Jerusalem, December 13, 1998
PM Netanyahu: Mr. President, I want to welcome you and your entire
delegation, the Secretary of State, the National Security Adviser, and
your exceptional team for coming here on this mission of peace and for
your understanding of our concerns.
We spent many hours in Wye River, and there and in our conversations this
morning I've come to appreciate and admire your extraordinary ability to
empathize and the seriousness with which you examine every issue. Your
visit here is part of the implementation of the Wye River Accords.
Now, this was not an easy agreement for us, but we did our part, and we
are prepared to do our part based on Palestinian compliance. When I say
that we did our part you know that within two weeks we withdrew from
territory, released prisoners, and opened the Gaza airport, precisely as
we undertook to do.
The Palestinians, in turn, were to live up to a series of obligations in
the sphere of security and ending incitement and violence, and the repeal
of the Palestinian Charter, and in commitments to negotiate a final
settlement in order to achieve permanent peace between us. I've got to say
that none of these conditions have been met.
The Palestinians proceeded to unilaterally declare what the final
settlement will be. Coming out of Wye they said again and again that
regardless of what happens in the negotiations, on May 4, 1999 they will
unilaterally declare a state, divide Jerusalem, and make its eastern half
the Palestinian capital. This is a gross violation of the Oslo and Wye
accords, which commit the parties to negotiate a mutually agreed final
settlement.
Mr. Arafat and the Palestinian Authority must officially and unequivocally
renounce this attempt. I think no one concerned seriously expects Israel
to hand over another inch of territory unless and until such an
unambiguous correction is made.
I said that are other violations. The Palestinians, I am afraid, began a
campaign of incitement. At Wye, as those who are here well know, we agreed
to release Palestinian prisoners, but not terrorists with blood on their
hands or members of Hamas who are waging war against us. No sooner did we
release the agreed number of prisoners in the first installment that the
PA refuse to acknowledge what they agreed to at Wye, falsely charging
Israel with violating the prisoner release clause. Palestinian leaders
openly incited for violence and riots, which culminated in a savage
near-lynching of an Israeli soldier, and the Palestinian Authority
organized other violent demonstrations. Therefore the Palestinian
Authority must stop incitement and violence at once, and they must do so
truly and permanently.
There has also been some downgrading on parts of the security cooperation
between us, and the Palestinian Authority must restore this cooperation,
again fully and permanently. They must live up to their other obligations
in the Wye Agreement in the field of illegal weapons collection, reducing
the size of the armed forces, and the like.
Now, I stress that none of these are new conditions. All are integral
parts of the Wye and Oslo Agreements, to which we are committed. We hope
that tomorrow the Palestinian Authority will once and for all live up to
at least one of their obligations, and if the PNC [Palestine National
Council] will vote in sufficient numbers to annul the infamous Palestinian
Charter, that will be a welcome development, and it's important. Five
years after they promised to do so at Oslo, to see this happen would be a
welcome and positive development.
I think it is just as important to see strict adherence to the other
obligations in order to reinject confidence into the peace process and to
get this process moving again, where Israel will also do its part.
Mr. President, I am sure that we can achieve peace between Palestinian and
Israelis if we stand firm on Palestinian compliance. I very much hope that
you will be able to persuade the Palestinians what I know you deeply
believe and I believe, that violence and peace are simply incompatible.
Because ultimately what is required is not merely a checklist of
correcting Palestinian violations but, I think, a real change of conduct
by the Palestinian leadership, and they must demonstrate that they have
abandoned the path of violence and adopted the path of peace. For us to
move forward, they must scrupulously adhere to their commitments under the
Wye agreement, on which we have all worked so hard.
And may I say, on a personal and national note, and international note,
that if there is anyone that can help bring the peace process to a
satisfactory conclusion, that is you, President Clinton. Your devotion to
this cause, your perseverance, your tireless energy, your commitment, have
been an inspiration to us all and they have helped us restore peace and
hope to our land and to our peoples.
President Clinton: Thank you very much, Prime Minister. I thank you for
your statement and for your warm welcome. I would say to the people of
Israel: I was told before I came here that no previous President had ever
visited Israel more than once and this is my fourth trip here. I may be
subject to tax assessment if I come again in the next two years, but I am
always pleased to be here.
I want to thank you also, and the members of your team, for the exhausting
effort which was made at Wye over those nine days, the time we spent
together, the sleepless nights, and the extraordinary effort to put
together a very difficult, but I think, a sound agreement.
