    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
    [October 1, 1993]
    [Pages 1643-1645]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks and an Exchange With Reporters on the Middle East Peace Process
    October 1, 1993

        The President. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I have a brief
    statement and then I want to give the Crown Prince and the Foreign
    Minister an opportunity to make a few remarks.
        I have just had the privilege of hosting what to date has been an
    unprecedented meeting in the Oval Office between His Royal Highness
    Crown Prince Hassan of Jordan and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres of
    Israel. This meeting is another important step on the road toward a
    comprehensive peace in the Middle East.
        With me in the Oval Office were Shimon Peres, a principal architect
    of the pathbreaking Israel-PLO agreement, and Crown Prince Hassan, a
    leader who has literally devoted his life to the promotion of peace and
    a better future for his entire region. I am grateful to both of them for
    accepting my invitation to further the cause of peace.
        On September 13th we bore witness to an event that should serve as a
    turning point in the history of the Middle East. Then I spoke of my
    commitment to help build a new future for the Middle East and all its
    people. Today we have taken two additional steps to turn that hope into
    reality.
        This morning at the State Department, in an extraordinary
    demonstration of international support for peace, 43 nations from every
    region of the world helped to usher in this new era by providing their
    political and financial backing to those who would make peace in the
    Middle East. They pledged more than $600 million in immediate needs of
    the Palestinians and over $2 billion over the next 5 years to help
    establish Palestinian self-government.
        And now this meeting has just taken place in the Oval Office, coming
    as it does some 2 weeks after Jordan and Israel signed their agreement
    on a common agenda to guide their negotiations. This symbolizes a new
    relationship between Jordan and Israel, marked by dialog and acceptance
    rather than confrontation and rejection.
        The special relationship between the United States and Israel is
    central to the pursuit of peace, and I want to emphasize the great
    importance the United States attaches to Jordan's critical role in
    achieving lasting peace in the region.
        In our meeting, both the Crown Prince and the Foreign Minister spoke
    of their hopes for the future of peace and prosperity for Israelis,
    Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese, and Jordanians

    [[Page 1644]]

    all alike, indeed, for the entire region. To help to work toward this
    goal they discussed ways to give more energy and force to their
    bilateral negotiations to resolve all outstanding issues.
        They also agreed today that Israel and Jordan should establish a
    joint economic committee, much like the one agreed to in the Israel-PLO
    agreement of 2\1/2\ weeks ago. And we all agreed that Israel, Jordan,
    and the United States should establish a working group to be convened by
    the United States with two representatives from each country so that
    Israel and Jordan can agree, together with this Nation acting as
    facilitator, on the next steps in economic development in their two
    nations. They share so much in common, as they both pointed out. Now
    they want a common economic agenda.
        They also agreed to work through this working group on common steps
    to reduce the certification in the area. We want to reduce the problems
    of the environment and especially the problems the desert presents as a
    part of the long-term economic growth of the Middle East, and especially
    of Israel and Jordan.
        And finally, they both agreed that we should all get to work as soon
    as possible. That's the kind of action and the kind of attitude that I
    hope we can keep alive, coming as it does on the heels of so many other
    encouraging signs in the Middle East.
        Finally, let me say that they spoke of their common commitment to
    work in close coordination with the Palestinians as this peace process
    goes forward. In this way, we can all act as partners with the
    Palestinians and work toward our common goals.
        Let me say personally that I enjoyed this meeting very much. I
    applaud the Crown Prince. I applaud the Foreign Minister for coming
    here, for being a part of it. We believe that together we can work
    toward a peace that benefits everyone. And we believe there are things
    we can be doing now to benefit the countries and the peoples
    economically in ways that strengthen their inner sense of security and
    commitment to this remarkable process.
        I'd like now to offer the microphone first to the Crown Prince and
    then to the Foreign Minister.

    [At this point, Prince Hassan of Jordan and Foreign Minister Peres of
    Israel made brief statements.]

