    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
    [September 29, 1995]
    [Pages 1518-1520]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Exchange With Reporters Prior to Discussions With President Hosni
    Mubarak of Egypt
    September 29, 1995

        President Clinton. I thought it was great. I thought your talk was
    great, what you said. There were some unusual things said yesterday,
    even more so in some ways than the last time when they were here. What
    you said and--we've got a transcript we haven't made up our mind about--
    [laughter].
        Good morning, everyone.
        Vice President Gore. Your picture is all over the United States
    today in the morning newspapers.
        President Clinton. Yes. I thought it was interesting. The picture
    that most of them showed was the one in the New York Times today. Most--
    [inaudible]--showed us, the five of us, you know--have you seen it?
    [Inaudible]--every time. That's the picture that was mostly in the
    country.
        President Mubarak. Yes.
        President Clinton. That was great.
        Good morning.

    Jerusalem

        Q. Mr. President, what do you think is going to happen to Jerusalem
    when there is a final settlement?
        President Clinton. Are you addressing me or President Mubarak?
    [Laughter]
        Q. First Mubarak, then you.
        President Clinton. That's good. [Laughter]
        Q. Or vice-versa. I think you heard Chairman Arafat say something
    about a joint cornerstone.
        President Mubarak. I think, as Chairman Arafat mentioned yesterday,
    there should be access of the holy places for all the religions in
    Eastern Jerusalem. And we know beforehand that Jerusalem will be very
    difficult to be divided. So any kind of arrangement for Jerusalem, east
    and west, without dividing it, I think, may have a problem.
        Q. Well, that would be the Israeli position, wouldn't it?
        President Mubarak. Look, it's--we should listen to all of the
    statements coming here and there, but this will be decided during the
    negotiations. All of us are going to act in that direction, with the
    help of President Clinton and the administration.
        Q. Mr. President, do you want to elaborate on that?
        President Clinton. You know what our position is, that the less we
    say about this at this moment, the better, because the parties have
    agreed themselves to make this a part of the final status talks. And
    what we want to do is to create the maximum chance that they will
    actually reach a good-faith agreement, because if they actually reach a
    good-faith agreement, then the chances are much greater that it will
    then be accepted by all the people in the area.

    [[Page 1519]]

        I think everyone expects that because of the importance of Jerusalem
    to Muslims, to Jews, and to Christians, that all of us believers from
    all over the world will be able to show up there and have access to our
    holy sites. But I think that it's very important that we not prejudge
    exactly what the structure be. We should let the negotiators work. They
    have done a marvelous job. I mean, look at yesterday, Prime Minister
    Rabin and Chairman Arafat initialed 26 maps in here. There were
    thousands and thousands and thousands of excruciatingly detailed
    decisions made by those negotiators. That is good evidence that they can
    actually work through these things. And I believe in the end, they will
    reach whatever they believe is a fair and livable accommodation on
    Jerusalem, and I want to see them have a chance to do it.

     Foreign Policy

        Q.  Do you think, Mr. President, that your foreign policy, foreign
    policy in general is beginning to fall into place as you see some of the
    problems that you've had over the past 2\1/2\ years get resolved?
        President Clinton. Well, I thought we had a pretty good year last
    year as well. I think what's happening is that these two events of this
    week show that the announcement in the Middle East in 1993 was not a
    fluke, not an aberration, that there really is a process unfolding in
    the Middle East and that we have a chance to go all the way. And of
    course, President Mubarak and I will be talking about that today. Until
    we finish these agreements between the Palestinians and the Israelis and
    until we have an agreement between Syria and Lebanon and Israel, we
    won't be able to go all the way, but I think there is a sense of that.
        And in Bosnia, I think there is at least a sense that what has been
    our thorniest and most difficult problem, we may be able to work
    through. Now, we're a long way from getting there, but we are making
    progress. And I'm hopeful and--these things will make the American
    people more secure and more prosperous. And they'll live in a world that
    they feel better about. And I'm happy for our people, but I'm
    particularly pleased for the people in the affected areas.

