[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 15 (Monday, April 18, 2005)]
[Pages 584-589]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's News Conference With Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of 
Israel in Crawford, Texas

April 11, 2005

    President Bush. Mr. Prime Minister, welcome to my home. Appreciate 
you coming. I appreciate our meeting. I'm looking forward to serving you 
some good food for lunch. Most importantly, I'm looking forward to 
driving you around the ranch; I want you to see my place. I know you 
love the land. The Prime Minister was telling me he's really a farmer at 
heart, and I look forward to sharing with my friend what life is like 
here in central Texas. So, welcome. He invited me to his place one day, 
in Israel, and it's something that I look forward to doing as well.
    The United States and the State of Israel have a deep and lasting 
friendship based on our shared values and aspirations for a peaceful 
world. The United States is committed to Israel's security and well-
being as a Jewish state, including secure and defensible borders. We're 
committed to preserving and strengthening Israel's capability to deter 
its enemies and to defend itself.
    Today we discussed ways to expand cooperation of our economies. The 
Prime Minister believes that developing Negev and the Galilee regions is 
vital to ensuring a vibrant economic future for Israel. I support that 
goal, and we will work together to make his plans a reality.
    Prime Minister Sharon is showing strong, visionary leadership by 
taking difficult steps to improve the lives of people across the Middle 
East, and I want to thank you for your leadership. I strongly support 
his courageous initiative to disengage from Gaza and part of the West 
Bank. The Prime Minister is willing to coordinate the implementation of 
the disengagement plan with the Palestinians. I urge the Palestinian 
leadership to accept his offer. By working together, Israelis and 
Palestinians can lay the groundwork for a peaceful transition.
    The Prime Minister and I discussed the important and encouraging 
changes taking place in the region, including a Palestinian election. We 
discussed the need for Israel to work with the Palestinian leadership to 
improve the daily lives of Palestinians, especially their humanitarian 
situation, so that Israelis and Palestinians can realize a peaceful 
future together.
    I reiterated that the United States supports the establishment of a 
Palestinian state that is viable, contiguous, sovereign, and 
independent. The United States will continue working with the 
international community to help Palestinians develop democratic 
political institutions, build security institutions dedicated to 
maintaining law and order and dismantling terrorist organizations, 
reconstruct civic institutions, and promote a free and prosperous 
economy.
    I remain strongly committed to the vision of two democratic states, 
Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security. The 
Prime Minister and I reaffirmed our commitment to that vision and to the 
roadmap as the only way forward to realize it. The roadmap has been 
accepted and endorsed by both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, 
along with virtually the entire international community. The Prime 
Minister and I share a desire to see the disengagement from Gaza and 
part of the West Bank serve to reenergize progress along the roadmap.
    The United States is working with Palestinians and Israelis to 
improve security on the ground. We are cooperating with the Palestinians 
to help them fulfill all their obligations under the roadmap, especially 
sustained, effective operations to stop terrorism and dismantle 
terrorist capabilities and infrastructure. Building true security for 
Israelis and Palestinians demands an immediate, strong, and sustained 
effort to combat terrorism in all its forms.
    I've told the Prime Minister of my concern that Israel not undertake 
any activity that contravenes roadmap obligations or prejudice final 
status negotiations. Therefore, Israel should remove unauthorized 
outposts and meet its roadmap obligations regarding settlements in the 
West Bank.
    As part of a final peace settlement, Israel must have secure and 
recognized borders. These should emerge from negotiations between the 
parties in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolutions 
242 and 338. As I said last April, new realities on the ground make it 
unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations

