    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book I)]
    [June 19, 2007]
    [Pages 766-771]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks Prior to Discussions With Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel and an Exchange With Reporters
    June 19, 2007

        President Bush. Mr. Prime Minister, thanks for coming. It's a--I've
    been looking forward to this visit. Last time we were together, we had a
    long and serious discussion about what we can do together to keep the
    peace.
        This visit comes obviously during a period of great concern for the
    world about what's taking place in Gaza, and so it's a timely visit. I'm
    looking forward to our discussions about how we can promote a common
    vision, a vision that speaks to the hopes and aspirations of the
    Palestinian people, and a vision that speaks to the security of Israel.
        I'm looking forward to sharing with the Prime Minister the results
    of a phone call I had yesterday with President Abbas. He is the President of all the Palestinians. He
    has spoken out for moderation. He is a voice that is a reasonable voice
    amongst the extremists in your neighborhood.
        You also come at an important moment, because there is yet again
    another moment for the world to see the great challenges we face in the
    21st century. We face extremists and radicals who use violence and
    murder as a tool to achieve objectives. And it's a chance, Mr. Prime
    Minister, for us to work on our bilateral relations, but also work on a
    common strategy to fight off those extremists and to promote a
    alternative ideology based upon human liberty and the human condition
    and freedom.
        And it's a great challenge. It's exciting to be in office during
    this period. It can be difficult for those of us who have been given the
    great honor of serving our countries, but it's an exciting moment. And
    I'm looking forward to working with a strong leader, a man committed to
    the security and prosperity of his country and, at the same time,
    committed to try to work the conditions necessary for peace.
        And so I'm glad to welcome a friend back at the Oval Office, and
    proud you're back.
        Prime Minister Olmert. Thank you very much, Mr. President. I am
    honored and delighted, after half a year almost, to be again a guest of
    yours, Mr. President, in the White House, and to discuss with you some
    of the kind of issues.
        As you have said already, this is a very special time. Things happen
    lately very dramatically. I'm sure that many people in the world were
    astounded by the brutality and the cruelty and the viciousness of the
    Hamas murderers that killed so many Palestinians in such a way. We who
    live in the Middle East--[inaudible]--some of us

    [[Page 767]]

    surprised, but not less outraged by these events.
        And I gladly share with you, Mr. President, the vision that, even
    under such circumstances, what we ought to do is to try and find
    opportunities for the future that align the situation. And I'm
    absolutely determined that there is an opportunity. And like you, I want
    to strengthen the moderates and cooperate with President Abu Mazen, who
    is President of all Palestinians, it is the only person who was widely
    elected in a democratic manner by all of the Palestinian people. And I
    am going to make every possible effort to cooperate with him and to move
    forward to see how to--can be--work jointly in order to provide the
    Palestinians with a real, genuine chance for a state of their own,
    fulfilling your vision, Mr. President, which I share, of a two-state
    solution and, at the same time, making sure that there is security for
    the people of Israel. And the people of Israel deserve security both in
    the south and in the north and in the east side of our country.
        I'm sure that we will find some time, also, to discuss other
    measures, such as the danger of Iran and the threats that come from the
    President of Iran, who talks time and again about the liquidation of the
    State of Israel, something that is totally intolerable and unacceptable.
    And we have to continue the measures taken in order to stop the Iranian
    efforts to establish nonconventional weapons.
        And again, I thank you for your friendship and for the power that
    you manifest and your dedication to the principles that you believe in.
    And I am proud to follow the same route to fight for the principles and
    to carry on. Thank you.
        President Bush. We'll answer a couple of questions, starting with
    Jennifer [Jennifer Loven, Associated Press].

