[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 17 (Monday, April 29, 1996)]
[Pages 712-714]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Prior to Discussions with President Ilyas Harawi of Lebanon and 
an Exchange With Reporters

April 24, 1996

Lebanon

    President Clinton. Let me begin by saying I'm very pleased to have 
the President of Lebanon here today to discuss what we can do to bring 
about an end to the present violence and to establish conditions so that 
it will not occur. I believe all Americans are profoundly concerned and 
regret the loss of innocent civilian life. And we support whatever can 
be done to end the violence as quickly as possible. And that's what 
Secretary Christopher is working on in the Middle East today.
    Q. Mr. President, there's a perception among some that the United 
States is more interested in the reelection of Shimon Peres than the 
bloodshed in Lebanon. If that's not true, why is the United States so 
cool to the French peace initiative in Lebanon?
    President Clinton. Well, those two things have nothing to do with 
one another. What the United States is trying to do is to maintain a 
coherent capacity to talk to both sides so that we can move quickly as 
we did in 1993 when we were able to move alone to reestablish 
circumstances that obtained until, frankly, right after Sharm al-Sheikh 
when the violence started again when the agreement of 1993 was broken. 
And that's what we're trying to do. And we don't object to anybody 
trying to help achieve that.

Middle East Peace Process

    Q. Do you think that Syria's President Asad snubbed Secretary 
Christopher yesterday by not meeting with him?
    President Clinton. I really don't know. I haven't talked to him. I'm 
not sure that's accurate. But the main thing is they're going to meet; 
we're going to talk; we're going to keep working. And I think we'll 
eventually get this worked out. But sooner is better than later. It 
should have been done yesterday.

Lebanon

    Q. Mr. President, there is also the perception that you condemn 
violence against Israelis more than you do the Lebanese in the south, 
and you have not condemned the occupation of southern Lebanon for so 
long. I mean, you wouldn't tolerate one inch of our territory being 
occupied.
    President Clinton. The United States supports the United Nations 
resolution on this. We don't believe there should be any foreign troops 
in Lebanon. I'd like to see Lebanon completely sovereign and free and 
independent. And if Lebanon were completely sovereign, free, and 
independent, none of this would have happened.

[[Page 713]]

    The Lebanese people have been subjected to all kinds of problems 
because of--frankly, because of the influence of outside forces in the 
country. But our position has been consistent that we think the only way 
to reestablish Lebanese sovereignty is to have a comprehensive 
resolution of the problems in the region. And no one has worked harder 
for that, including for the sovereignty of Lebanon, than the United 
States.

Middle East Peace Process

    Q. Mr. President, how close are we to a cease-fire?
    President Clinton. Well, I hope we're quite close. I have some, you 
know--I've gotten some encouraging news, but I can't announce one. And 
I've learned the hard way to understate rather than overstate where we 
are.
    But I think every thinking, feeling person knows that this has gone 
on way too long. And it needs to stop.

Lebanon

    Q. There were some Arab-Americans here yesterday who asked for 
emergency U.S. aid to Lebanon. Are you prepared to respond positively to 
that?
    President Clinton. We are going to provide some emergency aid, and 
I'll have a chance to talk to the President about that as we have our 
meeting.
    Q. Could we ask the Lebanese President a question? Mr. President, is 
there anything the Lebanese Government can do to stop the Hezbollah from 
launching Katyushas on northern Israel?
    President Harawi. I wish that the Lebanese Army and security forces 
were present in this section of the country. Then I could answer your 
question much more clearly. But we don't have authority over this part 
of our country occupied by the Israelis.

1996 Election

    Q. Is that a sign that you'll be spending more time on the campaign 
now?
    President Clinton. [Inaudible]--at this time----
    Q. That's all it means?
    President Clinton. That's what it means.

Budget Negotiations

    Q. Are you looking forward to seeing Senator Dole here at the White 
House today?
    President Clinton. I expect to. I was pleased by what he said 
yesterday. Let me say again, we know we're going to sign the anti-
terrorism bill today. We have proved that we can do some things. The 
Senate passed the Kassebaum-Kennedy bill 100 to nothing yesterday. So we 
have a big consensus now that we ought to go ahead and balance the 
budget. And the recent revision by the Congressional Budget Office makes 
us even closer together. So I was pleased to see Senator Dole's response 
to what I said yesterday, and I intend to call him today.
    Q. [Inaudible]----
    President Clinton. I'm going to call him today. We'll see. I'm going 
to call him.