[[Page 585]]

will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949. It is 
realistic to expect that any final status agreement will be achieved 
only on the basis of mutually agreed changes that reflect these 
realities. That's the American view. While the United States will not 
prejudice the outcome of final status negotiations, those changes on the 
ground, including existing major Israeli population centers, must be 
taken into account in any final status negotiations.
    I'm grateful to the Prime Minister for his friendship. I'm impressed 
by his leadership. I want to thank you for coming, sir, and I look 
forward to working with you in the years ahead.
    Prime Minister Sharon. Thank you, Mr. President, for this important 
meeting and for your generous hospitality. It was a pleasure to be 
invited to your home here at the ranch. On behalf of the State of 
Israel, I wish to thank you, your administration, and the American 
people for your warm and steadfast friendship. Of course, I would be 
very glad, Mr. President, to have you as a guest on our farm, not only 
because we are short of labor. [Laughter]
    President Bush. You're desperate for labor if you're counting on me. 
[Laughter]
    Prime Minister Sharon. The people of Israel dream of a peaceful life 
for themselves and for all the peoples of the Middle East. We are 
encouraged by many of the positive changes that we see taking place in 
our region. We call upon our Palestinian neighbors to choose the path of 
democracy and law and order, so that they can establish an independent 
and viable state.
    This is an opportunity for us to break from the continuous path of 
violence and bloodshed, which has been forced upon us, particularly, 
over the past, say, 4\1/2\ years. I told the Palestinian Authority 
Chairman, Mr. Mahmoud Abbas, that this is a year of great opportunity to 
start building a better future for our children and grandchildren and 
that both our peoples must make sure that this opportunity is not 
missed. But we must act now. The ongoing violence and terror must not 
prevail. We should make all a commitment not to accept any temporary 
solutions regarding terror but to act decisively to dismantle terrorist 
infrastructure and to eliminate terrorism once and for all.
    Defeating terror is the only way to build peace. The Israeli people 
have no intention of missing this opportunity. That is why we are acting 
quickly and with determination to improve the conditions for the 
Palestinian population. We have released hundreds of Palestinian 
prisoners. We are preparing to release more as the security situation 
allows. We have removed many roadblocks in the West Bank to allow 
greater mobility for the Palestinians. We have transferred the cities of 
Jericho and Tulkarm to the security control of the Palestinian 
Authority. And we will transfer more in the coming period as the 
security situation allows.
    Mr. President, as I said in Aqaba 2 years ago, it is not in our 
interest to govern over the Palestinians. We would like the Palestinians 
to govern themselves in their own state, a democratic state with 
territorial contiguity in Judea and Samaria, living side by side with 
Israel in peace and security. We seek to rebuild trust and respect the 
dignity and human rights of all people.
    Regarding the unauthorized outposts, I wish to reiterate that Israel 
is a society governed by the rule of law. As such, I will fulfill my 
commitment to you, Mr. President, to remove unauthorized outposts. As 
for settlements, Israel will also meet all its obligations under the 
roadmap, as I said also in Aqaba. We accept the principle that no 
unilateral actions by any party can prejudge the outcome of bilateral 
negotiations between us and the Palestinians.
    The position of Israel is that in any final status agreement, the 
major Israeli population centers in Judea and Samaria will be part of 
the State of Israel. We seek a genuine and honest dialog with the 
Palestinians so that we can transform these initial steps into a sound 
basis for our relations with them in the future.
    I wish to thank you, Mr. President, for the support of the 
disengagement plan which I initiated. The plan is not a political one. 
It was a unilateral decision driven by a need to reduce terror as much 
as possible and grant Israeli citizens maximum security. The process of 
this disengagement will strengthen Israel, improve the quality of life 
for Israeli

[[Page 586]]

citizens, reduce the friction between us and the Palestinians, and can 
pave the way towards the implementation of the roadmap.
    In light of the changes in the Palestinian Authority, what began as 
a unilateral initiative does not have to remain so. I call upon the 
Palestinians to work together with us and to coordinate the 
implementation of the disengagement plan.
    I also want to thank you, Mr. President, for your intention to 
support Israel's effort to develop the Negev and the Galilee. It is 
important for Israel's national interest, economic strength, and social 
development.
    I look forward to the beginning of work by our teams. I have stated 
in the past and I will say today, the roadmap based on your June 2002 
speech, adopted by my Government and approved by the Palestinians and 
the majority of the international community, will be the only way 
forward to realizing your vision. Only full implementation of the 
roadmap can lead toward security and true peace.
    I wish to thank you again, Mr. President, for your hospitality and 
for your friendship in support of the State of Israel. Thank you, Mr. 
President.
    President Bush. Thank you, Prime Minister.
    We'll take two questions a side, starting with Mr. Raum, Thomas Raum 
[Associated Press].

