[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
[November 12, 1993]
[Pages 1961-1966]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's News Conference With Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of 
Israel
November 12, 1993

    The President. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It's a great 
pleasure for me once again to have the opportunity to host my friend 
Prime Minister Rabin. I first welcomed him to the White House last 
March. At that time, he stated with great conviction that he felt the 
time had come to make peace and that he was ready to make the necessary 
steps and to take the necessary risks for peace. I told him that if that 
were to be the case, it was the job of the United States to minimize 
those risks. We both committed to make 1993 a year of breakthrough for 
peace in the Middle East.
    On September 13, that commitment was transformed into history 
through the simple handshake on the South Lawn of the White House. 
Israel's historic effort with the Palestinians was due, in large 
measure, to the courageous statesmanship of Prime Minister Rabin.
    Shortly thereafter, the United States convened a donors' conference 
to help provide the funds necessary to speed and facilitate the 
reconciliation. Yet there is still much work to be done to turn the 
promise of September 13th into a comprehensive and lasting peace. The 
Prime Minister and I have agreed it must be a peace that secures 
Israel's existence and one that endures for generations. We agreed on 
the need for prompt and effective implementation of the Palestinian-
Israel accord. We must not allow the opponents of that agreement to 
derail the new progress that this year has brought. And leaders who seek 
peace must speak out in a loud and clear voice against those who would 
destroy those aspirations for peace.
    The Prime Minister and I discussed the next step toward our common 
objectives. We agreed that peace between Israel and Syria is essential 
to achieving that objective of comprehensive peace. I told the Prime 
Minister that I have been delighted by the progress Israel has made with 
Jordan following the historic meeting between Crown Prince Hassan and 
Foreign Minister Peres, which I hosted a few weeks ago. We discussed how 
the United States and Israel, working together, can achieve a peace 
agreement with Jordan and Israel in the near future. Morocco, Tunisia, 
Indonesia, and other Arab and Muslim states have also taken encouraging 
steps to respond to Israel's peace commitments.
    I told the Prime Minister that I believe even more needs to be done 
to reinforce the progress already made by the PLO and Jordan. In 
particular, I think the time has come to end the Arab boycott of Israel, 
a relic of past animosity that simply has no place in the architecture 
of peaceful relations we are all working to build in the Middle East.
    During our talks we discussed what the United States can do to 
enhance Israel's security as it comes to grips with the very real risks 
it is taking to achieve this peace.
    I reaffirmed my commitment to work with the Congress, to maintain 
our present levels of assistance, and to consult with Congress to 
consider how we can use loan guarantees and other forms of assistance to 
Israel to help Israel defray the cost of peace.
    We also discussed ways the United States can help Israel defend 
itself from its adversaries and long-term threats to its security. And I 
renewed America's unshakable pledge to maintain and enhance Israel's 
qualitative security edge.
    Mr. Prime Minister, as you go home, I hope you will tell your people 
that as they turn their energies and talents to the hard and daring work 
of building that comprehensive peace, the American people will stand by 
them.
    Prime Minister Rabin. Mr. President, the Vice President, Secretary 
of State, Secretary of Defense, ladies and gentlemen. A few weeks ago we 
took part in the historical moment of signing

