Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Washington, DC
May 21, 2008
SECRETARY RICE: Good evening. I am very pleased to welcome to the State Department my friend and colleague, David Miliband, Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom. I will be even more pleased to welcome him tomorrow to go with me to California where we will be involved in a number of events to look at clean energy and technology and the role that technology can play in helping us to deal with our energy challenges and also with environmental stewardship.
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QUESTION: Secretary Rice, on Syria and the newly disclosed information of the indirect talks between Syria and Israel, the White House this morning said it did not object to this. David Welch told us that the U.S. was not involved, had not been asked to be involved, but if it was asked, it would consider it. What explains this seeming lack of enthusiasm for this particular process?
And secondly, it’s hard to imagine such a peace agreement being worked out without some — you know, Israel demanding that Syria cease its support for Hamas, Hezbollah —
SECRETARY RICE: I’m sorry, can you speak up a little bit? I can’t —
QUESTION: Yeah, I’m sorry. It’s hard to imagine such a – any such peace agreement without Israel demanding Syria cease its support for Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian rejectionist groups. Do you see any reason that Syria might be ready to move in that direction?
SECRETARY RICE: Well, first, Arshad, let me note that we knew about these discussions from their inception and we have been kept informed. As we noted at the time of Annapolis, we would welcome any steps that might lead to a comprehensive peace in the Middle East. Because obviously, we are working very hard on the Palestinian-Israeli track, which is the most mature track and is the track that everyone, including Israelis and Palestinians and Arabs – this was noted at Annapolis, as well as the international community believes that is a track that is now well along in the bilateral negotiations and that we have an opportunity to get an agreement by the end of the year.
That said, it does not mean that the United States would be – would not support work on other tracks, including the Israeli-Syrian track. But also, it will be very important for Syria, as is demanded by UN Security Council resolutions, Syria demarcate the border with Lebanon, and that there is an opportunity to resolve also the issue of Shebaa Farms. So we would be supportive of a comprehensive peace.
Now, obviously, there is not going to be a comprehensive peace if there continues to be support for terror. There’s not going to be a comprehensive peace if there continue to be rejectionist groups that are not willing to accept the principles on which peace might – must be built, two states living side by side, an end to armed conflict which brings death to innocent people in the name of high principles but, in fact, is – as we’ve just seen in Lebanon, nothing but, very often, a state within a state or an armed group going after its own citizens. And so until that kind of behavior stops, it’s going to be very difficult to get to a comprehensive peace.
But we’re going to work very hard on the Palestinian-Israeli front. We hope for the best on the Israeli-Syrian side. And we do believe that there is work to be done vis-à-vis the outstanding issues with Lebanon as well.
I should just note, too, Arshad, that we are very pleased that Turkey, a longstanding American ally and friend, is actively engaged in the diplomacy.
h/t: Cem Ertür
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