    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
    [September 29, 1996]
    [Pages 1725-1726]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Announcing the White House Middle East Summit and an Exchange
    With Reporters
    September 29, 1996

        The President. Good morning. The loss of life and the tragedy of the
    violence in the Middle East this week have been a terrible development
    for the Israeli and the Palestinian people, a blow to all those who work
    for a lasting peace, an encouragement to those who oppose a lasting
    peace.
        Earlier this week I called on Israelis and Palestinians to end the
    cycle of violence, to restore calm, to recommit themselves to the hard
    work of building peace through negotiations. There

    [[Page 1726]]

    has been some progress since then toward ending the confrontation but
    not enough. Therefore, after consulting with Secretary Christopher, who
    has literally been working around the clock with the regional leaders to
    resolve this problem, I have invited Prime Minister Netanyahu and
    Chairman Arafat to come to Washington as soon as possible. They have
    accepted my invitation, as has King Hussein of Jordan. I've also invited
    President Mubarak of Egypt; he is seeing whether it is possible for him
    to attend. I expect the meetings to take place early this week.
        The United States has often played a pivotal role in bringing Arabs
    and Israelis together to work out their differences in peace. It is our
    responsibility to do whatever we can to protect the peace process and to
    help move it forward. This is such a moment.
        The events of this week are all the more shocking because the
    Israelis and the Palestinians have taken so many giant steps toward
    peace in the last couple of years. They have shown the world that they
    want peace. They know they must make hard choices to achieve that goal.
        I'm prepared to do everything in my power to help the Israelis and
    the Palestinians end the violence and begin the peace process again in
    earnest. We have to return to the path of peace along which they have
    already traveled so far.
        Q. Mr. President, do you think that Israel is ready to abide by its
    promise to keep previous peace agreements made by other governments?
        The President. Well, President--excuse me--Prime Minister Netanyahu
    says that he will abide by all previous agreements and that is an
    understanding that he has reached with Chairman Arafat. We will be
    discussing the relevant issues here to the recent violence and what can
    be done to really get the peace process back on track when they come
    here.
        Q. What do you think made them decide to come to Washington? They
    seem so adamantly opposed before.
        The President. I believe that--I think they're both concerned about
    the way events spun out of control, about the loss of life, the injury,
    the eruption of old tensions and bitterness. And I believe they want to
    try to get beyond that and go back to moving toward the path of peace. I
    don't think they would be coming here if they didn't.
        Q. What would you ask them to do?
        The President. Well, I firmly believe that one of the reasons for
    the success we have had in the last 3 years is that the United States
    has not presumed to speak publicly for either one of them and we have
    been very careful about what we say, particularly in advance of these
    meetings. I'm going to do everything I can to facilitate a resolution of
    this, and I don't want to say anything before they get here that would
    complicate that.
        Q. Thank you.
        The President. Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:50 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu
    of Israel, Chairman Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority, King
    Hussein I of Jordan, and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt.