[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 33 (Monday, August 20, 2001)]
[Pages 1160-1161]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Exchange With Reporters in the Lunch Line at a YMCA Picnic in Rocky 
Mountain National Park

August 14, 2001

Situation in the Middle East

    Q. Mr. President, I've got a Mideast question for you. The Israeli 
tanks moved into a Palestinian city, the furthest incursion yet. Any new 
reaction to that?
    The President. I have no new reaction. My only point is--and I'm 
going to continue to make the point and so is my administration--that 
the cycle of violence has got to end in order for the peace process, or 
any peace process, to begin.

[[Page 1161]]

    And therefore, Mr. Arafat must clamp down on the suicide bombers and 
on the violence. And the Israelis must show restraint. We've got to 
break the cycle. In order for there to be any discussions about world 
peace, it requires a willingness of both sides to come to the table. And 
my administration continues to talk to both sides, and we will continue 
to work to try to bring a sense of--a desire, a sense of purpose on the 
partners there in the Middle East to sit down and, one, reject the 
violence and start meaningful discussions about how to reach an accord. 
It's essential that the violence stops.
    Q. Sounds like a strongly held feeling.
    The President. Well, I feel very strongly about it because I'm 
worried about the cycle of violence continuing to escalate. And it's not 
good for our--it's not good for that part of the world, nor is it good 
for the rest of the world, that the Middle East be a place of violence.
    We've been making good progress in Macedonia, it looks like, so that 
part of the world is beginning to calm down a little bit.
    The Middle East is a cauldron of violence, and we've got to--and we 
will continue to be very much involved in insisting that both parties 
break the cycle.

Note: The exchange began at 1:05 p.m. In his remarks, the President 
referred to Chairman Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority. A tape 
was not available for verification of the content of this exchange.