Let me begin by talking about some of the things that we have discussed
today. We have had two brief private meetings. One, a breakfast meeting
with our wives this morning, and then a brief private meeting, and then
our extended meeting with our two teams. I want to begin where I always
do: America has an unshakable commitment to the security of the state and
the people of Israel. We also have an unshakable commitment to be a
partner in the pursuit of a lasting comprehensive peace.
I have told the prime minister that I will soon submit to the Congress a
supplemental request for $1.2 billion to meet Israel's security needs
related to implementing the Wye River Agreement. Only if those needs are
met can the peace process move forward.
At the same time, I am convinced, as I think we all are everyone who has
dealt with this problem over an period of time that a lasting peace is the
best way to safeguard Israel's security over the long run.
Last month, at the conclusion of the Wye talks, the prime minister and
Chairman Arafat and I agreed that it would be useful for me to come to the
region to help to maintain the momentum and to appear tomorrow before the
PNC and the other Palestinian groups that will be assembled. I also want
to commend the prime minister for the steps he has taken to implement the
Wye Agreement, which he just outlined.
He has secured his government's support for significant troop withdrawal
from the West Bank, begun the implementation of that withdrawal, reached
an agreement that allowed for the opening of the Gaza airport and he began
the difficult process of prisoner releases.
The Palestinian Authority has taken some important steps with its
commitments - a deepening security cooperation with Israel, acting against
terrorism, issuing decrees for the confiscation of illegal weapons and
dealing with incitement, taking concrete steps to reaffirm the decision to
amend the PLO charter which will occur tomorrow.
Have the Palestinians fulfilled all their commitments? They certainly
could be doing better to preempt violent demonstrations in the street.
This is a terribly important matter. I also agreed that matters that have
been referred consistent with the Oslo Agreement for final status talks
should be left there, and should be subject to negotiations. But in other
areas there has been a forward progress on the meeting of the
commitments.
Now, I know that each step forward can be excruciatingly difficult, and
that now real efforts have to be made on both sides to regain the
momentum. We just had a good discussion about the specific things that the
Israelis believe are necessary for the Palestinians to do to regain the
momentum, and we talked a little bit about how we might get genuine
communication going ahead so that the necessary steps can be taken to
resume the structured implementation of the Wye River Agreement, which is,
I think, part of what makes it work - at least it made it work in the
minds of the people who negotiated it, and it can work in the lives of the
people who will be affected by it if both sides meet all their
commitments, and only if they do.
Each side has serious political constraints. I think we all understand
that. Provocative pronouncements, unilateral actions, can be
counterproductive given the constraints that each side has. But in the
end, there has been a fundamental decision made to deal with this through
honest discussion and negotiation. That is the only way it can be done. It
cannot be done by resorting to other means when times get difficult. And
again I say: t he promise of Wye cannot be fulfilled by violence or by
statements or actions which are inconsistent with the whole peace process.
Both sides should adhere to that.
Let me also just say one other word about regional security. I think
Israelis are properly concerned with the threat of weapons of mass
destruction development, with the threat of missile delivery systems. We
are working with Israel to help to defend itself against such threats, in
particular through the Arrow antiballistic missile program. We have also
just established a joint strategic planning committee as a forum to
discuss how we can continue to work together on security matters.
We are going to take a couple of questions, I know, but again I would like
to say in closing. Mr. Prime Minister, I appreciate the courage you showed
at Wye, your farsightedness in seeking peace and in taking personal and
political risks for it, which should now be readily apparent to anyone who
has followed the events of the last six weeks. Your determination, your
tenacity to build an Israel that is both secure and at peace is something
that I admire and support, and I think that if we keep working at it, we
can keep making progress. Thank you very much.
Q: (Hebrew) Mr Prime Minister, you have in effect appointed President
Clinton as a referee. Tomorrow he will go to Gaza, where the Palestinians
will raise their hands and he will state that the Palestinian Charter has
been annulled. It may not be annulled with a two thirds majority, as you
demanded. What will happen then? Won't you be able to implement the
agreement? After all, the sword of a no confidence motion in the Knesset
on 21 December is hanging over your head.
PM Netanyahu: (Hebrew) I have no intention of taking into account internal
political considerations, nor pressures from this or that side. We set
forth a clear policy: If the Palestinians do their share, we will do ours.
Nothing has changed in this respect.
Now, you are asking me about one of the clauses. First of all, what we
expect to see tomorrow is an annulment of the charter with a vote, without
any wise tricks or ploys. Of course, there are other obligations,
primarily abandoning the plans to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state
and to partition Jerusalem. In addition to that, halting the violence and
the incitement to violence immediately and forever. The Palestinians
cannot attain by force that which they did not attain in negotiations.