        The President. Let me say first of all, to reiterate one of the
    things that the Crown Prince has said, this working group that we have
    agreed to set up will clearly operate within the framework and the
    context of the peace process and not independent of it but will focus on
    the economic and the environmental issues I have mentioned.
        Second, I appreciate what the Foreign Minister said about the
    Secretary of State. In the privacy of our meeting, he said that today's
    speech by the Secretary of State was outrageous because it was the most
    expensive in memory. He raised more than a million dollars for every
    minute he talked today, which I appreciated.
        And finally, let me say, this is somewhat to my chagrin, but one of
    the many matters that the Crown Prince and the Foreign Minister agreed
    on in the meeting is that they would not take any questions today, but I
    could. So here I am.
        Q. Mr. President, what about the Arab boycott? Can you tell us your
    feelings about whether the continued Arab boycott is an obstacle to the
    kind of economic cooperation that you gentlemen are trying to forge here
    today?
        The President. Well, I think, first of all, they have agreed to find
    common economic objectives which they can pursue and seek investment for
    from all around the world, and they've asked us to help them do that.
    And so we intend to. Obviously, the region can grow more rapidly when
    all its partners can trade with one another and invest in one another.
        I think the statement, though, of the countries in continuing their
    position was not altogether discouraging. Obviously, as you know, the
    United States wanted the boycott lifted now, but basically they were
    saying we have to finish the peace process. Well, we all agree with
    that. Israel agrees with that. No one disputes that. And so I don't want
    us to be deterred.
        This is a really historic day. We have this meeting and the
    agreement coming out of it. We have the remarkable donors conference
    today and the results coming out of this. We are moving this process
    very quickly, and I am confident that in the course of time we'll get
    the boycott lifted.
        Q. Mr. President, now that you've brought Israel and the PLO
    together here on the White House lawn, and Israel and Jordan today, what
    are the prospects of bringing Israel and Syria together here at the
    White House?
        The President. I thought you were going to

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    ask me if I could get both parties together in the Congress on a health
    care plan.
        Well, I'm hopeful. We have to take these things as we can, but I'm
    quite hopeful. I will say again, I am committed to finishing the peace
    process. I have told President Asad that. I have made it clear to Prime
    Minister Hariri, and we met at the United Nations and discussed Lebanon.
    Nothing that Prime Minister Rabin or Foreign Minister Peres has said to
    me leads me to believe that they have a different position.
        But I will say again, the most important thing we can do at each
    step along the way is to build the support among the ordinary people of
    Israel, among the Palestinians, among the Jordanians for the agreements
    that have been made, for the processes that are underway, so that people
    all over the Middle East have a greater sense of confidence and security
    about what has been agreed to and what is being done. The Crown Prince
    made a very important point that I think needs to be reiterated.
        We are trying to make our statements brief and our actions and
    commitments long. And that is what we have to do. And so, I understand
    that this whole thing has to be finished. But to finish it, to get to
    the end, we have to absorb the full implications of the enormity of the
    things which have been done and implement them in a way that keeps the
    support for the process going. And I am committed to finishing it with
    all parties, more so than when we began.
        Q. Mr. President, how much of the money that was given today at the
    donors conference will or should go to Jordan? Or will all of this go
    exclusively to the Palestinians? And if so, what will Israel and Jordan
    be cooperating about?
        The President. Well, what we are going to do, this committee is
    going to come up with a whole different economic agenda for Israel and
    for Jordan and for how to deal with the overlapping Palestinian issues.
    And there are some overlapping ones which might lead to some different
    decisions down the road about what we do with commitments that have
    already been made. But I think that we need a whole different economic
    agenda there.
        I think, as you know, I'm extraordinarily excited about this group
    of American Jewish and Arab American business people we got together who
    want to see an enormous private sector commitment in the Middle East.
    They are particularly interested in what can be agreed upon between
    Israel and Jordan and whether they could play a role in that. So I
    wouldn't rule out anything.
        But the purpose of the donors conference today was to give life and
    meaning and reality to the agreement we saw between Israel and the PLO.
    There will have to be other investments, other commitments that will
    help to deal with the problems of Jordan, including the enormous problem
    Jordan has of accumulated debt. There needs to be some debt relief for
    Jordan, and the United States will support that. And there are a whole
    lot of other things that we need to be doing on that.
        Yes?
        Q. Do you think that this is leading to a confederation between
    Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinians? Is this the beginning? Is this the
    basis to something like that?
        The President. That's a question that I haven't answered and
    shouldn't answer. Anything regarding the political organization of the
    Middle East, that's a decision that will have to be made by the parties
    themselves. The United States will support the process and will support
    the decision of the people there.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 3:29 p.m. on the South Lawn at the White
    House.