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Skriven 2007-06-19 23:30:58 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (070619) for Tue, 2007 Jun 19
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President Bush Meets With Prime Minister Olmert of Israel
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For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary June 19, 2007

President Bush Meets With Prime Minister Olmert of Israel Oval Office

˙ /news/releases/2007/06/20070619.wm.v.html ˙˙White House News

˙˙˙˙˙ In Focus: Global Diplomacy

9:51 A.M. EDT

PRESIDENT BUSH: Mr. Prime Minister, thanks for coming. I've been looking
forward to this visit. Last time we were together we had a long and serious
discussion about what we can do together to keep the peace.

This visit comes, obviously, during a period of great concern for the world
about what's taking place in Gaza, and so it's a timely visit. I'm looking
forward to our discussions about how we can promote a common vision, a
vision that speaks to hopes and aspirations of the Palestinian people, and
a vision that speaks to the security of Israel.

I'm looking forward to sharing with the Prime Minister the results of a
phone call I had yesterday with President Abbas. He is the President of all
the Palestinians. He has spoken out for moderation. He is a voice that is a
reasonable voice amongst the extremists in your neighborhood.

You also come at an important moment, because there is yet again another
moment for the world to see the great challenges we face in the 21st
century. We face extremists and radicals who use violence and murder as a
tool to achieve objectives. And it's a chance, Mr. Prime Minister, for us
to work on our bilateral relations, but also work on a common strategy to
fight off those extremists, and to promote a alternative ideology, based
upon human liberty and the human condition.

And it's a great challenge. It's exciting to be in office during this
period. It can be difficult for those of us who have been given the great
honor of serving our country, but it's an exciting moment. And I'm looking
forward to working with a strong leader, a man committed to the security
and prosperity of his country, and at the same time, committed to try to
work the conditions necessary for peace.

And so I'm glad to welcome a friend back to the Oval Office, and proud
you're back.

PRIME MINISTER OLMERT: Thank you very much, President. I am honored and
delighted, after half a year almost, to be again a guest of yours, Mr.
President, in the White House, and to discuss with you some of the kind of
issues.

As you have said already, this is a very special time. Things happen lately
very dramatically. I'm sure that many people in the world were astounded by
the brutality and the cruelty and the viciousness of the Hamas murderers
that killed so many Palestinians in such a way. We who live in the Middle
East, some of us surprised, but not less outraged by these events.

And I gladly share with you, Mr. President, the vision that, even under
such circumstances, what we ought to do is to try and find opportunities
for the future that align this situation. And I'm absolutely determined
that there is an opportunity. And like you, I want to strengthen the
moderates, and cooperate with President Abu Mazen, who is President of all
Palestinians; is the only person who was widely elected in a democratic
manner by all of the Palestinian people. And I am going to make every
possible effort to cooperate with him and to move forward to see how to --
can work jointly in order to provide the Palestinians with a real, genuine
chance for a state of their own, fulfilling your vision, Mr. President,
which I share, of a two-state solution, and at the same time, making sure
that there is security for the people of Israel, and the people of Israel
deserve security both in the south and in the north and in the east side of
our country.

I'm sure that we will find some time, also, to discuss other measures, such
as the danger of Iran and the threats that come from the President of Iran,
who talks time and again about the liquidation of the state of Israel,
something that is totally intolerable and unacceptable. And we have to
continue the measures taken in order to stop the Iranian efforts to
establish unconventional weapons.

And again, I thank you for your friendship and for the power that you
manifest and your dedication to the principles that you believe in. And I
am proud to follow the same route to fight for the principles and to carry
on. Thank you.

PRESIDENT BUSH: We'll answer a couple of questions, starting with Jennifer.

Q Thank you, sir. Will you try to persuade, during the session with the
Prime Minister, to reenter peace talks with Mr. Abbas? And to the Prime
Minister, what do you think of the offer, and do you think it's possible to
have peace with just half the Palestinian people?