Israeli-U.S. Cooperation

    Q. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, given the continuing 
settlement activity on the West Bank, are you satisfied that Israel will 
do enough, once they pull out of Gaza, to meet the terms of the roadmap 
and put it back on track?
    And Mr. Prime Minister, did you get the support you were looking for 
today, or do you sometimes hear contradictory signals from the 
administration?
    President Bush. If he listens to what I say, he won't hear anything 
contradictory. I've been very clear about, Israel has an obligation 
under the roadmap. That's no expansion of settlements. I look forward to 
continuing to work and dialog with Israel on this subject. We've got--
this is an ongoing process. This is a process that's going to take a lot 
of work to get a democracy stood up on Israel's border, and we look 
forward to working with Israel.
    The thing that I want people to understand is that the Prime 
Minister of Israel has made a commitment toward the vision of two states 
living side by side in peace.
    And I appreciate that commitment, Mr. Prime Minister, and we look 
forward to continuing to work with you on it.
    Prime Minister Sharon. Thank you.
    Q. Mr. Prime Minister, did you get the support you were looking for 
today, or do you sometimes hear contradictory messages coming from the 
White House?
    Prime Minister Sharon. No, I think it was a very good meeting, 
beside the fact it was, as usual, a very friendly meeting. And I think 
that we discussed many issues that we agreed upon and no doubt that we 
will continue to work together, as we are doing in recent years.
    President Bush. Do you want to call on somebody from the Israeli 
press, Ariel?
    Q. Thank you to you, Mr. President.
    President Bush. You're welcome.

West Bank Settlements and the Roadmap

    Q. Thank you. Regarding your quid pro quo letter to Prime Minister 
Sharon and the statement you just stated now, do you see Ariel and 
Ma'aleh Adumim as part of the major population centers, and I want to 
emphasize, as they are now, as they exist now, without any extensions--
--
    President Bush. No, I----
    Q. ----or do you see them as an obstacle to the contiguity of a 
future Palestinian state?
    And for Prime Minister Sharon, please----

[At this point, the reporter continued in Hebrew, and no translation was 
provided.]

    Thank you.
    President Bush. I don't get the second part of the question.
    Interpreter. I wanted--she wanted to ask--she wanted to ask----
    Prime Minister Sharon. Mr. President, I will answer the second part. 
[Laughter]
    President Bush. Okay. [Laughter]
    Q. The second part was for the Prime Minister.

[[Page 587]]

    President Bush. No, I got that part. [Laughter] I just didn't get 
the last part of the second part.
    Interpreter. She wanted to know if you have any objections to the 
continuity of the----
    President Bush. Yes, the expansion. I got that part. You asked the 
same question to both of us, then. No? Okay.
    Interpreter. Can she repeat----
    President Bush. Never mind, that's enough. Go ahead and answer it.
    Prime Minister Sharon. Thank you. I would like, first, to answer 
about construction in the major blocs. It is the Israeli position that 
the major Israeli population centers will remain in Israel's hands under 
any future final status agreement with all related consequences.
    Now, about the other question that you had, you asked what would be 
the day after--that was your question. So the roadmap is the only plan 
which sets the political agenda between us and the Palestinians. Only 
after the Palestinians fulfill their obligations, primarily a real fight 
against terrorism and the dismantling of its infrastructure, can we 
proceed toward negotiations based on the roadmap.
    I hope that this phase will arrive soon. Implementation of the 
disengagement plan has the potential of paving the way toward the 
roadmap.

[Prime Minister Sharon continued his remarks in Hebrew. Some reporters 
responded in Hebrew, and no translation was provided.]

    Now I have to do something for all the Israelis at home.
    President Bush. Okay.

[Prime Minister Sharon continued his remarks in Hebrew, and the 
translation follows.]

