By Munir K. Nasser
Washington, DC
Assistant Secretary of State Edward Walker denied that he misrepresented the Palestinian position during his meetings with Arab leaders on his recent trip to 14 Arab countries.
Walker was speaking on ANA Arab American television program in Washington, during which he responded to questions from viewers in the US and the Middle East.
In response to a caller from Ramallah, who accused him of not reflecting the correct view of the Palestinian position at Camp David and exaggerating to Arab leaders the Israeli proposals on Jerusalem, Walker said it is simply untrue. “What I was conveying was the American observations of the negotiations,” he stressed. “Now these were very complicated negotiations…We were giving our estimates of where we think the parties were ending up, not necessarily what was specifically committed.”
Walker said his trip to the region was “an effort to indicate direction and expectation of the way we felt that these discussions took place. But it was not a situation in which I was outlining a Palestinian position or an Israeli position. I was more speaking about where we were,” he explained.
Walker said he read in the Palestinian press reports that he misrepresented the Palestinian position in his talks with Arab leaders.
“I tried to get a hold of the Palestinian negotiating team to make sure that the record was correct and that I was not saying some of the things that I was reported [to have said] on the Palestinian position,” he pointed out. “In fact both sides took the position that in the absence of a full agreement, neither side was committed.”
Walker also denied that he asked Arab leaders to put pressure on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to accept American and Israeli compromises. “I was not going around asking Arab governments to put pressure on Arafat. I was going around to ask Arab governments to support Arafat,” he stressed. Walker thinks Arafat needs their support in order to come to an agreement on these very difficult issues. “So quite the contrary, we are looking for a solution that both sides can agree to freely,” he said.
Walker praised the statement issued by the Islamic Conference’s Jerusalem Committee held in Morocco Monday and described it as “constructive.” He said the Committee “took into account the sensitivities of the current negotiations. They did their best to keep the issue of Jerusalem in the final status negotiations where it belongs, and gave Arafat the support he needs to engage in those negotiations. Yes, we are very comfortable with the results,” he stated.
When asked about President Clinton’s remark that he will consider moving the American embassy to Jerusalem before the end of the year, Walker said it is very clear that Clinton wants to help the parties reach an agreement. “When that agreement occurs, then we will be in a position to address the question of our embassy both in Israel and our embassy in whatever Palestinians decide [where their capital will be]. Our objective is to try to get that final solution and then there will be a decision based on what the parties agreed regarding the question of Jerusalem and the Palestinians state. From there, there will be natural flow where we will put our embassy,” he said.
Walker was asked to comment on the results of the first round of the Lebanese elections and to a State Department readout that said the US hopes that the new government will be formed under the guidelines of the Lebanese Constitution.
“We are not in the business of commenting on the internal operations of the Lebanese government. We were pleased to see that it was an effective process and a high turn out. We are prepared to work with whatever government is put in place under constitutional procedures as required in Lebanon. It was simply a statement of fact and not trying to imply anything,” Walker said.
Walker reiterated the US position on sanctions against Iraq and acknowledged that more voices are being raised in the US and in Congress on the devastating impact of the sanctions on Iraqi society. “We made a lot of compromises, and food and medicine are not affected by the sanctions,” he noted. “The UN resolution makes a very clear path for Iraq to the suspension of sanctions by accepting the inspectors. It is a very simple proposition: Iraq can accept those inspectors and they can verify that Iraq is not engaged in development of weapons of mass destruction and the sanctions will be suspended,” he explained.
In response to a caller from Gaza on the US double standard policy when it comes to applying UN resolutions to Iraq, the Palestinians and the Israelis, Walker said, “there is no difference in our commitment to UN security resolutions whether they relate to Iraq or to any other country. In the Palestinian area, it is somewhat different, because it is not a state. We have always made clear that our interpretation of 242 included a question of the possibility of minor rectification if needed to reach an agreement between the parties. We did not specify how those rectifications will take place. We are committed to these resolutions,” he stressed.
Walker said the question of the Palestinians getting their land back is a question between them and the Israelis. “My impression is that the Arab world will accept whatever Arafat is prepared to accept from land [offered by the Israelis,]” he explained.
“On Jerusalem, we are going to have to make sure there is full understanding of any solution so people can accept it well beyond just the parameters of the Palestinians and the Israelis,” he noted.
He denied that the emphasis during his trip was only on Jerusalem at the expense of other issues. “I made it clear everywhere I went that there was no closure on any issue, but the purpose of my visit was to take those issues related to the Arabs and Muslims in general, which Jerusalem is the preeminent one. I came back with a clear sense that the Arab countries are willing to work for peace, have confidence in the President of the United States’ commitment to peace, and are hopeful that a just peace can be achieved.” – Albawaba.com
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
