Press encounter following Secretary-General's briefing to the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East including the question of Palestine, (unofficial transcript)

Q: Sir, in the past you have always stressed, when you talked about the international force, you stressed the need for the cooperation of both parties. Is this new demand for leaning on Israel meant, like, a change in your view or is it just the same?

SG: I think my statement and my proposal was very clear. I made a proposal that a force be sent under Chapter VII and suggested that the international community should pursue this option proactively and move forward on it. I hope the parties, I trust the parties will see that it is in their interest, and cooperate with the force.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, could you give us some idea of the urgency of this, and how soon you would want this to happen, given it's a fairly complex procedure to get this whole ball rolling?

SG: I was encouraged by the discussion I had in the Council today, and the way the proposal was received. Obviously, they want their capitals to study it. And it is an urgent matter and I would hope that once the capitals have studied it the countries that want to participate in the force will act promptly and quickly, because it is urgent.

Q: You said it needed a credible strength and be large enough to accomplish its mission. Can you expand on what you consider that to be in terms of actual size?

SG: I don't want to throw out any figures now because, as I said, I would want it to be a coalition of the willing. Once we have put together that coalition, they have to get involved with the planning, and the logistical support, and what sort of command structures and all that, so I would not want to pre-empt them, and decide what sort of size the force should be.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, there is in all this use of force [inaudible] under Chapter VII, it seems to preclude the use of non-violent action. Do you see any role for non-violent action? There are forces in the area, both in Israel and on the Arab side - do you see any role for them?

SG: The force that is going in is going to hopefully have a positive impact, that will dissuade others from maintaining the cause of their own, and eventually focus on political issues and reduce violence, so you should look at it in that context.

Q: The second part of my question, do you see a role for the non-violent?

SG: Oh, absolutely. They have an important role to play. The people who will be leading the peace movement, the non-violent actors, have been squeezed out recently, and I think they should be encouraged.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, it is hard to imagine a force going into the region unless it has the support of the United States, and participation. Have the Americans given any indication whatsoever that they think this is a good idea? There seems to be a sort of general sense that the Americans don't like it and that it is essentially a dead.

SG: I think I have answered your question. I said that they are going to go to their capitals and the Council will come back to it. And the capitals include Washington.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, just to follow up on this point. What specific message do you have for the United States due to the fact that you cannot really have a credible force in the region without the United States?

SG: I think this is a problem that the entire international community must come together to tackle, and the U.S. is a leader in that community, and an important member of that community. Recently we have all been working together in a "Quartet" to try and find a solution to it, and I expect the U.S. to play an important role.

Q: What are the risks, you mentioned risks, why will this not be a Bosnia or Somalia?

SG: I did indicate that this is not a risk free operation. None of these operations are. I will not use your analogy. Why don't you use some of the other ones? When you talk of Bosnia; Bosnia was pacified by a force at the end, too. The enmity between the parties was such that when the 60,000 troops got there and pacified the situation that they could get on with their lives and we saw the end of the killing.

Q: Mr. Secretary, bearing in mind Bosnia, and having in mind that the lessons of Bosnia have been learned actually, that one has to wait, that the peace conference of any kind as proposed recently has to be held first and then move with the proposed force?

SG: I think, obviously, we have to have a comprehensive approach and the force which is being deployed has to be deployed in a political context in the sense that it is part of an effort to get a political settlement and negotiations, and that the parties commit themselves to moving forward on the political front, which they seem to have done, during the visit of Secretary of State Powell, and we need to build on that.

Q: Have you discussed this proposal directly with the Israelis?

SG: Let me take somebody else who hasn't asked a question.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, in Jenin and other parts of Palestine, there is a need to the United Nations [inaudible] so do you have any plans to rescue those people?

SG: The humanitarian agencies, our own humanitarian agencies, and the Red Cross, Red Crescent and others are very active. We have now gained access to Jenin, and today [Terje Roed] Larsen and [Peter] Hansen from the UN visited Jenin, and of course they have reported to me, which I shared with the Council and have made comments to the public. We are trying to accelerate assistance to Jenin and we are concerned about the wounded and those who need assistance. We are concerned about getting food and water in. I know we tend to focus on the dead, but I think we should be equally concerned about the living and the conditions that they are in, and we are doing all that we can to get assistance to them.

Q: What is the status of the investigation into destruction in Jenin or I've heard the term war crimes used. What is the status of a UN investigation...?

SG: We haven't initiated a formal investigation as such. For the moment, I would prefer we concentrate on getting assistance to those in need, to those who have been trapped in that camp and I think the time will come for the investigation to be undertaken, but that is not my first priority at this stage. It is to get help to the people and get the dead buried, and the wounded...

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, are you going to try to contact the Israelis and convince them to go ahead and accept such a force?

SG: When I referred to the international community pursuing this proposal in a proactive way, we all have to work on the parties to get them to understand that this is in their interest.

Q: There is a proposal on the table in a resolution in blue asking for you to conduct an investigation in Jenin. Considering you think that that should wait, as you just said, are you going to talk to the authors of the resolution and say that this isn't such a good idea?

SG: Well, I think with or without a resolution, the investigation must go forward, but we have to be careful as to the timing. You know, there is a lot going on on the ground, there are lots of people trying to dig out the dead and give assistance to the needy, and quite frankly, I think that should be our first priority, and so, with or without a resolution, I will give priority to that first, and then move on to the investigation.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, did you have a chance since your ideas, your initiative of last week, since then have you consulted with any of the five permanent Members to sense whether they are welcoming this proposal, and secondly, what timeframe do you have in mind, if it is acceptable.

SG: I have answered both questions.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, just spell out for us what you think the benefits are, the immediate benefits of this multinational force?

SG: It is also in the statement I issued.

Q: So that we have it on camera...

SG: I believe that, as I have indicated, that the parties, left to themselves, cannot resolve their differences, and it is important that the international community engages actively and effectively to assist them, and we have to do it both on the political front and to take steps on the ground to stop the bloodletting which has gone on for so long. I believe that by despatching a force to the region, we can help calm the situation and create an environment, a secure environment, that would allow not only for delivery of humanitarian assistance, reconstruction of houses, and rebuilding the capacity of the Palestinian Authority, including police and law and order forces which have all been destroyed, whilst at the same time we allow for political and diplomatic discussions to go on. I think the presence of a force would also make it difficult for terrorists to crisscross the area to commit terrorist acts. It would also, I hope, diminish their freedom of action and ability to move at will.

Q: How do you address those fears that such a force wouldn't become the target of frustrations, and violence?

SG: These are some of the things that we will discuss. This is not the first time that a force has operated in areas that are divided communities with terrorists...there are ways of dealing with it, establishing liaison and coordination mechanisms with all sides to ensure that things move along reasonably. You cannot offer a 100 per cent guarantee, and I have made that clear. We cannot offer 100 per cent security guaranteed to both sides, and that is not the objective and purpose of the force.

Q: Is it conceivable that such a force could be sent without Israeli consent?

SG: I have answered that question.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, under Chapter VII would you expect that this force could go after terrorist groups in the Occupied Territories?

SG: I think the terms of reference of the force will be worked out in detail by the countries that join it. But as I have said there may be times when they will have to take action to prevent terrorist acts, but they are not there to take out suicide bombers - they cannot give that guarantee.

Q: Are you turning up the heat in the building to get a settlement? [Laughter] *****