    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [September 4, 1999]
    [Pages 1489-1491]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1489]]

    Remarks on the Middle East Peace Process and an Exchange With Reporters
    September 4, 1999

        The President. The new agreement which will be signed today between
    the Israelis and the Palestinians represents a wonderful opportunity to
    move the peace process forward. It is a product of hard work and the
    growing understanding by Israelis and Palestinians alike that the
    fulfillment of one side's aspirations must come with, and not at the
    expense of, the fulfillment of the other side's dreams.
        The two sides have both strong positions to be reconciled and shared
    interests to be pursued together. They know there's no sense in an
    endless tug-of-war over common ground.
        The United States has been honored to support these efforts for
    peace, from the signing of the Oslo agreement on the White House lawn
    almost exactly 6 years ago, to the Wye River accords achieved with the
    help of the late King Hussein, to the peace between Israel and Jordan
    itself in 1994, down to the present agreement. Our success in these
    endeavors, of course, goes back to the Camp David accords under
    President Carter in 1978.
        Today I want to pay tribute to Prime Minister Barak for fulfilling his promise to seek a just and lasting
    peace for the people of Israel and to Chairman Arafat for his courage in taking yet another step toward
    mutual respect and recognition. I am grateful for Egyptian President
    Mubarak's extraordinary efforts in this
    instance. He had a critical role in facilitating this agreement. And, of
    course, I want to say a special word of thanks to Secretary
    Albright and her team for going the
    extra mile to help the parties bridge their final gaps and reach
    consensus.
        There is much hard work ahead for all of us. The United States
    pledged in the Wye River accords that we would help both sides minimize
    the risks of peace and we would help to lift the lives of the
    Palestinians. I ask Congress now to provide the funds we need to keep
    that promise.
        Final status talks are now set to begin. We will do everything we
    can to be supportive all along the way and to achieve our larger goal: a
    just, lasting, and comprehensive peace in the entire region, including
    Syria and Lebanon. I hope today's progress is seen by leaders in the
    Middle East as a stepping stone toward that larger goal. Our commitment
    to reaching it will never waver.
        Thank you very much.

    Reinvestigation of 1993 Waco Incident

        Q. Mr. President, were you concerned that incendiary devices were
    used at Waco--or are you concerned?
        The President. Well, let me say I support the Attorney
    General's decision to seek an independent
    investigation, and I think that's what ought to happen, and we ought to
    see what the investigation turns up. We ought to find out what the truth
    is and let you and the American people know.
        Q. Do you still have confidence in the Attorney General and the
    Director of the FBI?
        The President. Yes, I certainly have confidence in the Attorney
    General. You know, she's told us what happened;
    and she's told us she asked some questions that she didn't get the right
    answers to.
        And I think that with regard to the Director, I don't think that it's--there is going to be an
    independent investigation, which she supports and
    which he has said he supports. I don't think it serves any purpose for
    the rest of us to assign blame until the investigation is conducted and
    the evidence is in. I think he did the right thing in saying he thought
    there ought to be an independent investigation, and I think that that's
    all we can ask of him. And she is now going to appoint an appropriate
    person to do it, and I think we ought to let them do their job.

    East Timor

        Q. Mr. President, are you pleased at the outcome of the voting in
    East Timor?
        The President. Yes, I'm pleased because so many people voted, and
    I'm pleased because the outcome was so unambiguous. I believe it's 78\1/
    2\ to 21\1/2\; that's about as clear an expression of public opinion as
    you could ever expect.
        Now, I'm very concerned about the continuing violence. The people
    who lost the election should recognize that they lost it fair and
    square, and we should now find a way to go

    [[Page 1490]]

    forward peacefully. I respect the fact that the Government of Indonesia
    supported the referendum and has said that it will abide by these
    results. It isn't often that a country is willing to do such a thing.
    But I think it is also important that the Indonesians do everything they
    can to keep the peace and to prevent the bloodshed that we now see in
    East Timor. They have a capacity, I think, that would enable them to do
    that.
        We will work with the United Nations; we will do everything we can
    to support it. But this was a truly historic occurrence and one that may
    provide some guidance, some indication, some hope for people throughout
    the world. It would be tragic, indeed, if the referendum, which was so
    heavily supported by the people--not only the 78 percent who voted for
    independence but just the huge percentage of the citizens that showed up
    to vote--it would be tragic if all that came out of it was more and more
    violence and killing of innocents.
        So I think it's important that they, the United Nations, and all of
    us who support them do everything we can to minimize the bloodshed and
    to facilitate an orderly and honorable transition. And we will support
    that.