    Israeli-Palestinian Relations/Situation in the Middle East

        Q. Thank you, sir. Will you try to persuade, during the session with
    the Prime Minister, to reenter peace talks with Mr. Abbas?
        And to the Prime Minister: What do you think of the offer? And do
    you think it's possible to have peace with just half the Palestinian
    people?
        Prime Minister Olmert. I didn't hear the first part of the question.
        President Bush. Will I try to persuade you to enter talks.
        Prime Minister Olmert. Yes.
        President Bush. First of all, we share a common vision of two states
    living side by side in peace. And the reason why, at least, I think
    that's important--one, I think it's important for the moderate people,
    the ordinary Palestinians to have something to be for. I also think it's
    in Israel's interest to have a state. It's a demographic pressure that
    ultimately is going to make it very difficult for Israel to maintain its
    Jewishness as a state.
        So there's a practical reason as well as a moral reason for there to
    be discussions about a way forward to achieve a two-state solution. And
    the Prime Minister has said that he wants--you can ask him if he's going
    to talk to Abbas. I'm not going
    to put words in his mouth.
        Q. I did.
        President Bush. But what I'm trying to say, Jennifer, is that we
    share a common way forward. And our hope is, is that others in the
    region understand that this way forward leads to peace. People other
    than President Abbas and the
    Palestinians, we would hope that the Arab world supports such a concept.
    Inherent in that is Israel's right to exist. There needs to be solid
    recognition of this state's right to live in peace.
        At the same time, we want to have a vision for the Palestinians to
    see that there's a better tomorrow for them. These folks have been
    denied for a long period of time the right to a normal life, starting
    with leadership that failed them. And our hope is that President
    Abbas and that Prime Minister
    Fayyad, who is a good fellow, will be
    strengthened to the point where they

    [[Page 768]]

    can lead the Palestinians in a different direction, with a different
    hope.
        The Prime Minister has spoken to me and I have spoken to him about
    our desire to help suffering Palestinians. Nobody likes suffering on
    their border; nobody likes to see suffering in the world. And so we'll
    talk about that. We'll also talk about the broader war against
    extremists and radicals.
        It's interesting that extremists attack democracies around the
    Middle East, whether it be the Iraq democracy, the Lebanese democracy,
    or a potential Palestinian democracy. And what that should say clearly
    to people all around the world is that we are involved with an
    ideological conflict that is a monumental conflict. And those of us that
    believe in liberty and human rights and human decency need to be bound
    together in common cause to fight off these extremists and to defeat
    them.
        You can only defeat them so much militarily. We have to also defeat
    them with a better idea. It's a better idea that's being practiced by
    our friend Israel. It's called democracy. And that's the fundamental
    challenge facing this century: Will we have the courage and the resolve
    necessary to help democracy defeat this ideology? And I will tell the
    Prime Minister, once again, I'm deeply committed to this cause, whether
    it be in Iraq or Lebanon or the Palestinian Territory or anywhere else
    in the Middle East and around the world.

    President Mahmoud Abbas of the
    Palestinian Authority

        Q. Will you enter into talks with Mr. Abbas?
        Prime Minister Olmert. Well, naturally, I think at this particular
    point, I'm sure the President will not have hard work to convince me,
    because I proposed to meet with President Abbas--in fact, I was--
    initiated the idea that we will meet on a regular basis, biweekly, to
    discuss the matters. And I proposed that I even come to Jericho,
    something that no Prime Minister before me did.
        The President was having serious difficulties, some of which we have
    witnessed lately. And that's perhaps the reason why he had to cancel
    some of the meetings. But there's no question that I want to talk to the
    President of the Palestinian community, Mr. Abbas. I will be talking to
    him. The teams of both sides meet regularly every week and discuss on
    the matters.
        And the idea that I have is to talk with him of the current issues
    that can help upgrade the quality of life of the people and provide them
    better security in the West Bank and to share with him the efforts to
    calm the terror, this is something that he is absolutely committed to
    doing. We have to do it, and this is not something that the Palestinians
    can escape. They will help fight terror in a most effective way--
    something that they haven't done, unfortunately, up until now. But this
    is something that I am sure he understands is a prerequisite for any
    major development in the future.
        But, of course, we also have to talk about a groundwork that needs
    to be done in order to allow us rapidly to talk about the creation of a
    Palestinian state. This is the main vision of my friend, President Bush.
    This is the vision that we share. This is the ultimate goal, to create
    the Palestinian state. We have to prepare the groundwork that will
    allow--soon, I hope--to be able to start serious negotiations about the
    creation of a Palestinian state.
        In order to achieve peace, we have to fight terror; we have to
    increase security; we have to upgrade the quality of life for the
    Palestinians. And, of course, the Palestinians have to establish a much
    more credible and serious administration that will be able to take care
    of their daily needs in an appropriate manner.