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of the Declaration of Principles between Israel and the PLO.
    Mr. President, we appreciate and are thankful for the role that you 
have played in bringing the Declaration of Principles to its conclusion. 
We hoped and we continue to hope that this significant step will bring 
an end to 100 years of terrorism and bloodshed.
    Today we are in the midst of negotiations to implement the 
Declaration of Principles signed here on the lawn of the White House on 
September 13th. I told you, Mr. President, that these are complicated 
negotiations, and in the process of reaching an agreement there will be 
ups and downs. But I am quite sure that we and the Palestinians have 
passed the point of no return in our efforts to implement the agreement.
    This is why the PLO must condemn vigorously, openly, and immediately 
any action that is in flagrant violation of the commitment to renounce 
terrorism. The basis for our advance and progress in the implementation 
of the agreement is that each side must keep its commitments.
    The signing of the DOP has created a new hope and opened many 
opportunities in our negotiations with other Arab parties to the 
Washington negotiations for peace. We hope and expect that with your 
assistance, Mr. President, that these talks will be continued as soon as 
possible.
    We have found that direct and quiet contacts between Israel and its 
partners in the effort to achieve a comprehensive peace is the best way 
to overcome prejudices of the past. The less the talks are exposed to 
the limelight of the media, the better are the chances to achieve 
agreements.
    We believe that you, Mr. President, and the Secretary of State can 
assist in facilitating this particular mode of negotiations. We are 
therefore ready to continue with your assistance the negotiation with 
Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. We believe that the substantial common 
agenda concluded with Jordan and further efforts made since can serve as 
a basis towards a major development on the road to the treaty of peace.
    We also look forward to achieve results in the negotiation with 
Syria and Lebanon, recognizing the importance of making progress in 
these areas. The positive conclusion of negotiations with the Arab 
neighbors will bring about a real comprehensive peace and will open the 
road to stability and prosperity for all the peoples and states in the 
region.
    Mr. President, in a letter that I wrote to you at the beginning of 
this year, I expressed Israel's readiness to take risks for the sake of 
peace. I was more than thankful, Mr. President, for your statement in 
which you declared your readiness to minimize the risk that Israel is 
willing to take for peace. Indeed, Mr. President, you have taken 
effective steps in this spirit.
    In our talks today, we discussed the ways and the methods by which 
we should proceed in the peace negotiations and also to find additional 
means to strengthen Israel in view of the threats to the security of the 
state and to provide safety to its population. Mr. President, peace and 
stability in the Middle East are threatened daily by yet another danger, 
the offensive mounted by the forces of radicalism and extremism. The 
offensive is twofold, against any Arab moderate, pragmatic regimes as 
such, and against the peace process. Our discussions today also dwelt on 
this issue, and we agreed to initiate on ongoing dialog between us as 
well as with the other concerned parties.
    Mr. President, we all appreciate the firm position that you have 
taken against the Arab boycott. The boycott can never be accepted and 
certainly not when the peace process is being advanced. For the people 
of Israel to support the government's peace policy, they must feel that 
the attitudes and the atmosphere have actually changed after September 
13th. We feel that our goodwill is yet to be matched.
    On the plane that brought me to the United States, there came two 
parents, the Katz family, whose son, Yehuda, has been missing in action 
since 1982. We are investing serious efforts to bring back Yehuda and 
all the other MIA's and prisoners. Your government and other friendly 
nations have helped in this humanitarian mission. We trust that you will 
continue in this sacred task.
    Today, you have gracefully told me and all the Israelis of your 
decision to strengthen the security of Israel. More specifically, your 
decision to continue the level of security assistance, to maintain our 
qualitative edge through the supply of advanced aircraft, the lifting of 
technological barriers, especially in the field of computers, and your 
decision to beef up our capacity to defend ourselves against missiles is 
most significant.
    Mr. President, I return home stronger in

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many aspects, more confident in our ability to reach peace, and 
reassured that thousands of miles away from Israel, we have a true 
friend in the White House that we can rely on.
    On this occasion I would like in very simple words to say to you and 
to you, to the Vice President, the Secretaries of State and Defense, 
your administration, and the American people, thank you, and God bless 
you.

Middle East Peace Process

    Q. Mr. President, you said the peace between Israel and Syria is 
essential for reaching a comprehensive peace in the region. What does 
the administration intend to do to advance peace talks between Israel 
and Syria? And did you hear anything from the Prime Minister that would 
encourage you to either send Secretary Christopher back to the region or 
facilitate some sort of back-channel, behind-the-scenes talks to get 
those talks moving?
    The President. You can see by the question, Mr. Prime Minister, it's 
hard for the United States to facilitate talks out of the press. 
[Laughter]
    We discussed the whole question of the relationship between Israel 
and Syria, what the United States could do. The Prime Minister 
reaffirmed his belief that peace in the Middle East would require 
progress on all the tracks, including the tracks with Syria and Lebanon. 
And we discussed some specific things that we will be exploring, the 
United States, over the next several weeks. Beyond that, I think I 
shouldn't go. But I feel confident that we'll be able to continue to 
pursue this.
    Yes, ma'am?

PLO Terrorism

    Q. Mr. President, we heard Mr. Rabin condemn the PLO for the recent 
attack on a Jewish settler 2 weeks ago. Do you share the view that it's 
a violation of the PLO-Israeli agreement? And were you just urging 
Chairman Arafat to renounce it?
    The President. I agree with what the Prime Minister said. I think 
that Chairman Arafat now, under the terms of the agreement, is duty-
bound at a minimum to condemn it. I think we all recognize that he may 
not have total control over everyone who acts in the name of Fatah, but 
he is now bound by the terms, the clear terms of the agreement, to 
condemn it.
    Is anyone here from the Israeli press we could acknowledge?

Jonathan Pollard

    Q. Mr. President, are you considering the release of Jonathan 
Pollard? And Mr. Prime Minister, did you raise this issue with the 
President?
    The President. Perhaps I could answer both questions. The Prime 
Minister did raise the issue with me. We discussed it, and I explained 
that under our procedures here, I cannot make a decision on the Pollard 
case until the Justice Department makes a recommendation to me. Under 
the United States Constitution, I do not have to follow the 
recommendation of the Justice Department, but under our procedures I 
have to get one. And when I get one--it won't be too long in the 
future--I will then review it and make a decision.
    Rita [Rita Braver, CBS News].

