[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 42 (Monday, October 23, 2000)]
[Page 2464]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on the Situation in the Middle East

October 14, 2000

    Good morning. As you know, we have been working for more than a week 
now to try to persuade the parties in the Middle East to find a way out 
of the recent cycle of violence, find a way back to negotiations. I'm 
very pleased that Prime Minister Barak and Chairman Arafat have accepted 
President Mubarak's invitation to attend a summit at Sharm al-Sheikh. 
The summit will convene this Monday, and in the meantime, we expect that 
both parties will do all in their power to cease hostilities and halt 
the violence.
    Our central objectives must now be to stop the violence, to restore 
calm and safety, to agree on a factfinding mechanism concerning how this 
began and how it can be prevented from occurring again, and to find a 
way back to dialog and negotiations.
    Now, we should be under no illusions. The good news is, the parties 
have agreed to meet, and the situation appears to be calmer. But the 
path ahead is difficult. After the terrible events of the past few days, 
the situation is still quite tense. But President Mubarak and I are 
convinced that we must make every effort to break the cycle of violence.
    Now, as all of you know, I have to go to Denver. I'm running a 
little late. But the truth is, we're in that period of time where, I 
believe, leading up to the summit, the less those of us say who are 
going to be there, the better. And so at least for the moment, I want to 
let my statement stand for itself. But I assure you I will continue to 
do everything I can to minimize the violence and to do all the 
preparation necessary to maximize the chances of a successful meeting.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 8:38 a.m. in the James S. Brady Press 
Briefing Room at the White House. 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.