East is for the violence to end."

"There is a pattern of retaliation and attack and the President is concerned that that pattern not continue," said Fleischer.

BUSH, FIRST LADY MEET WITH U.S. WOMEN BUSINESS LEADERS

President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush spoke to a group of about 100 U.S. women business leaders in the East Room of the White House March 20 in honor of Women's History Month.

"I'm especially proud that you all joined us this month as our nation celebrates women's history. Battles hard-fought and won by women resulted in improvements in all aspects of American life, and you all are proof of that," Mrs. Bush told the group.

She said the Bush 19-year-old twin daughters, now freshmen in college, "have never known the inequalities that women had to endure and overcome a couple of generations ago. That's why it's so important for us to be vigilant in our remembrance, and vocal in our celebration of women's history -- because we owe the great women in our past for the opportunities that we enjoy today."

President Bush, in his remarks, touted his budget and tax proposals calling them a "realistic" plan for the nation.

Bush said his budget sets priorities, including funding for education and for pay and housing for military personnel.

"We've got an education vision that says, there will be more money in the system, but let's make sure that we have high standards, local control of schools, and strong, results-oriented systems," the President said. He added that his administration has set aside $5 billion dollars for a national reading agenda.

"We've set a goal that all children ought to be reading by third grade," he said.

Regarding the military budget, Bush said "we have stepped back from some of the big appropriation requests, because I want (Defense Secretary) Don Rumsfeld to take a full look at the military, to make sure military spending meets a military strategy that will help us keep the peace in the out-years. And it's important to do that. It's important to make sure taxpayer's money is well-spent and well-focused, on all areas of concern. And the defense budget requires a good scrubbing and a good looking at. And that's exactly what this administration is doing.

"But in the meantime, we need to send a clear signal to the men and women who wear the uniform, the troops who wear the uniforms, we appreciate what you do on behalf of America, so we're going to pay you to do better, and house you better, and have a mission that is more focused, which is to be able to fight and win war, and therefore prevent war from happening in the first place."

The Bushes were joined on stage at the event by Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Christine Todd Whitman, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman and Interior Secretary Gale Norton.

"They're smart. They're capable. And they represent America," Bush said of his women Cabinet members. "These good folks up here make a big difference."

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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