Technological Support to Israel

    Q. Mr. President, from Prime Minister Rabin's remarks it sounded 
like you have decided to sell Israel or make available to Israel, the F-
15E fighter jet. Is that true? And can you tell us a little bit more 
about the technological and weaponry support that you're going to give 
the Israelis?
    The President. Well, we are working on an agreement to make 
available a number of planes to the Israelis. The Prime Minister is 
going to meet with Secretary Aspin on Monday, and they are going to try 
to work through the details. And I think I should wait until they have 
done that, and we'll be able to make an announcement I think shortly 
after that. But there will be a number of planes being made available to 
Israel as part of this ongoing effort between us.
    Someone else from the Israeli press.

Israel-Jordan Relations

    Q. Mr. President, can we expect a new three-way handshake, I mean, 
this time with maybe King Hussein within the duration of the Prime 
Minister's visit in America?
    The President. Not on this visit. But nothing would please me more 
than to have another visit where that would occur. But I think not on 
this visit.

NAFTA and Health Care Reform

    Q. Mr. President, on the subject of NAFTA,

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a number of Congressmen from tobacco States, such as Congressman Steve 
Neal, have suggested that if the tobacco tax that has been proposed for 
health care were reduced from 75 cents to 40 cents, that they might 
bring along 6 or 10 votes. Is that something that you would consider if 
you were short of votes, or is that something that you would completely, 
categorically rule out?
    The President. That issue has not been brought up to me, but I can 
tell you this: There were a lot of people who urged that we ought to 
have a $2-a-pack tobacco tax, if you remember. I asked for the 75 cents 
because that's what our searching effort, our agonizing effort to 
determine what the cost of this program would be turned up as what is 
needed. And therefore, I cannot foresee circumstances under which I 
would be willing to change that position, because it would imperil the 
whole health care program. So there has been no--I didn't want to raise 
any money from anybody to do anything other than to pay for the health 
care program, although I think that higher tobacco taxes discourage use, 
and that's a good thing. But that wasn't what was behind it. So----
    Q. ----votes at the end of the game?
    The President. I have no reason to believe that that will ever come 
into play. If it changes, I'll be glad to tell you, but I have no reason 
to believe that that will happen.
    Someone from the Israeli press?

Middle East Peace Process

    Q. Mr. President, I have two questions actually. Are you going to 
send Secretary Christopher to the Middle East to activate the Syrian-
Israeli track and to mount active support for the Palestinian agreement, 
or do you prefer to wait until Mr. Rabin gives you the green light to 
express desire to deal with Syria?
    The second one for Rabin. Mr. Rabin, are you ready to go for the--
are you going to fight as--are you going to fight----
    Prime Minister Rabin. We are talking about peace, not the resumption 
of fighting.
    Q. No, I mean, in a domestic battle. Are you going to fight a 
domestic battle for an agreement with Syria right now, or do you still 
think that the Israeli public is not ready for it yet?
    The President. The answer to the first question is that we have not 
made a specific decision about when the Secretary will return to the 
Middle East. But we have ongoing contacts with Syria. You may know that 
I received the Foreign Minister of Syria here in the White House not 
very long ago. I have conversations from time to time with President 
Asad, and we will continue our dialog with them in working toward peace.
    Prime Minister Rabin. Israel has a long tradition of keeping its 
commitments. Whatever we take upon ourselves, every agreement that we 
sign, we will carry out. We expect those who sign with us agreements to 
keep, to fully keep, their commitments as we do. There is no need to 
fight. It's true, in Israel there is an opposition to the position that 
the government has taken, to the agreement that has been signed, to the 
ways to carry it out. But we are a democratic country and once the 
decision is taken, it is carried out.
    Q. Mr. President, both you and the Prime Minister mentioned the Arab 
boycott of Israel. You suggested in the past that should now be lifted. 
But so far, a number of America's closest friends in the Arab world have 
refused to take that step. Have you received any indications from the 
Saudis perhaps or from other Arab states that have been close to America 
that they're now prepared to take that step? And what can you do to try 
to get them to do that?
    The President. Let me answer you in this way: I have received some 
indications that the enforcement of the boycott is not as vigorous as it 
once was, but that some of the countries involved are reluctant to 
explicitly lift it. I wanted to raise the issue again today publicly 
because I believe that a big key toward achieving peace is maintaining 
support within the State of Israel for the peace process and for the 
risks that it entails.
    Perhaps the most important benefit of the ceremony here on September 
13th, even though it thrilled billions of people around the world, is 
that it clearly enhanced the willingness of the people of Israel to 
support the peace process.
    So I intend to continue to work on that. And I have some ideas about 
how I should do it, but I would rather wait until we have achieved more 
concrete results before talking about it.
    Someone else from Israel?
    Q. If Arafat doesn't condemn terror, should Israel suspend the talks 
with the PLO?
    The President. That will be a decision for Israel to make.