    Israel-Syria Relations

        Q. Thank you.

    [[Page 769]]

     [At this point, a reporter asked a question in Hebrew, and no
    translation was provided.]

        Q. Mr. President, the Prime Minister of----
        President Bush. What did you just ask him?
        Q. I asked him what Israel----
        President Bush. ----that's unfair. [Laughter]
        Q. I asked him what Israel will do with the refugees coming from
    Gaza.
        The President. Yes. Okay.
        Q. Will you deliver to the murderers' guns, or will they be taken to
    a refuge in the West Bank?
        And I would like to ask you: The Prime Minister of Israel calls for
    negotiation with no precondition with Syria; so does President Asad of
    Syria, and he asks for U.S. mediation--will you do it?
        President Bush. They can handle their own negotiations with Syria.
    If the Prime Minister wants to negotiate with Syria, he doesn't need me
    to mediate.

    Situation in the Middle East

        Q. Do you think it's a good idea?
        President Bush. It's up to the Prime Minister. I haven't had a
    chance to talk to him about that. I don't know if you're putting words
    in his mouth or not. But I'm looking forward to having a discussion
    about Iran and Syria and the neighborhood. But this man is plenty
    capable of conducting his own negotiations without mediation.
        Prime Minister Olmert. Well, first of all, answer your question,
    right? We have been very, very attentive to the needs of the--
    humanitarian needs of Gaza, and we will continue to provide everything
    that is necessary in order to meet these humanitarian needs. Israel will
    not be indifferent to the human suffering in Gaza. Israel will be
    different from the Palestinians themselves because the reality is that
    all this suffering is caused by Palestinians against their own people.
    What the Hamas was doing in Gaza is absolutely atrocious and
    intolerable. And I'm sure that many who had some hopes that maybe Hamas
    can be more reasonable and more restrained--I think--lost these hopes
    because of what they have been doing to their own people: killing
    innocent civilians, pulling out from hospital beds Fatah people that
    were wounded and dropped them off the fifth floor to kill them in the
    street, and terrible other things.
        We will not be indifferent. We already are taking care of many of
    the Palestinians in Gaza during the last few days, and we will continue
    to deal with it as it comes. Of course, they are not interested in
    staying in Israel. They want to be amongst Palestinians, and they will
    be treated in this manner.

    Israel-Syria Relations

        Q. So you will let them go?
        Prime Minister Olmert. So, as I said, we will check every single
    case, and we'll see how we can help them. And I'm sure that we will help
    them.
        As for Syria, I'm afraid that you may have not have understood
    correctly what the Syrian leader said. The Syrian leader said that he is
    against any preconditions from the Israeli side, but he's certainly for
    preconditions from the Syrian side. One of the preconditions is that he
    wants President Bush to work more than he does already in regional
    issues and to be the mediator. And the President said correctly, this is
    not the--I think--the job for the President of the United States. He's
    got many other things to do. And I don't think that if someone wants to
    speak directly that he needs the involvement of America in order to
    allow these negotiations to take place.
        And I am not certain that the understanding of the President of
    Syria can lay the foundations for immediate discussions between Syria
    and Israel.
        President Bush. Matt [Matt Spetalnick, Reuters].

    [[Page 770]]