    Interpreter. The position of the Israeli is that the construction of 
the blocs of settlements will remain with Israel and in all agreement 
with what will happen the day after the disengagement. The roadmap is 
the only plan between us and the Palestinians.
    After the--we will continue to fight the terror, and after the 
continued commitment to fight terror, we will continue with the 
negotiations--only after the Palestinians agree to stop the terror. I 
hope that this stage will happen and that we will only move to the 
roadmap after this intervention by the Palestinians against terror.
    President Bush. Israel has obligations under the roadmap. The 
roadmap clearly says no expansion of settlements. And we'll continue to 
work with Israel on their obligations, and the Palestinians have got 
obligations. And it seems like an important role for the United States 
is to remind people of the obligations and to work with people--continue 
to work with people so that we can achieve the peace.
    And we have a chance to achieve peace. The Prime Minister made a 
very courageous decision to withdraw from Gaza, and now I would hope, as 
I said in my statement, the Palestinians accept his proposal to 
coordinate the withdrawal so that we can begin the stages necessary for 
a viable democracy to emerge, one that will be peaceful, one that will 
listen to the aspirations of the people. I'm convinced most Palestinians 
want to live in peace, and they want hope, and they want a chance to 
make a living, and they want to send their children to schools in a 
peaceful way. And now we have an opportunity to try to achieve that 
vision.
    But there is a roadmap. There is a process, and we've all agreed to 
it. And part of that process, no expansion of settlements.
    Adam [Adam Entous, Reuters].

Israeli-Palestinian Relations

    Q. Thank you. Prime Minister, considering recent Palestinian mortar 
fire at Jewish settlements and what Israel sees as a lack of cooperation 
on Gaza, is Israel considering taking military action against militants 
if President Abbas doesn't act?
    And Mr. President, do you see a lack of progress by Abbas? Do you 
expect more before you meet with him at the White House?
    President Bush. Want me to go first, or do you want to go first?
    Prime Minister Sharon. Please.
    President Bush. Want me to go first? All right.
    This is a very complicated, difficult part of the world. And I 
believe President Abbas wants there to be a state that will live at 
peace

[[Page 588]]

with Israel. Remember, we met with him in Aqaba, Jordan, and he had a 
very strong statement. I tend to take people for their word, Adam, just 
like I trust the Prime Minister in his word. He's a man of his word.
    And the Prime Minister of--President Abbas is, I'm told, in touch 
with the Prime Minister. That's positive. I appreciate the fact that 
they've taken some action on security. We want to continue to work with 
them on consolidating security forces. That's why we sent a general to 
the region to work with the Palestinians. I hope that he, the President, 
responds to the Prime Minister's offer to coordinate the withdrawal from 
Gaza. To me, that's where the attention of the world ought to be, on 
Gaza.
    This is the opportunity for the world to help the Palestinians stand 
up a peaceful society and a hopeful society. The Prime Minister has 
said, ``I'm withdrawing.'' He said that, ``I want to coordinate the 
withdrawal with the Palestinians.'' But he's going to withdraw, 
coordination or no coordination. And I believe it's incumbent upon the 
world which is desirous of peace to then step up and say to the 
Palestinians, ``We want to help you.'' I think President Abbas wants 
that help. I know he needs that help. He needs the help to not only help 
coordinate security forces and train security forces but the help 
necessary to put the infrastructure in place so a peaceful democracy can 
grow, and that there can be an economy which provides hope for the 
Palestinian people.
    And so this is a opportunity that I intend to focus my Government's 
attention on, and we will work with our friends and allies around the 
world to keep their attention focused on succeeding in this--in helping 
Gaza become peaceful and self-governing, part of, eventually, a 
Palestinian state.
    Prime Minister Sharon. Thank you. The Palestinian Chairman, Abu 
Mazen, started by taking some steps against terror. By now, those 
steps--and we can see, as you mentioned in your questions, that terror 
still continue. And therefore, I believe that in order to move forward, 
in order to be able later to move to the roadmap, the Palestinians must 
take more steps, because it should be completely quiet. The situation, 
in order to move forward, must be full cessation of terror, hostilities, 
and incitement.
    So some initial steps were taken. More steps should be taken. And I 
hope that Abu Mazen wants peace, and the only thing I expect now that he 
will take the right steps in order to bring the situation that might 
enable us to move forward to the next step.
    President Bush. Final Israeli question, please, or final question 
from the Israeli side.

