    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [November 1, 1999]
    [Pages 1943-1946]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Following Discussions With Prime Minister Kjell Magne
    Bondevik of Norway and an Exchange With
    Reporters in Oslo
    November 1, 1999

        Prime Minister Bondevik. Mr. President, dear journalists, it's a
    very special occasion for us in Norway. This is the very first visit
    from a sitting President of the United States to our country. So we are
    so glad to receive President Clinton here.
        We have had fruitful discussions, where we could continue our talks
    from the White House in Washington, only 2 weeks ago. And of course, we
    have discussed the Middle East peace process. We think that the
    ceremonial commemoration tomorrow for the late Prime Minister Rabin and
    the talks in that framework can stimulate the peace process. And we are
    both committed to assist the two parties. The main responsibility for a
    final solution is, of course, upon the two parties.
        Norway and the U.S. will seek ways to expand our common efforts in a
    number of areas for security, development, and for well-being. The
    President and I have today agreed on an initiative to follow up the
    Reykjavik Conference on Women and Democracy, where the First Lady,
    Hillary Clinton, participated. We are also agreed on a joint initiative
    on funding for support of disabled victims of the war in Sierra Leone.
        Mr. President, I believe that you want to say a few words before we
    answer one or two questions. Mr. President.
        President Clinton. Thank you. First, Prime Minister, let me say I am
    delighted to be here, honored by your invitation to come a few weeks
    ago, and then by the King's invitation to come
    to Norway. As you perhaps know, I traveled here alone as a young man
    some 30 years ago--it was actually 30 years ago this December--and I
    fell in love with this country. I'd long wanted to come back. I was
    amazed to discover that I am the first sitting President ever to visit
    Norway. I can't imagine what the others were thinking about--
    [laughter]--but I am delighted to be here.
        I also would like to thank you for the wonderful reception that my
    wife and my daughter received when they represented our Nation in
    Lillehammer at the Olympics, and for the support, Prime Minister, you
    have given to the women's conference and the women's issues that Hillary
    has tried to raise, most recently in Reykjavik with representatives of
    your country and the other countries in the region.
        We have been friends for a long time. We have been allies for 50
    years with NATO. Today the Prime Minister and I discussed building a
    Europe that is united, democratic, and free; and I am looking forward to
    seeing the Prime Minister again shortly in Turkey at the meeting of the
    OSCE. And I'm very grateful that Norway is now the leader of the OSCE,
    serving its term as chair.
        We did discuss the Sierra Leone, and I would just like to say again,
    I am profoundly grateful that Norway has agreed to work with the United
    States to provide prosthetics, to provide artificial limbs to as many
    people as we possibly can, many of them children, whose limbs were
    deliberately amputated in the cruel civil war in Sierra Leone.
        I also want to thank you, Prime Minister, for Norway's support for
    our common efforts

    [[Page 1944]]

    to end the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. And I want to say a special word
    of thanks to the Norwegian people, because I believe that when the
    800,000-plus Kosovar Albanians were driven from their home, on a per
    capita basis, Norway took in more of the refugees from Kosovo than any
    other country in the world. And that is something that you can be very
    proud of and something for which your friends must be very grateful. So
    I want to thank you for that.
        And finally, let me thank you for your continuing interest in the
    Middle East peace process and for having this wonderful occasion to
    honor the memory of my friend and partner, former Prime Minister Rabin.
    I think it will be very successful, indeed. Your country has a lot to be
    proud of. You have enormous influence for your size, and it is very much
    earned and deserved. Thank you.

    Middle East Peace Process

        Q. Mr. President, do you believe that the Middle East talks here in
    Oslo can move the peace process substantially forward?
        President Clinton. Yes, I do. I don't think you should expect some
    sort of major announced breakthrough here, because, keep in mind, the
    parties have had--since, in the last couple of years, they had the Wye
    peace agreement under Prime Minister Netanyahu and Chairman Arafat. Then
    when Prime Minister Barak came in, they modified the Wye peace agreement
    and agreed to an even faster schedule of implementation.
        Since then, Israel has released controversial political prisoners,
    agreed to establish safe passage between--and started it, actually,
    started the safe passage between the West Bank and Gaza, and agreed to
    open a port, which was a source of great tension between them before.
    Now they have to move into the final status talks, as conceived almost 7
    years ago now here in Oslo, with the Oslo accords. So the important
    thing now is that the two leaders know that they have set themselves an
    ambitious timetable and that they agreed about how they're going to meet
    the timetable. This is the hard part, I mean the really hard part. And
    we all need to support them.
        But do I believe that we can come out of this meeting and this
    solemn occasion with a renewed commitment to the peace process? Yes, I
    do.

    EgyptAir Flight 990 Aircraft Tragedy

        Q. Mr. President, they're still combing the wreckage of EgyptAir
    flight 990. Do you know any more about the cause of the tragedy, whether
    it was a mechanical malfunction or has terrorism been ruled out? And
    have there been any threats recently against any carriers flying out of
    the United States?
        President Clinton. We know nothing more than I said to you earlier
    today--it seems like half a lifetime ago--when I came out of church with
    Hillary. We are still searching. We
    have to find--as you know, to make a final determination about the cause
    of the crash will require the recovery of as much of the airplane as
    possible, as well as the equipment, which will give us some--if the
    usual case is present here, give us a pretty definitive idea of what
    happened.
        But that has not been done yet, and therefore, I will say again,
    nothing has been ruled in, nothing has been ruled out. And I hope no one
    will draw any conclusions one way or the other until we finish the work.