    Situation in the Middle East/Iraq

        Q. Mr. President, with Hamas's takeover of Gaza, aren't you
    effectively accepting a split between the two main Palestinian
    Territories? And what--how big of a blow is this to your vision of
    achieving agreement before the end of your term for a Palestinian state
    and Israel living side by side in peace?
        President Bush. First of all, we recognize the President of all the
    Palestinian people, and that's President Abu Mazen. He was elected; he's the President. Secondly, we
    recognize that it was Hamas that attacked the unity Government. They
    made a choice of violence. It was their decision that has caused there
    to be this current situation in the Middle East, about which we'll be
    spending some time discussing.
        Matt, the--what you're seeing now in this part of the 21st century
    is going to be played out over time. This is an ideological struggle.
    You--we're looking at the difference between a group of people that want
    to represent the Palestinians who believe in peace, that want a better
    way for their people, that believe in democracy; they need help to build
    the institutions necessary for democracy to flourish, and they need help
    to build security forces so that they can end up enforcing what most of
    the people want, which is to live in peace. And that's versus a group of
    radicals and extremists who are willing to use violence, unspeakable
    violence sometimes, to achieve a political objective.
        And the challenge is for those of us who believe there's a--
    democracy can help yield the peace, is to continue to move forward. And
    that's what we'll be discussing about today: how to do so. The Prime
    Minister said he's willing to have discussions with the forces of
    moderation in the Palestinian Territory, laying the groundwork for
    serious discussions. I thought that's--that is a statement that shows
    that the Prime Minister is willing to move with a--to promote an
    alternative vision.
        You know, the world is going to be confronted with these choices:
    Are you willing to accept the fact that extremism is around and is
    willing to promote violence, or should we resist that? Should we not
    combine forces and efforts to promote alternatives to this vision?
    That's precisely what we're doing in Iraq. We strongly believe it's in
    the world's interest to support this young democracy. The--Al Qaida, the
    people that killed nearly 3,000 of our people here in the United States,
    are conducting major car bombs and acts of unspeakable violence in Iraq,
    trying to drive us out because they want to impose their vision on the
    Iraqi people.
        And so, Mr. Prime Minister, I'm committed to helping the Iraqis
    succeed with a democracy. It's in the interest of the Middle East that
    this democracy succeed, as an alternative, because if we were to fail,
    then all of a sudden, these extremists would have safe haven. Extremists
    in the Middle East would be emboldened by the failure of those of us who
    live a nice, comfortable existence not to help those who are struggling
    for freedom.
        And so it's the great challenge of our time, Matt. And there will be
    forward movement, and there will be setbacks. The fundamental question
    facing those of us who have offices is, do we have the determination and
    the will and the vision to present an alternative to these people? And I
    believe we do, and I believe that's the calling of our time.
        And so that's why I'm excited to be talking about it with a man who
    shares the vision that there is a better way than to accommodate and
    accept extremism and radicalism.

    Iran

        Q. Mr. President--question. Regarding the ongoing attempts by Iran
    to acquire nuclear capability of atom bomb: Would you--are you willing
    to say at this time that a military action against Iran is no longer an
    option in light of the situation?

    [[Page 771]]

        President Bush. I will tell you this, that my position hasn't
    changed, and that is, all options are on the table. I would hope that we
    could solve this diplomatically. It's--and that's why the United
    States--first of all, we take the threat very seriously. And I fully
    understand the concerns of any Israeli when they hear the voice of the
    man in Iran saying, on the one hand, we
    want to acquire the technologies and know-how to build a--enrich
    uranium, which could then be converted into a nuclear weapon, and, on
    the other hand, we want to destroy Israel. Look, if I were an Israeli
    citizen, I would view that as a serious threat to my security. And as a
    strong ally of Israel, I view that as a serious threat to the security--
    I--not only the security of Israel but the security of the Middle East.
        That's why we are constantly working to remind our European friends,
    as well as Russia and other members of the U.N., we have an obligation
    to see if we can't work together to solve this issue diplomatically.
    That means to provide consequences to the Iranian Government if they
    continue to pursue a nuclear weapon, such as financial sanctions or
    economic sanctions. We want there to be a choice. We want people to see
    there's--you know, isolation-- there's got a consequence to it, that
    there's a price that's paid for this kind of intransigence and these
    threatening tones.
        And it's difficult work to keep the nations bound together to help
    deal with this issue diplomatically, but we have done a pretty good job
    so far. Now, whether or not they abandon their nuclear weapons program,
    we'll see. But at least we've got unanimity so far, speaking--at the
    U.N. Security Council--speaking pretty clearly that there will be
    consequences. And there are being--consequences; there's been some
    economic consequences beginning to affect the economy.
        Look, the Iranian people don't need to live under this kind of
    conditions. These are proud people with a great tradition. Their
    Government can do better for them. And threatening the world has caused
    there to be isolation. And these good folks could have leadership that
    enables them to have a better economy and a better way of life, an
    economy and a way of life that really does--enriches their families,
    that gives them a better chance to succeed. But, no, this group of
    people have made a different alternative, and now our job is to make
    sure that we continue to keep the pressure on.
        Listen, thank you all very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:51 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime
    Minister Salam Fayyad of the Palestinian Authority; and President Mahmud
    Ahmadi-nejad of Iran. Prime Minister Olmert referred to President Bashar
    al-Asad of Syria.