Moving the Peace Process Forward/Implementing the Disengagement Plan

    Q. Mr. President, do you support the Prime Minister position as he 
stated now that after the disengagement, there will be no--any other 
political steps until a final and complete dismantling of terror 
organization, and only then we can proceed on the political track?
    And Mr. Prime Minister, do you really fear a civil war in Israel 
over the disengagement, as you stated in NBC interview? What are you 
going to do to prevent it? And are you disappointed with the President's 
declaration regarding the expansion of settlements?
    President Bush. First part of the question again? Sorry.
    Q. The question was, do you support Israeli position that there will 
be no--any political steps after disengagement, until the complete 
dismantling of Palestinian organization----
    President Bush. I got it. I got it. Yes, thanks. Sorry.
    I think what is necessary to achieve the vision of two states living 
side by side in peace is for there to be progress. Look, there's a lack 
of confidence in the region. I can understand that. There's been a lot 
of deaths; a lot of innocent people have lost their lives. And there's 
just not a lot of confidence in either side.
    And I think we have a chance to build confidence. The Prime Minister 
is taking a bold step and a courageous step, and basically he's saying 
that, you know, until he sees more progress, he doesn't have confidence. 
And I suspect if we were to have a frank discussion about it, the 
Palestinians would say, ``Well, we don't have confidence in Israel.''
    So what's needed is confidence. And I'm convinced the place to 
earn--to gain that

[[Page 589]]

confidence is to succeed in the Gaza. And so we're kind of prejudging 
what is going to happen based upon a rather pessimistic point of view. 
I'm an optimist. I believe that it is possible to work to set up a self-
governing entity in the Gaza. And I believe a self-governing entity is 
one that is going to be peaceful, because most people want there to be 
peace. And when that happens, then all of a sudden I think we'll have a 
different frame of mind.
    I suspect that the tone of your question--I'm not being critical, 
but I just suspect that if there is success in the Gaza, in other words, 
if there's a state that's emerging, the Prime Minister will have a 
different attitude about whether or not it makes sense to continue the 
process. And I suspect that people will say, you know, it is possible 
for democracy to take hold.
    And so there's skepticism now about the process, because as I said 
earlier, it's a complicated part of the world with a lot of history. And 
so I want to focus the world's attention on getting it right in the 
Gaza, and then all of a sudden people will start to say, ``Gosh, well, 
that makes sense.'' The Palestinians will see it's a hopeful--there's a 
hopeful way forward. The Palestinian moms will say, ``Well, here's an 
opportunity for my child to grow up in a peaceful world.'' And then I 
think the dialog will shift. But in the meantime, there is a process to 
go forward, and we're now ready to help the Palestinians seize the 
moment that this Prime Minister has provided in the Gaza. So that's 
where you'll see our attention focused.
    Prime Minister Sharon. You asked--I think one of your two questions 
were, do I see a civil war in Israel? No, I said that--and I repeat it 
again--the recent atmosphere of a civil war, but I'm fully convinced 
that I'll make every effort to avoid that, and I'm sure that we will be 
able to implement the disengagement plan, with all its difficulties, 
quietly and peacefully. So what I really mentioned, it was the 
atmosphere. But I hope it will be quiet, and we will manage to do it.
    You had another question.
    Q. I asked if, are you disappointed with the President's position 
regarding expansion of settlements, specifically about the Jewish 
population center in Ma'aleh Adumim----
    Prime Minister Sharon. No, I'm not disappointed. We think--both of 
us are committed to the roadmap, and the roadmap says--and elaborates on 
this issue.
    It's about Ma'aleh Adumim. Ma'aleh Adumim is one of the blocs of 
Jewish population, and our position is that they should be part of 
Israel. I think I mentioned it before; it will be part of Israel. And of 
course, we are very much interested that it will be contiguity between 
Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem, but I think altogether, we are too early 
because everything happens there really altogether might take many 
years, and I believe that we will have enough opportunities to come and 
continue our talks with the United States.
    President Bush. Thank you, sir. Thank you all for coming.

Note: The President's news conference began at 11:41 a.m. at the Bush 
Ranch. In his remarks, he referred to President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu 
Mazen) of the Palestinian Authority; and Lt. Gen. William E. Ward, USA, 
Senior U.S. Security Coordinator, Department of State.