    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book I)]
    [April 30, 1996]
    [Pages 667-670]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Signing the Israel-United States Counterterrorism Cooperation
    Accord and an Exchange With Reporters
    April 30, 1996

        The President. Good afternoon, Mr. Prime Minister and members of the
    Israeli and American delegations, ladies and gentlemen. For the past 3
    years, Israel and the United States have worked hand in hand to advance
    the peace process in the Middle East. Today, with this U.S.-Israel
    Counterterrorism Cooperation Accord, we strengthen our partnership to
    stop the enemies of peace.
        With every new step along the path to peace, its enemies grow more
    and more desperate. They know a new day is dawning in the Middle East,
    that the vast majority of its people want to enjoy the blessings of a
    normal life. Their answer, more violence and terror, more bullets and
    bombs, may seem senseless, but it is the product of cold calculation. By
    murdering innocent people, they aim to kill the growing hope for peace
    itself.
        We will not do what the enemies of peace want. We will not let our
    anger turn us away from the pursuit of peace in the Middle East.
    Maintaining our resolve for peace does not mean, however, turning the
    other cheek. We must do everything in our power to stop the killing and
    bring the terrorists to justice. That is the only way to give those who
    have chosen peace the confidence they need that they have made the right
    choice and the courage to keep moving forward.
        This agreement does just that by deepening the cooperation between
    our two countries in the fight against terrorism. Prime Minister Peres
    and I worked on it during my visit to Israel last month, in the wake of
    a terrible string of suicide bombings. Now we have agreed upon areas for
    greater cooperation, on information sharing, on research and
    development, on train-

    [[Page 668]]

    ing and technical assistance, on investigation, prosecution, and
    extradition. In each one we will look at very practical ways in which we
    can work together better.
        I am pleased to sign this accord. And I am also pleased that the
    budget I signed just last week included the $50 million I requested
    earlier this year for our joint antiterrorism efforts in this year,
    including today's accords. I thank the Congress for their prompt action
    here and for the bipartisan support it received.
        To my friend the Prime Minister and the people of Israel, let me say
    the United States stands with Israel through good times and bad because
    our countries share the same ideals, freedom, tolerance, democracy. We
    know that wherever those ideals are under siege in one country they are
    threatened everywhere. We have never been more determined to achieve and
    to defend those ideals and to achieve our goal of a just and lasting
    peace for all the people of the Middle East.
        Mr. Prime Minister.
        Prime Minister Peres. I would like to thank from the depths of my
    heart, in the name of the people of Israel, the President, his
    delegation, his team, and him personally for really showing the deepest
    understanding that one can hope for, the immediate response whenever it
    is necessary, and the friendship that he has offered time and again over
    the last years.
        I see the difference between the camp of terror and the free world.
    The camp of terror is operating under orders; it's disciplined; it's
    organized. The camp of freedom keeps its freedom. You cannot lead the
    camp of freedom unless you have a leader of great inspiration and
    outstanding capacity.
        In my own judgment, Bill Clinton has this great capacity to inspire
    the whole free world with his ideas, with his determination, with his
    capacity to distinguish what is right and what is wrong, what is
    immediate and what is long-range, what is support and what is response.
    I feel myself very lucky to see a person like him standing ahead and
    trying to lead the whole world to peace and to peace for everybody, not
    just for us, the Israelis, but also for our neighbors; not just for the
    Middle East but for Bosnia, Haiti, or other places.
        We are going and departing by the end of this century a history of
    bloodshed, and with Godspeed let's hope that we're entering a different
    world of peace and understanding. The President played a major role in
    bringing peace between us and the Jordanians, between us and the
    Palestinians. He and his Secretary of State are now opening a new
    chapter to bring peace between us, Syria, and Lebanon that may be the
    last peace which is necessary in order to make the peace comprehensive
    and all-embracing.
        Mr. President, I really, with a full heart of thanks, would like to
    express both our admiration and gratefulness to you, to your
    administration, to the American Congress, to the American people. The
    world is a better place to live with this sort of a policy and this sort
    of leadership.
        Thank you very much.