PRIME MINISTER OLMERT: I didn't hear the first part of the question.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Will I try to persuade you to enter talks.

First of all, we share a common vision of two states living side-by-side in
peace. And the reason why at least I think that's important -- one, I think
it's important for the moderate people, the ordinary Palestinians to have
something to be for. I also think it's in Israel's interest to have a
state. It's a demographic pressure that ultimately is going to make it very
difficult for Israel to maintain its Jewishness as a state.

So there's a practical reason, as well as a moral reason for there to be
discussions about a way forward to achieve a two-state solution. And the
Prime Minister has said that he wants -- you can ask him if he's going to
talk to Abbas. I'm not going to put words in his mouth.

But what I'm trying to say, Jennifer, is that we share a common way
forward. And our hope is, is that others in the region understand that this
way forward leads to peace. People other than President Abbas and the
Palestinians -- we would hope that the Arab world supports such a concept.
Inherent in that is Israel's right to exist. There needs to be solid
recognition of this state's right to live in peace.

At the same time, we want to have a vision for the Palestinians to see that
there's a better tomorrow for them. These folks have been denied for a long
period of time the right to a normal life, starting with leadership that
failed them. And our hope is that President Abbas and that Prime Minister
Fayyad, who is a good fellow, will be strengthened to the point where they
can lead the Palestinians in a different direction, with a different hope.

The Prime Minister has spoken to me, and I have spoken to him about our
desire to help suffering Palestinians. Nobody likes suffering on their
border, nobody likes to see suffering in the world. So we'll talk about
that. We'll also talk about the broader war against extremists and
radicals.

It's interesting that extremists attack democracies around the Middle East,
whether it be the Iraq democracy, the Lebanese democracy, or a potential
Palestinian democracy. And what that should say clearly to people all
around the world is that we are involved with an ideological conflict that
is a monumental conflict. And those of us that believe in liberty and human
rights and human decency need to be bound together in common cause to fight
off these extremists, and to defeat them.

You can only defeat them so much militarily. We have to also defeat them
with a better idea. It's a better idea that's being practiced by our
friend, Israel. It's called democracy. And that's the fundamental challenge
facing this century: Will we have the courage and the resolve necessary to
help democracy defeat this ideology. And I will tell the Prime Minister,
once again, I'm deeply committed to this cause, whether it be in Iraq, or
Lebanon, or the Palestinian Territory, or anywhere else in the Middle East,
and around the world.

Q Will you enter into talks with Mr. Abbas?

PRIME MINISTER OLMERT: Well, naturally, I think at this particular point,
I'm sure the President will not have hard work to convince me, because I
proposed to meet with President Abbas -- in fact, I initiated the idea that
we will meet on a regular basis, bi-weekly, to discuss the matters. And I
proposed that I even come to Jericho, something that no Prime Minister
before me did.

The President was having serious difficulties, some of which we have
witnessed lately. And that's perhaps the reason why he had to cancel some
of the meetings. But there's no question that I want to talk to the
President of the Palestinian community, Mr. Abbas. I will be talking to
him. The teams of both sides meet regularly every week and discuss on the
matters.

And the idea that I have is to talk with him of the current issues that can
help upgrade the quality of life of the people and provide them better
security in the West Bank, and to share with him the efforts to calm the
terror -- this is something that he is absolutely committed to doing, we
have to do it, and this is not something that the Palestinians can escape.
They will help fight terror in a most effective way -- something that they
haven't done, unfortunately, up until now. But this is something that I am
sure he understands is a prerequisite for any major development in the
future.

Of course, we also have to talk about a groundwork that needs to be done in
order to allow us rapidly to talk about the creation of a Palestinian
state. This is the main vision of my friend, President Bush. This is the
vision that we share. This is the ultimate goal, to create the Palestinian
state. We have to prepare the groundwork that will allow -- soon, I hope --
to be able to start serious negotiations about the creation of a
Palestinian state.

