[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 33 (Monday, August 20, 2001)]
[Pages 1154-1156]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Exchange With Reporters Prior to a Round of Golf in Meridian, Texas

August 13, 2001

Terrorist Attack in Israel

    Q. How are you doing, sir?
    The President. I'm doing great, thank you.
    Q. What's your response to the suicide----
    The President. I'll see you at the ranch--my response to what?
    Q. The latest suicide bombing in Israel.
    The President. Ask me at the ranch. We're going to have a little 
press avail after I sign the bill.

President's Round of Golf

    Q. How's it going?
    The President. Really good.
    Q. How's your swing?
    Q. No flaws?
    The President. You saw it--needs a little work.
    Q. Don't we all.
    The President. I'm glad you asked who's winning the contest. Team 
sport.
    Q. Is this a rematch?
    The President. Yes, it is.
    Q. And who won last time?
    The President. Tie. If I hit every shot good, people would say I 
wasn't working. [Laughter]
    Q. I thought the President always wins.

Terrorist Attack in Israel

    The President. About time you learned something.
    On Israel, the Palestinians--we will never get to Mitchell until the 
leadership works to reduce and stop violence. These terrorist acts, 
which are despicable, will prevent us from ever getting into the 
Mitchell process.
    My administration has been calling upon all the leaders in the 
Middle East to do everything they can to stop the violence, to tell

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the different parties involved that peace will never happen, and so long 
as terrorist activities continue, it will be impossible to get into 
Mitchell or any other discussion about peace under the threat of 
terrorism. Secretary Powell was in touch with Mr. Arafat and Mr. Sharon; 
we delivered that message consistently.
    Q. What more do you think you can do?
    The President. Well, Europe and moderate Arab nations must join with 
us to continue to send a consistent message that there will be no peace 
unless we break this cycle of violence. And the United States is doing 
everything in our power to convince the parties, but I want to remind 
people there must be the will. The people in the area must make the 
conscious decision to stop terrorism. And we're going to continue----
    Q. But can the Israelis continue to show moderate restraint or----
    The President. I appreciate the fact that they do show a moderate 
restraint. Sometimes they haven't, and sometimes they have. But what's 
important is that we say to all the parties that if there's a desire for 
peace--or at least a discussion of peace or the desire to get in 
Mitchell, the first thing that must happen is--is that we must stop 
violence.
    Q. But do you have confidence in Arafat that he can stop the 
terrorist acts?
    The President. I think he can do a lot more to be convincing the 
people on the street to stop these acts of terrorism and the acts of 
violence. I said in the Oval Office it is very important for Mr. Arafat 
to show a 100-percent effort, to do everything he can to convince the 
different parties on the West Bank and in Gaza to stop the violence. And 
we recognize that there could be isolated incidents of terror, but 
these--this is a continuing terrorist campaign, and we've got to stop. I 
will invite the respective parties to come and see me at the appropriate 
time.
    Q. Sir, what about your response to people who say that your 
administration isn't doing enough to stop the escalation of violence 
there?
    The President. We have been engaged in the Middle East ever since I 
got sworn in. Ours is the administration that sent George Tenet to the 
Middle East to lay out a platform for discussions amongst security 
forces to bring peace to the region. We wholeheartedly endorse the 
Mitchell report. We have spent, on a near daily basis, talking to the 
different parties, urging them--because there's nothing that an 
administration can do if there's no will for peace.
    And we're obviously working with the leaders to try to convince them 
to take the necessary steps to send a signal to the people on the 
streets that peace--we want peace. We want at least discussions towards 
peace, if not in a final agreement.
    We've got a long way to go, I recognize that. And it's so important 
for there to be the will, the desire. It requires two parties to make 
the conscious decision that we're going to do everything we can to stop 
terrorism, and our administration and my Government is working hard to 
send that message. We're on the phone almost on a daily basis to the 
respective parties.
    Q. Do you see the will on either side, sir?
    The President. Well, sometimes we see the will on the other side, 
and sometimes that cycle overcomes the will. There's a lot of people in 
the Middle East who are desirous to get into the Mitchell process, but 
first things first. These terrorist acts and the responses have got to 
end in order for us to get the framework--the groundwork, not 
framework--the groundwork to discuss a framework, to lay the--all right.
    Q. Have you made any calls yourself, sir?
    The President. I've made a lot of calls over--you mean the last 
couple of days? No, I haven't, not over the last couple of days. 
Secretary Powell did--I'm, of course, very aware of how the 
conversations went.

Note: The exchange began at 8:53 a.m. at the Bosque Valley Golf Club. In 
his remarks, the President referred to Chairman Yasser Arafat of the 
Palestinian Authority and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel. The 
President also referred to the Report by the Sharm al-Sheikh Fact-
Finding Committee, which was chaired by former Senator George J. 
Mitchell. A tape was not available for verification of the content of 
this exchange.

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