    Middle East Peace Process

        Q. Mr. Prime Minister, those agreements you're talking about that
    you'd like to have by all accounts will require Israel giving up
    territory, buffer zone. The help you got on this trip--antimissile help,
    counterterrorism help--will that make it easier for you to relinquish
    territory in order to get an agreement with Syria and with Lebanon?
        Prime Minister Peres. You're asking me?
        Q. Yes, sir.
        Prime Minister Peres. We don't intend to remain in Lebanon anyway.
    We don't have any territorial ambitions concerning Lebanon. And on the
    first right occasion our army will be more than happy to leave the
    territory of Lebanon.
        We do recognize the international border between Lebanon and
    ourselves. If the Lebanese Government will take charge and the Lebanese
    Army will become the only armed authority in Lebanon and disarm all the
    other terroristic organizations, I see very little reason for us to
    remain in Lebanon.
        Q. Yes, sir, but I asked you about Syria and Lebanon, and I asked
    you if the agreements and the help you've gotten here on this visit will
    ease your giving up territory, which you're committed to anyhow, we
    know. Does it make it easier for you?
        Prime Minister Peres. Well, you're talking about territory, and I'm
    talking about peace. Territory----
        Q. I'm talking about land for peace.
        Prime Minister Peres. I understand. I mean, if it wouldn't be done
    what we are doing here, I'm afraid that terror would win the day, and
    that would be the end of the peace process.

    [[Page 669]]

    We consider the last campaign as a campaign against peace. Now to answer
    your question, we have announced that in order to attain peace we are
    ready to make territorial compromise. Don't expect me now to lay the map
    on the table.
        The President. If I could just say one other thing related to this,
    this last agreement that was reached and the first one in writing to
    restore the cease-fire and to set up a monitoring mechanism that
    involves Israel and Lebanon and Syria and involves France, who has been
    very active in this, and then has a larger consultative group that
    involves Russia and other countries. Because this is in writing and
    because it gives us a chance to restore a normal life there, if this can
    be properly implemented, I think that it will be a good signal or a
    good, if you will, a test run to see how--whether other progress can be
    made.
        And I have talked to the Prime Minister about this. We are all very
    concerned about the civilians, the innocent people in Northern Israel,
    and all the people in southern Lebanon who have lost loved ones and have
    suffered great economic disruption. I think we have to implement this
    agreement faithfully and help the Lebanese to rebuild their
    infrastructure and restore the stability of their populations.
        And I appreciate what the Prime Minister has said to me about that.
    I wanted to thank you for that.
        Prime Minister Peres. I told the President that Israel will clearly
    respect religiously the understanding that was achieved by the Secretary
    and his team upon the invitation of the President. Then I told the
    President that Israel will participate in the effort to restore the
    damages in Lebanon, together with other nations, and we shall do so.
        The President. Thank you for that.

    Israeli Elections

        Q. Mr. President, the Washington Post wrote today that you are
    betting on Mr. Peres as the next Prime Minister, and rightly so. Is that
    the case?
        The President. Well, let me say, first of all, in democracies we
    have--we schedule elections. And that's a good thing. That reminds
    everybody that the people are in charge. But I think it was not only
    appropriate, it was virtually necessary for the Prime Minister to come
    here at this time, in the wake of recent events not only in Lebanon but
    some of the developments in their relationship between Israel and the
    PLO--as I think all of you know, Mr. Arafat will be here in the next
    couple of days--so I think his trip here is entirely appropriate, and it
    was the right thing to do.
        The United States has always said that we do not interfere in the
    internal decisions of other countries, and Israel and the United States
    are friends and allies and will be no matter who is elected. I hope that
    will also be the case no matter who is elected in November in the United
    States. So our policy on that has not changed and will not and should
    not.
        Q. But, Mr. President, you said in Moscow recently, regarding the
    Russian election, that elections have consequences, and you did not
    dispute that that election would have consequences for relations between
    your government and whatever government is there. Is that not also true
    here, sir?
        The President. Well, and for the Russian people. Then it depends,
    obviously, on what happens afterward. But all elections have
    consequences. But the people who decide what the consequences are are
    the citizens of the country, in this case, the citizens of Israel. You
    know, they've shown pretty good judgment for quite a long while now, and
    I'm sure that the Prime Minister would join me in saying that they're in
    the driver's seat on that question, not me and not anyone else.

    Israeli Response to Terrorist Attacks

        Q. Mr. Prime Minister, you spoke of the last bombing campaign, so to
    speak, the four bombings that occurred within little more than a week.
    In the weeks since, there have been no--I hate to use the word
    ``successful''--bombings in Israel. To what would you attribute that?
        Prime Minister Peres. To three things: To the conference in Sharm
    al-Sheikh that was initiated by the President and created a spirit of
    cooperation and understanding to work together in order to stop the acts
    of bombing and suicidal terror. The second is the more serious measures
    that Yasser Arafat has taken in Gaza and the territories. I feel that he
    really started to fight terror, and I say it with appreciation. And the
    third is because Israel itself--maybe that is from our point of view the
    first thing--got ourself organized to face this danger. I cannot say
    that we have a full-fledged answer to the problem,

    [[Page 670]]

    but we are by far much more organized and ready to prevent these sort of
    actions.
        The President. Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:57 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the
    White House.