    Legislative Agenda

        Q. Now that you're--[inaudible]--your vacation and Congress is going
    to come back, what are you hoping to accomplish as far as the
    legislative agenda?
        The President. Well, I'm quite optimistic, actually, in view of some
    of the developments of the last few weeks. I hope we can pass the
    Patients' Bill of Rights. There is now a bipartisan bill that has been
    supported by the American Medical Association and 200 other health
    professional, health consumer groups. I hope now that those who have
    been opposing it in the congressional leadership will change their
    position and let us go forward.
        I'm very hopeful that we will pass juvenile justice legislation that
    will adopt the commonsense measures to keep guns out of the wrong hands
    that the Senate adopted. I'm very hopeful that in the end we will get a
    budget agreement that will enable us to extend the life of Social
    Security, extend the life to the Medicare Trust Fund, and provide for
    prescription drugs and pay down the debt of the American people. And
    there are many other things that are going on.
        I would like to emphasize, since this is Labor Day and all the
    children are going back to school, I'm also especially hopeful that we
    can be successful with our education agenda. This is the occasion, this
    year, 1999, as we see in every 5-year period, when we have to
    reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. And back in
    January, at the State of the Union Address, I asked the Congress to
    change the terms in which we give money to States and school districts
    to stop subsidizing failure, to end social promotion, to dramatically
    increase our commitment to after-school and summer school programs and
    to proven strategies that turn around failing schools.
        We've seen all over the country where there is a systematic effort
    to turn these failing schools around, they work. And if we do that, plus
    the charter schools, plus the school modernization program and hooking
    them all up to the Internet, and our continuing commitment to hire more
    teachers, I think that this could be one of the most productive years
    that we have had since I've been President.
        It's in the nature of divided government that things that happen
    that are positive tend to happen late in the process. So I am not at all
    pessimistic. I'm quite hopeful that we can get over this difference we
    have over the tax issue, that they will accept an affordable tax cut
    that will provide--my tax proposal provides about as much relief to
    middle class Americans as theirs does at a much, much lower cost and
    permits us to achieve these other objectives.
        So I'm going to work as hard as I can with members of both parties
    to get that done as they come back. I'm looking forward to it, looking
    forward to talking to the leaders of the Senate and the House in both
    parties and going back to work.

    President's Vacation and Home Purchase

        Q. Mr. President, after all you have done in the last 2 weeks, do
    you need a vacation? [Laughter] And how do you like your new house?
        The President. Yes, even by my standards this was a fairly active
    vacation, you know. Hillary is
    keeping me busy, and we had a lot of--we also had finalized the house. I
    love this house. It's a beautiful old house, and the older part of it
    was built in 1889. The people who lived in it for the last 18 years have
    taken wonderful care of it. It was obviously a place that

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    has been lovingly tended to, and it will be a good place to wake up in
    the morning--lots of light. I like the neighbors; they were nice. And so
    I'm looking forward to it. I know that Hillary is, and I'm very pleased
    that we were able to find it.
        And I'd also like to say, since you asked me the question, a special
    word of thanks to all the people who opened their homes to
    Hillary or to Hillary and me, to
    people on our behalf, as we were looking for a place. As you might
    imagine, the circumstances for them were somewhat unusual; the publicity
    for them--most of them--was somewhat--was unprecedented, and I was very
    touched by the way we were received.
        And I had a wonderful vacation. I liked it all. But I had to come up
    to Camp David to get a little rest this weekend.
        Q. Thank you, Mr. President.
        The President. Thank you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 4 p.m. at Camp David, MD. In his remarks,
    he referred to Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel; Chairman Yasser
    Arafat of the Palestinian Authority; and President Hosni Mubarak of
    Egypt.