    Bosnia

        Q. Are you bringing to the leaders today a specific price tag for
    Bosnia when a peace settlement is reached? What is it you will be asking
    them?
        President Clinton. No, because we have no way of knowing that. We
    have to see whether there is a peace agreement reached and what the map
    looks like and what the conditions are and what we're asked to do as a
    world community. So we have no way of knowing that right now.
        Q. But you're still committed to sending U.S. troops to implement
    the peace?
        President Clinton. I believe the United States should be a part of
    implementing the peace process. I have said that for almost 3 years. I
    don't see how, as the leader of NATO and basically the leader of the
    West, we can walk away from that. And I think the American people, once
    I explain it to them, will be supportive. And I believe the Congress
    will.
        Q. How many?
        President Clinton. I'll have more to say about that in the
    congressional meeting. You can ask more Bosnia questions in there
    because we're going to talk about that.

    Continuing Resolution

        Q. Are you going to sign a CR today?
        President Clinton. I'll talk about that at the congressional meeting
    as well.
        Q. Got to have something later.
        President Clinton. Never satisfied. [Laughter]
        Thank you all.
        Q. Nothing ventured. [Laughter]

    [At this point, one group of reporters left the room, and another group
    entered.]

    Middle East Peace Process

        Q. Mr. President Mubarak, can we ask what main issues will be
    discussed with President Clinton?
        President Mubarak. We have various issues to be discussed--
    implementation of the peace process; we'll speak on Bosnia; we'll speak
    of cooperation in the area; about the economic summit in Jordan. We have
    so many issues to discuss.
        Q. President Clinton, actually, I have two questions. I wanted to
    ask you about what you plan to do in the next stage on bilateral ties
    with Egypt in order to boost investment, American investment in Egypt.
    And also, the other question is, we've been talking to many Palestinians
    about good intentions on the part of the Israelis in order to implement
    the peace process,

    [[Page 1520]]

    and good intentions are the key for the implementation of the peace
    process----
        President Clinton. Well, let me answer--I'll try to answer both of
    them. First of all, our bilateral relations are important with Egypt,
    but one of the things that is shaping our bilateral relations is the
    leadership that Egypt is showing in the region and throughout the Arab
    world as a force for peace and the strong stand taken against terrorism,
    which we want to cooperate with and support. I believe that that is very
    important not only for the strong tourism industry in Egypt but for
    getting investment and growth into the country and over the long run.
        Secondly, I think Egypt's role as a regional leader will help us to
    strengthen our bilateral relationship. For example, if we can locate the
    Middle Eastern development bank there, that's not just to develop things
    for the Palestinians, that's for the whole region. What we want to do is
    to bring in a huge influx of capital into the Middle East to bring the
    benefits of peace to all the people who have fought for it. And since
    Egypt was the first nation to make peace and since President Mubarak has
    been a leading, consistent, unwavering force for the peace process, I
    think Egypt would benefit dramatically from that. So we will work on
    that.
        Now secondly, with regard to the intentions of the Israelis, I
    believe that the Prime Minister and his government are completely
    committed to this. And I saw yesterday these maps that were signed in
    here that are the annexes to the words of the agreement. They signed--
    Chairman Arafat and Prime Minister Rabin signed 26 maps that had
    literally thousands and thousands of decisions on them. So they know
    exactly what they're getting into. They have made very, very detailed
    commitments to one another.
        And just as I believe that Chairman Arafat is going to do his best
    to try to diminish terror, I believe that the Prime Minister will do
    everything he can to fulfill both the letter and the spirit of the
    agreement. And that is one of the things that the United States has been
    able to do with the leadership of the Secretary of State and Mr. Ross.
    And our whole team is to try to work with the parties to make sure that
    their relationship ripens.
        And I will say this: I would urge you to go back and carefully
    review the text of the statements made not only yesterday at the
    ceremony but last night at the reception by both Prime Minister Rabin
    and Chairman Arafat. They said some remarkable things, some things that
    they certainly didn't say here 2 years ago, which, to me, showed that
    they are kind of opening up to one another and that the level of trust
    is growing.
        Now, we all know that none of us have total control over people who
    are, in theory, within our dominion. Here in the United States we have
    crimes committed every day that the President cannot stop. But I think
    they are proceeding in good faith, and I think that the people in the
    Middle East will have a high level of confidence in the way the Israelis
    proceed now.

    Note: The exchange began at 11:20 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of this
    exchange.