[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 40 (Monday, October 7, 1996)]
[Pages 1931-1932]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Announcing the Middle East Summit at the White House 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 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

[[Page 1932]]

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 it's 
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.