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    Q. Could the Prime Minister----
    Prime Minister Rabin. I believe that we have to stick to our 
commitments. I expect another side to keep its commitment. I will not 
answer on a hypothetical situation.
    The President. Mr. Friedman [Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times].
    Q. Arafat has been rather slow in getting the PLO organized to 
fulfill these negotiations. We've seen that on both the political and 
security front. I wondered if you could elaborate on (a) are you 
satisfied with the PLO's performance up to now in the negotiations, and 
(b) what will you do if the PLO does not condemn these actions?
    The President. On the second question, I don't think I can give a 
better answer than the Prime Minister did. I used to give that response. 
I should return to it more often, I think. But let me go back to the 
first question, which I think is quite important.
    I wish that the pace had been more rapid. But I think it is 
important to recognize that the PLO itself, by its very nature, by the 
nature of its organization and its activities over the last many, many 
years has never had the responsibility of going through the mechanics 
that have to be discussed in this agreement: How do the lights get 
turned on in the morning; how is the food distributed; how are the 
houses built? How are these things done? So I think, in fairness, I 
would be quite concerned if I thought that the fact that we're a little 
bit slow in the pace here was the result of some sort of deliberate 
desire to undermine an accord they had just signed off on.
    At the present moment, I really believe it is more a function of the 
whole organization not being organized for or experienced in the work in 
which they must now engage. And so the Prime Minister and I talked about 
this quite a bit, and we still have high hopes that if the timetable is 
not met, at least it can be nearly met for the conclusion of these 
specific and concrete things. I think it is more a function of this is 
sort of an alien role for them, and I think they're working into it. But 
I'm hopeful now that there is a level of engagement which will permit us 
to push it through to success.
    Press Secretary Myers. Last question.
    Q. I would like to ask you a question concerning the agreement, the 
peace agreements. There was a discussion that what was needed was 
economic development. There were a number of projects on the Gaza 
concerning water, canals, energy resources, et cetera. I'd like to ask, 
what is your estimate of the magnitude of funding needed in order to get 
these projects into motion? And also, what are the consequences if these 
projects are not realized within a certain amount of time in the Gaza? 
And perhaps the Prime Minister would like to answer that question, too.
    Prime Minister Rabin. As of today, Israel supplies all the 
electricity needs of the Gaza and the West Bank. There is no shortage of 
electricity there. The question, what will be the projects that will be 
built there, how much the consumption of energy and other items 
including water--we continue also to add to the water supplies of Gaza 
by a pipeline that supplies them water. We need to negotiate all this 
before we negotiate to tall figures. It will not be a serious statement.
    The President. But let me respond, though, to that. When we had the 
donors' conference here, working both individually and multilaterally, 
we have commitments over the next few years for several billion dollars 
and a few hundred million dollars right off the bat. We think that's 
enough to make a big difference.
    I have asked our people to identify some specific high return, quick 
investment infrastructure projects that could be instituted and effected 
quickly that would have a significant economic benefit to the people in 
the affected areas that we could proceed with just as quickly as the 
agreements make that possible. So I think there's money there to do what 
needs to be done in the near term once there is a system which 
guarantees that the investments, whether they be in infrastructure or 
new economic development, will have the result that we want.
    Brit [Brit Hume, ABC News].
    Q. Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to ask the Prime Minister, if 
I could, something about what you said to Mr. Clinton today about the 
Pollard case and why the matter continues to be such a priority with 
you, sir.
    Prime Minister Rabin. I don't believe it would be advisable to me to 
add on this issue to what the President said.
    The President. One last question from the Israeli press.
    Q. I'd like to ask you, in the near future will you send a new 
ambassador to Tel Aviv? When do you think the time will come to move 
your Embassy to Jerusalem?

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    The President. I think from the question you ask you know what my 
long-standing position on that issue has been. But I have to resort to 
the position that I have taken on this ever since these talks began, and 
that is that the United States should not at this time make any 
statement which in any way injects the United States into a peace 
process that must be carried out by the parties themselves. And for me 
to say anything about that one way or the other at this moment in my 
judgment would run the risk of throwing the process out of kilter. There 
will be time to discuss that and to make statements about that later on 
down the road at a more ripe occasion.
    Thank you.

Note: The President's 33d news conference began at 12:11 p.m. in the 
East Room at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to Jonathan 
Pollard, U.S. Navy employee convicted of selling national security 
information to Israel.