    President's Legacy

        Q. Mr. President, how do you hope that people will remember you as
    the President of the United States? And is the peace process in the
    Middle East important in that regard? Would you like to be remembered as
    the President that created peace in the Middle East?
        President Clinton. Well, first of all, that's a question I'd feel
    more comfortable answering if I weren't President anymore, because I
    hope I'm still piling up memories for them. But I can tell you what I
    tried to do.
        What I tried to do is, first of all, take a country which I've found
    in economic distress and social division and turn it around toward
    greater prosperity and greater harmony, and convince people that,
    working together, we could solve our social problems. And then, I hope I
    will be remembered as someone who got our country to assume its
    responsibilities in the post-cold-war world, to make America a major
    force for peace and freedom, and against terrorism and racial and ethnic
    and religious hatreds. That is what I have worked to do and what I
    intend to continue working to do every day I have left to serve.

    [[Page 1945]]

    Threats to U.S. Air Carriers/Middle East Peace Process

        Q. Mr. President, two things. Could you address Mr. Katz' question
    about whether there had been any threats to U.S.--to carriers, airline
    carriers flying out of the United States? And also, do you see any merit
    to the idea that's been floated about having a Camp David-style
    negotiation in January to help Israel and the Palestinians meet the
    rigorous deadlines that they've set for themselves on the toughest
    issues in the talks?
        President Clinton. First, Terry [Terence Hunt, Associated Press], on
    the first question you ask--and I didn't mean to evade it--if there have
    been any such threats, I do not know about them. That is, I am not aware
    of any specific threats against American airlines or airplanes flying
    out of American airports with large numbers of American passengers. If
    there have been any such, I don't know about them.
        Now, it is possible that there could have been some that I don't
    know about, so I don't want to--I can't tell you the things I don't know
    about didn't happen. But I can tell you that I'm not aware of any, and
    as you know, I work on my intelligence information every day.
        As to the possibility of a Camp David-style meeting, I think it is
    premature to discuss that at this time. What we need now is an
    understanding of the parameters of where we're going and how we're going
    to get there. I wouldn't rule out anything, but there is, as you know,
    going all the way back to '93, there is nothing I would not do if I
    thought it would genuinely help to build a lasting peace in the Middle
    East. There is nothing I would not do, and I'm prepared to reaffirm that
    to Prime Minister Barak and to Chairman
    Arafat.
        But one of the things we have also learned here is that, in the end,
    the hard decisions have to be made by the parties. The United States can
    help with financial support, with military support, with moral backup.
    The rest of the world can help in many ways. But we have to get a
    framework of going forward that is consistent with the timetable they,
    themselves, have adopted, because I don't think we want to slip the
    timetable. Even though these decisions are very hard, they've been
    looming out there for several years now, and they're not going to get
    any easier, in my judgment, by letting them linger. So I will do what I
    can to get this thing going.
        Prime Minister Bondevik. Last question.
        Q. Yes, Mr. President, what do you regard as a real progress in the
    discussions with you and the Palestinians and the Israelis concerning
    the discussions about peace in Palestine and Israel?
        President Clinton. The real problems?
        Q. The real progress. What will you regard as the real progress?
        President Clinton. Oh, I'm sorry. Well, I would feel that real
    progress has been made if they made agreements about the modalities
    under which they will proceed--the procedures, the process, how it's
    going to operate--so that we can move into and then through these
    decisions in a timely fashion.
        There's no way in the world they can come here and agree in talks
    with me on the big issues. You know what all the big issues are. That's
    why they're final status issues. But if we can get everybody sort of
    focused on what it would take to get there within the time allotted, the
    time they have allotted themselves, then I think that that would be a
    very good thing, indeed.
        Keep in mind, you have here leaders who have demonstrated their
    commitment to peace and demonstrated their willingness to take risks.
    And you also have leaders who have been supported by their people for
    taking those risks. So I don't think this is a time for handwringing.
    But when you have a lot of implementation, like you did recently with
    the Wye modified agreement, and then you have the prisoners release, you
    have the port decision going forward, you have the safe passage open,
    you have some settlements closed and not all settlements closed, what it
    does is it whets everyone's appetite, on the one hand, for more to be
    done; and it also builds in a little bit of a resistance to more being
    done. It's like, ``I'm tired; I did this last week,'' you know? And what
    we've got to do is to create a renewed energy to make the process
    continuous, until you work all the way through to the end.
        Prime Minister Bondevik. I'm sorry, I just have to end up by saying
    that I know that you have been informed that I could be to your disposal
    after the President has left this building. Unfortunately, because we
    are on overtime for the luncheon at the Royal Castle, I also have to
    leave now. But I can be to your disposal

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    at the Grand Hotel at 2:15, approximately, and tell you even more about
    our discussions.
        We have, of course, also discussed the situation in Chechnya, our
    relations to Russia. We have found that we have very much in common
    regarding the priorities in foreign policy, combating poverty, promoting
    human rights, preventing conflicts. And I feel that our meeting has
    served to strengthen the already close ties between our two nations.
        Thank you so much.

    Note: Prime Minister Bondevik spoke at noon in the Prime Minister's
    Office. In his remarks, the President referred to King Harald V of
    Norway; former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and current Prime
    Minister Ehud Barak of Israel; and Chairman Yasser Arafat of the
    Palestinian Authority. A portion of these remarks could not be verified
    because the tape was incomplete.