Furthermore, they must abandon the propaganda alleging that at Wye we
undertook to release murderers. We gave no such commitment, nor will we
release murderers. And above all, there must be compliance with all other
Palestinian commitments in various areas, such as collecting weapons,
cutting the size of the police force, etc.
Therefore, if there is a positive development tomorrow and the
Palestinians annul the notorious Palestinian Charter in a serious and
respectable vote for the whole world to see, I would like to tell you
that, first of all, I will welcome it. I will view it as a sign that our
policy of firmly insisting on the fulfillment of commitments is right.
At the same time, we expect them to live up to all their other
commitments. I repeat, if they fulfill and live up to them, we will
fulfill ours. This will remain our policy. Of course, we will wait to see
that they fulfill them. Personally, however, I want them to fulfill their
commitments, and I have no extraneous consideration, fear, or anxiety as
far as the opposition or internal politics are concerned. I am telling you
in simple words: There is no room for any compromise on this issue. What
we expect to see is a clear policy of compliance with commitments. All
other issues pertaining to internal politics are irrelevant.
Q: Can they complete all of it by Friday, sir?
PM Netanyahu: I doubt it, but I will happy if they start.
Q: Mr. President, after all what you see now, after you hear the Prime
Minister, don't you think you were wrong in the Wye Memorandum? Don't you
think that you got an agreement which both sides cannot comply?
Pres. Clinton: No, I don't think it was wrong. Look, if this were easy, it
would have been done a long time ago, and we knew that in the Wye
Agreement it would be difficult for both sides to comply. Actually, the
first two weeks were quite hopeful. In the first phase I think there was
quite good compliance on both sides, and I think the prime minister feels
that way as well.
A number of things happened with which you are very familiar which made
the atmosphere more tense in the ensuing weeks, and one of the things that
I hope to do while I am here, in addition to going and meeting with the
Palestinian groups, including the PNC, is to do what I did this morning:
listen very carefully to the Prime Minister and to his government about
what specific concerns they have in terms of the agreement and compliance
with it, and then try to resolve those, and listen to the Palestinians, as
I will, so that we can get this process going again.
I find that when the parties are talking to each other and establish an
atmosphere of understanding of the difficulty of each other's positions,
and deal with each other in good faith, we make pretty good progress, but
there's a long history here, and nine days at Wye or two weeks of
implementing can't overcome all that history. Plus which there are
political constraints and imperatives in each position, which make it more
likely that tensions will arise. But the fact that this has been hard to
implement doesn't mean it was a mistake. It means it was real. Look, if we
had made an agreement that was easy to implement it would have dealt with
no difficult circumstances, as we would be just where we are now, except
worse off.
We have seen in the first phase of implementation that good things can
happen on the security side, from the point of view of the Israelis, and
on the development of the territories, from the point of view of the
Palestinians on the airport, if there is genuine trust and actual
compliance. And so what we have to do is to get more actual compliance,
and in the process rebuild some of that trust.
Q: What about Jonathan Pollard, Mr. President?
Pres. Clinton: I have instituted a review that I pledged to the Prime
Minister. We have never done this on a case before, but I told him I
would
it, and we did it. My counsel, Mr. Ruff, has invited the Justice
Department and all the law enforcement agencies under it and all the other
security and intelligence and law enforcement agencies in the government
and interested parties to say what they think about the Pollard case; to
do so by sometime in January. I will review all that plus whatever
arguments are presented to me on the other side for the reduction of the
sentence, and I will make a decision in a prompt way. But we have
instituted that review, which as I said, is unprecedented. We are giving
everyone time to present their comments, and I will get comments on both
sides of the issue, evaluate it, and make a decision.
Q: Mr. Prime Minister, can you explain to the American people why you
think Mr. Pollard is worthy of a release at this point?
PM Netanyahu: Jonathan Pollard did something bad and inexcusable. He spied
in the United States. He collected information on behalf of the Israeli
Government. I was the first prime minister and this is the first
government to openly admit it. We think that he should have served his
time, and he did. He served for close to 13 years, and all that I appealed
to President Clinton for is merely a humanitarian appeal. It is not based
on exonerating Mr. Pollard. There is no exoneration for him. It is merely
that he has been virtually in solitary confinement for 13 years. It's a
very, very heavy sentence. And since he was sent by us on a mistaken
mission, not to work against the United States, but nevertheless to break
the laws of the United States, we hope that on a purely humanitarian
appeal a way will be found to release him. That is all I can tell you. It
is not political, it is not to exonerate him, it is merely to end a very,
very sorry case that has afflicted him and the people of Israel.