In order to achieve peace, we have to fight terror, we have to increase
security, we have to upgrade the quality of life for the Palestinians. And,
of course, the Palestinians have to establish a much more credible and
serious administration that will be able to take care of daily needs in an
appropriate manner.

Q Thank you. (Speaking Hebrew.)

And, Mr. President, the Prime Minister --

PRESIDENT BUSH: What did you just ask him?

Q I asked him what --

PRESIDENT BUSH: -- that's unfair. (Laughter.)

Q I asked him what he will do with the refugees coming from Gaza? Will you
deliver to the murderers guns, or will they be taken to a refuge in the
West Bank?

And I would like to ask you, the Prime Minister of Israel calls for
negotiation with no precondition with Syria; so does President Assad of
Syria, and he asks for U.S. mediation. Will you do it?

PRESIDENT BUSH: They can handle their own negotiations with Syria. If the
Prime Minister wants to negotiate with Syria, he doesn't need me to
mediate.

Q Do you think it's a good idea?

PRESIDENT BUSH: It's up to the Prime Minister. I haven't had a chance to
talk to him about that. I don't know if you're putting words in his mouth,
or not. But I'm looking forward to having a discussion about Iran and Syria
and the neighborhood. But this man is plenty capable of conducting his own
negotiations without mediation.

PRIME MINISTER OLMERT: I will answer your question, right? We have been
very, very attentive to the needs of the -- humanitarian needs of Gaza and
we will continue to provide everything that is necessary in order to meet
these humanitarian needs. Israel will not be indifferent to the human
suffering in Gaza. Israel will be different from the Palestinians,
themselves, because the reality is that all this suffering is caused by
Palestinians against their own people. What the Hamas was doing in Gaza is
absolutely atrocious and intolerable. And I'm sure that many who had some
hopes that maybe Hamas can be more reasonable and more restrained I think
lost these hopes because of what they have been doing to their own people
-- killing innocent civilians, pulling out from hospital beds Fatah people
that were wounded and dropped them off fifth story building to kill them in
the street, and terrible other things.

We will not be indifferent. We already are taking care of many of the
Palestinians in Gaza during the last few days, and we will continue to deal
with it as it comes. Of course, they are not interested in staying in
Israel, they want to be amongst Palestinians, and they will be treated in
this manner.

Q So you will let them go?

PRIME MINISTER OLMERT: So as I said, we will check every single case and
we'll see how we can help them and I'm sure that we will help them.

As for Syria, I'm afraid that you may have not have understood correctly
what the Syrian leader said. The Syrian leader said that he is against any
preconditions from the Israeli side, but he's certainly for preconditions
from the Syrian side. One of the preconditions is that he wants President
Bush to work more than he does already in regional issues and to be the
mediator. And the President said correctly, this is not the -- I think --
the job for the President of the United States. He's got many other things
to do. And I don't think, if someone wants to speak directly, he needs the
involvement of America in order to allow these negotiations to take place.

I am not certain that the understanding of the President of Syria can lay
the foundations for immediate discussions between Syria and Israel.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Matt.

Q Mr. President, with Hamas's takeover of Gaza, aren't you effectively
accepting a split between the two main Palestinian territories? And how big
of a blow is this to your vision of achieving agreement before the end of
your term for a Palestinian state and Israel living side-by-side in peace?

PRESIDENT BUSH: First of all, we recognize the President of all the
Palestinian people, and that's President Abu Mazen. He was elected; he's
the President. Secondly, we recognize that it was Hamas that attacked the
unity government. They made a choice of violence. It was their decision
that has caused there to be this current situation in the Middle East,
about which we'll be spending some time discussing.

Matt, what you're seeing now in this part of the 21st century is going to
be played out over time. This is an ideological struggle. We're looking at
the difference between a group of people that want to represent the
Palestinians who believe in peace, that want a better way for their people,
that believe in democracy -- they need help to build the institutions
necessary for democracy to flourish, and they need help to build security
forces so that they can end up enforcing what most of the people want,
which is to live in peace -- and that's versus a group of radicals and
extremists who are willing to use violence, unspeakable violence sometimes,
to achieve a political objective.