[At this point, one group of reporters left the room, and another group 
entered.]

Lebanon

    Q. Mr. President, do you have any message to the Lebanese people who 
are living now in difficulties?
    President Clinton. Yes. First of all, the United States is deeply 
concerned and very regretful of the loss of life and the dislocation of 
innocent civilians who have been caught up in this conflict. We are 
doing everything we can to bring an end to the fighting and to get a set 
of understandings which will prevent it from recurring. We had such an 
understanding in 1993, and it held for more than 2 years. We would like 
to see a new agreement in place, and we know there must be an end to the 
fighting.
    Now secondly, I want to have a chance to discuss with the President 
what we might be able to do in the short run in the way of humanitarian 
assistance to the people who have been displaced, and we'll be 
discussing that.
    And finally, let me just say, over the long run, what our goal is is 
to see a Lebanon with strong sovereignty, with the sovereignty of the 
country protected. And so then I hope we can achieve it. I think we can 
only achieve it if we can resolve the larger problems in the Middle 
East. We have seen too many times that until there is an ultimate peace

[[Page 714]]

settlement, Lebanon, unfortunately, is going to continue to be 
victimized.
    Q. When do you think we're going to achieve a full, fair peace to 
the Lebanese people and the Lebanese territory, especially now that 
you're meeting with President Harawi?
    President Clinton. Well, as you know, I've been working hard for it 
for 3 years now. And I hope and believe that if we can re-establish a 
cease-fire and the conditions under which violence will not recur, then 
we can get back to the peace process. The issues are fairly clear, and 
the timing is largely in the hands of the parties. But the United States 
is working hard. And I can't set a timetable on it, but it could be done 
before too long if we can reestablish the peace. But first of all, we 
have to stop the killing.

Middle East Peace Process

    Q. Mr. President, on what basis do you ask for a cease-fire?
    President Clinton. We ask for a cease-fire, first of all, on 
strictly humanitarian terms--that the people who are being hurt by this, 
starting when the shelling started 6 weeks ago, are innocent civilians 
on both sides of the border and that all these people who are being 
dislocated, the people who have died, they're not a part of the larger 
fight that's going on here.
    We, first of all, want to reestablish peace. Secondly, we want to do 
what we can to help Lebanon deal with the problems of the refugees. The 
third thing we want is an arrangement so that the violence doesn't 
recur. And then--then--we want to go back to the peace process.
    We do support U.N. Resolution 425. We do support the sovereignty of 
Lebanon. We don't think there should be any foreign troops in Lebanon. 
But history has shown us, from our point of view, at least, that the 
only way to achieve that is to get a comprehensive peace in the Middle 
East. And I have worked very hard for that. I have tried to be an honest 
arbiter, if you will, of the positions of both sides. I have done 
everything I could to that end, and we are still working. And we will 
continue to work for that.
    Q. Mr. President, the view in Lebanon and in the Arab world is that 
your administration was very slow in intervening to stop the carnage 
last week, that the United States had not even sent condolences to the 
victims, to the families of the victims, until it was too late. What is 
your view of this?
    President Clinton. Well, all I can tell you is, the moment I heard 
about the fighting, I instructed the Secretary of State to immediately 
try to achieve an end to it and to protect the lives of the people 
involved--the minute I heard about it.
    We were--as you know, our whole foreign policy team was in the Far 
East. And I instructed the Secretary of State to leave our mission--we 
were going to Russia for the nuclear summit--and fly directly to the 
Middle East to try to reestablish a cease-fire and stop the killing. And 
as soon as I had an opportunity to publicly comment on it, I expressed 
my profound condolences to the people who were killed--the minute, the 
first opportunity I had to say something about it.
    I am sorry that the people feel that way, but the important thing is 
to stop others from being killed and help people put their lives back 
together and restore some sense of normalcy and peace. And that's what 
I'm trying to do.

Note: The President spoke at 9:55 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of these 
remarks.