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LONDON MEETING ON SUPPORTING THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY (28/02/05)
FOREIGN SECRETARY:
Good Afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming in. I was going to make a statement about the conference that we have tomorrow, the London meeting in respect of the Middle East peace process, but before I do so I would like to say something about the terrible bombing that took place earlier today in Helal in Iraq, leading to the death of, by the reports, somewhere between 105 and 120 or so souls, and many, many others injured. And it is to say this, that I completely condemn those who perpetrated this outrage. What they have shown by their action is that their targets are decent, ordinary Muslim people in Iraq and their aim is to prevent civilised life going on, and to undermine the progress which the Iraqis are themselves determined to make towards a democratic and free state of Iraq. I send our condolences to the relatives and friends of all those who have been killed, and our great sympathy to those who have been injured, but add that we are determined to work with the Iraqi people to ensure that they can look forward to what they voted for just a month ago, which is a democratic and free Iraq.
In respect of the London meeting tomorrow, the purpose of the meeting is to rally the support of the international community for the plans which the Palestinian Authority will themselves be presenting in respect of improving the security of the occupied territories, rebuilding and building up political institutions and embarking on economic and social reconstruction of the occupied territories in the context of the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and from four settlements in the West Bank, and in the expectation that all of the recent events and news from Israel and the occupied territories may lead to a quickening of the pace towards a proper peace process, as set out in Phases Two and Three of the road map.
We are all looking forward very much to the conference. It will be attended at a very high level by Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary General, by Condaleezza Rice, the United States Secretary of State, Sergei Lavrof, the Foreign Minister for the Russian Federation, Foreign Ministers from five of the European states, many Foreign Ministers from the Arab states, and of course a delegation led by Abu Mazen of the Palestinian Authority and our own Prime Minister, Tony Blair.
QUESTION:
Foreign Secretary, how much do you expect to achieve in practical terms from this conference, and what might be the actual practical steps that emerge from it? Isn’t it a bit of a second best conference really just designed to show the British government in a good light before the election, rather than to achieve any major results?
FOREIGN SECRETARY:
We expect that there will be tangible progress as a result of this conference, first of all in respect of security, where we anticipate that the United States is likely to enhance its work in supporting Palestinian security, and that the Palestinians will themselves present their own plans for greatly improving the organisation and therefore the effectiveness of their security forces; secondly, enhanced commitment and better organisation to support the reconstruction efforts which will be led by the World Bank and by the European Community; and third, by the renewed focus on institutions within the Palestinian Authority, a greater impetus for those to be reformed and improved in the light of the elections which have already taken place for a President, the continuing process of elections in the municipalities, and the parliamentary elections which are likely to take place later this year.
QUESTION:
By only having the Palestinians here at this conference, aren’t you rather suggesting that only they have something to do under the road map, aren’t you letting Israel off the hook?
FOREIGN SECRETARY:
No, not at all. But this meeting has a discrete purpose, which is to rally the support of the international community for the Palestinian Authority’s own plans in respect of security, economic reconstruction and political institutions, and that is its focus. It is very important, and the event itself is important for the message it sends out, but we never saw it as an alternative to the international conferences which are flagged up by Phase Two and Phase Three, and indeed we were always anxious to make it clear that what we were doing was complementary to that, and the genesis of this conference, this meeting, were conversations which took place here in London in the summer of last year where we were all looking forward to the implementation of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plans to withdraw the Israeli defence force from Gaza and these settlements in the West Bank, but we were all concerned that in doing so a vacuum could be left which could be filled by rejectionist terrorist groups and it was vitally important that we worked with the Palestinian Authority better to support them.
QUESTION:
Isn’t the most important thing about tomorrow the symbolism of the meeting actually taking place, rather than any tangible results that you mentioned earlier?
FOREIGN SECRETARY:
The fact of the meeting is important in itself, and yes symbols do matter in international diplomacy, but behind the symbolism there is some practical reality. First of all, the engagement by the United States, as well as the other international partners of the Quartet at the highest level to help move this process forward; secondly, some very tangible results in terms of support for economic reconstruction for political reform, and above all for security reform and better support for the security work of the Palestinian Authority.
QUESTION:
On security, what will this do to for example help the Palestinian Authority to counter Islamic Jihad in practical terms?
FOREIGN SECRETARY:
The practical result is to make them much more effective at doing that, they know they have got to do it, they know that security is the pre-condition for progress on every other front. We have already seen much improved security and much better confidence between the Israeli and Palestinian security forces, not least in the light of the terrible bombing which took place in Tel Aviv last Friday, but that has continued to be advanced.
QUESTION:
Mr Straw, how would the attack on Tel Aviv on Friday night affect the outcome of this meeting?
FOREIGN SECRETARY:
Well it provides a sombre back-drop to the conference, that is for sure, but I have been relieved to note the response, the very restrained response, by the government of Israel, as well as the very active response by the Palestinians. The President of the Palestinian Authority, Abu Mazen, did not mince his words this morning, he called those people terrorists, he condemned them utterly, he said that his security forces would be working with the Israeli security forces to root these people out, and he recognised that not only were the terrorists aiming to kill innocent Israelis, but they were also aiming to undermine the work of him and his Authority and the progress towards a democratic, free and viable state of Palestine.
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