And the challenge is, for those of us who believe there's a -- democracy
can help yield the peace is to continue to move forward. And that's what
we'll be discussing about today, how to do so. The Prime Minister said he's
willing to have discussions with the forces of moderation in the
Palestinian Territory, laying the groundwork for serious discussions.
That's -- that is a statement that shows that the Prime Minister is willing
to move with a -- to promote an alternative vision.

You know, the world is going to be confronted with these choices: Are you
willing to accept the fact that extremism is around and is willing to
promote violence, or should we resist that? Should we not combine forces
and efforts to promote alternatives to this vision? That's precisely what
we're doing in Iraq. We strongly believe it's in the world's interest to
support this young democracy. Al Qaeda, the people that killed nearly 3,000
of our people here in the United States, are conducting major car bombs and
acts of unspeakable violence in Iraq, trying to drive us out, because they
want to impose their vision on the Iraqi people.

And so, Mr. Prime Minister, I'm committed to helping the Iraqis succeed
with a democracy. It's in the interest of the Middle East that this
democracy succeed, as an alternative, because if we were to fail, then all
of a sudden, these extremists would have safe haven. Extremists in the
Middle East would be emboldened by the failure of those of us who live
nice, comfortable existences not help those who are struggling for freedom.

So it's the great challenge of our time, Matt. And there will be forward
movement and there will be setbacks. The fundamental question facing those
of us who have offices, is do we have the determination and the will and
the vision to present an alternative to these people, and I believe we do.
And I believe that's the calling of our time.

And so that's why I'm excited to be talking about it with a man who shares
the vision that there is a better way than to accommodate and accept
extremism and radicalism.

Q Mr. President, question. Regarding the ongoing attempts by Iran to
acquire nuclear capability of atom bomb, would you -- are you willing to
say at this time that a military action against Iran is no longer an option
in light of the situation?

PRESIDENT BUSH: I will tell you this, that my position hasn't changed, and
that is all options are on the table. I would hope that we could solve this
diplomatically. And that's why the United States -- first of all, we take
the threat very seriously. And I fully understand the concerns of any
Israeli when they hear the voice of the man in Iran saying, on the one
hand, we want to acquire the technologies and know-how to build a -- enrich
uranium, which could then be converted into a nuclear weapon, and on the
other hand, we want to destroy Israel. Look, if I were an Israeli citizen I
would view that as a serious threat to my security. And as a strong ally of
Israel, I view that as a serious threat to its security -- not only the
security of Israel, but the security of the Middle East.

That's why we are constantly working to remind our European friends, as
well as Russia and other members of the U.N., we have an obligation to see
if we can't work together to solve this issue diplomatically. That means to
provide consequences to the Iranian government if they continue to pursue a
nuclear weapon, such as financial sanctions, or economic sanctions. We want
there to be a choice. We want people to see there's -- in isolation there's
got a consequence to it, that there's a price that's paid for this kind of
intransigence and these threatening tones.

And it's difficult work to keep the nations bound together to help deal
with this issue diplomatically, but we have done a pretty good job so far.
Now, whether or not they abandon their nuclear weapons program, we'll see.
But at least we got unanimity so far, speaking -- at the U.N. Security
Council -- speaking pretty clearly that there will be consequences. And
there are being consequences, economic consequences beginning to affect the
economy.

Look, the Iranian people don't need to live under this kind of conditions.
These are proud people with a great tradition. Their government can do
better for them. And threatening the world has caused there to be
isolation. And these good folks could have leadership that enables them to
have a better economy and a better way of life, an economy and a way of
life that enriches their families, that gives them a better chance to
succeed. But, no, this group of people have made a different alternative,
and now our job is to make sure that we continue to keep the pressure on.

Listen, thank you all very much.

END 10:19 A.M. EDT
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