*EPF307 10/17/01
Excerpt: State's Reeker Condemns Assassination of Israeli Minister
(Calls on Arafat to arrest terrorists) (1380)
State Department Deputy Spokesman Philip Reeker has called the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rechavam Ze'evi a "despicable act of terrorism" and said that "Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian Authority must move now to find and arrest all those responsible for this act as well as to continue arrests of other known terrorists."
Ze'evi was assassinated in Jerusalem October 17. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) claimed responsibility for the killing. The PFLP has been designated as a terrorist organization in the State Department's annual "Patterns of Global Terrorism."
"We urge all those authorities and states that harbor PFLP elements to recognize that terrorism is what's occurred and this is what terrorism is and to take action against those who practice it," Reeker said at the October 17 State Department media briefing in Washington. "There's absolutely no justification for this murder or for inactivity in the face of terrorism."
Asked about further developments for a post-Taliban Afghanistan, Reeker underscored U.S. interest in seeing broad-based leadership emerge there. He said the United States welcomes the reappointment of Lakhdar Brahimi as the U.N. special representative for Afghanistan.
Noting Secretary Powell has designated Richard Haass to coordinate U.S.-Afghan policy, Reeker said Haass would be traveling to New York October 18 to meet with the U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Brahimi. Reeker said Brahimi is scheduled to visit Washington October 19 to meet with Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and other U.S. officials.
Following are excerpts from Reeker's October 17 briefing:
(begin excerpt)
QUESTION: The assassination today of the Israeli minister in Israel -- what kind of impact would that have on the future talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis?
MR. REEKER: Let me say that we offer our sincere condolences to Prime Minister Sharon, to the Israeli Government and people, and to the family of Minister Ze'Evi. This is a despicable act of terrorism that we condemn in the strongest terms.
We understand that the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has taken responsibility for this murder. Chairman Arafat and the Palestinian Authority must move now to find and arrest all those responsible for this act, as well as to continue arrests of other known terrorists. And we urge all those authorities and states that harbor PFLP elements to recognize that terrorism is what has occurred, and this is what terrorism is, and to take action against those who practice it. There is absolutely no justification for this murder or for inactivity in the face of terrorism.
In terms of the progress we have seen in recent days, we have discussed that from here. It would be a tragedy if the terrorists were able to derail that progress and claim another victim today, so we want the Palestinians and the Israelis to continue with the positive steps that they have recently embarked on to improve the situation and begin to restore some measure of cooperation so that they can continue moving towards implementation of the Mitchell Committee recommendations and get into a dialogue for negotiations towards a permanent status settlement.
QUESTION: Phil, I think Deputy Secretary Armitage and others -- but I know he specifically said that the U.S. campaign against terrorism is not only targeted on al-Qaida, and, in fact, he said no options are ruled out going after other terrorist groups and their supporters.
Are the supporters of this group unknown to the State Department? And if you know who they are, do you plan to do anything beyond just looking to them to curtail terrorism?
MR. REEKER: The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the PFLP, the group that has taken responsibility for this murder in Israel today, is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in our list of such groups, as you know well, Barry, and subject to sanctions there under our law. I would just refer you to the annual reports, Patterns of Global Terrorism Report, for details about that group.
Exactly what you indicated is exactly what the President of the United States has said: we are conducting a campaign against terrorism with a global reach; we are focusing now on the al-Qaida network that perpetrated the acts against the United States in New York and Washington on the 11th of September; and we will continue to look at terrorism broadly. In this specific case, again we are urging all those authorities and states that harbor elements of this group to recognize this terrorism for what it is and take action against those who practice it.
QUESTION: That group is apparently based in Syria. Are we speaking to the Syrians with relation to this? And also, there are other groups perhaps sponsored in the Bekka Valley.
MR. REEKER: I would just again refer you to the Patterns on Global Terrorism Report that goes into some detail on those issues. I don't have anything else right now to report in terms of any specific conversations on this.
QUESTION: So you have nothing to suggest the U.S. will carry through on its pledge to take action?
MR. REEKER: We will continue, Barry --
QUESTION: You're asking the supporters who have allowed these groups to operate to crack down on them?
MR. REEKER: We will continue, Barry, to wage our campaign against terrorism globally. I would refer you to what the President, the Secretary of State and other senior officials have said in regard to that campaign. We are focused on this using all the tools at our disposal, be they financial and economic, information and intelligence-sharing, police and law enforcement action, as well as military action when that is appropriate. And we will continue to follow in this, and I just have nothing further to add to what the President has said at this point.
(post-Taliban)
QUESTION: Can you bring us up to date on what the U.S. is doing to help fashion a post-Taliban government?
MR. REEKER: Let me just see if I have anything particular to update you on. I don't think there is a tremendous amount to add. As you know, we very much support a broad-based government in Afghanistan. We have had contacts with all factions, a variety of factions. We would want any government there to be as broad-based as possible, including a variety of ethnic and geographic groups, given the makeup of that country.
We welcome the appointment of Mr. Brahimi, or reappointment, as the Secretary General of the United Nations Special Representative for Afghanistan. We will obviously continue working closely with the United Nations and others in the international community.
Again, you are aware that the Secretary announced that his person point person to coordinate US-Afghan policy is Richard Haass, Ambassador and Director of our Office of Policy Planning here at the State Department.
I think we'll have more of a chance to look at that after Ambassador Haass has been in New York. He plans to go up tomorrow to meet with the Secretary General and with Mr. Brahimi, and then Mr. Brahimi is expected here in Washington to meet with Deputy Secretary Armitage and other U.S. officials on Friday.
QUESTION: Are there any plans for Mr. Haass to go overseas?
MR. REEKER: I don't have any other travel plans for him to announce at this point. I think we will continue to have the contacts with a variety of Afghan groups, with those with an interest in Afghanistan, the international community, as we have in the past through the 6 + 2 structure under the United Nations auspices, as well as an opportunity at the APEC meetings in Shanghai to discuss with the leaders of Russia, China and other Asia-Pacific heads of state, foreign ministers' views on the future of Afghanistan.
But again, our goal there is to see the Afghan people choose a government, a representative government that can pursue democracy and respect for human rights, that can reverse what the Taliban has done to Afghanistan and to the Afghan people for so many years, using food as a weapon, the abuses vetted out towards women. So that is what we will continue to look for -- as broad-based as possible.
(end excerpt)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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