June  9, 2002

  Egyptian-US Summit Reaches a Common Vision

     After two days of intensive talks at Camp David, President Mubarak said Egypt and the United States were determined to work for restoring peace to the Middle East, to exert joint efforts for deepening confidence between Israeli and Palestinian sides and, resume sincere negotiations for reaching a final settlement.

    Following is a transcript of the joint press conference of President Hosni Mubarak and President George W Bush at the end of their talks at the Camp David Presidential retreat Saturday:

    President Bush: Mr. President. Thank you. Welcome to Camp David. It is a joy for me and Laura to have you here at this beautiful part of our country, a place where we like to come and relax and a place where we like to welcome our friends.

    We --- the President and I --- had a good dinner last night and we talked a lot about our mutual concerns, opportunities to make the world a more peaceful place.

    And we got up and had a good, a good private visit, and then had met with out delegations.

    First I want to thank the President of Egypt for his country's strong support in our war against terror.

    I know there's been a lot of focus on, obviously, the Middle East and I will mention that in a second.

    But we are still in a war against people who want to harm America and people who want to harm Egypt.

    And we have had -- we have got a good friend -Americans have a good friend when it comes to this war on terror -- in Egypt.

    The President understands that we have got a long way to go in order to be successful. I now have told him again that my most important job is to secure our homeland.

    And this country is plenty tough and plenty patient and plenty determined to achieve that objective.

    Obviously, we spent time talking about the Middle East. And we share a common vision of two states living side by side in peace. And I appreciate so very much listening to his ideas as to how to achieve this objective, that grand goal.

    The world -- the Palestinians hurt, and I know that. And my concern is for the Palestinian people. And my view is that if the Palestinian people have a government that is transparent and open and willing to serve the people, Israel will be better off, Egypt will be better off, America will be better off and we are more likely to achieve peace. And we discussed how to achieve those objectives.

    The President of Egypt has a lot of experience, and I appreciate his experience. And I appreciate his advice.

    Any time he is willing to give it. I am willing to listen. And so, Mr. President, I want to thank you for your time and I appreciate our friendship and welcome you to Camp David

    President Mubarak: Thank you very much.
President Bush: he's going to speak in Arabic. That's good.
President Mubarak: I would like to thank President B ush for his welcoming remarks that reflect the deep friendship between us.

    During our stay at Camp David here, I conducted extensive discussions with President Bush on a wide range of issues of mutual concern, most important of which was the deteriorating situation in the Middle East and especially the Palestinian -Israeli track and its negative impact on regional and international security in general.

    There is no doubt that the peace process in the Middle East is passing through a critical juncture which requires us to exert all possible efforts on the political and security tracks to rebuild the confidence between the parties, on the one hand, and to reach serious political negotiations aimed at final settlement, on the other.

    While Egypt's leading quest for peace in the Middle East has achieved its objectives in Washington at Camp David 24 years ago, we have come back together today fully committed to exert our maximum efforts once again so that peace and security may prevail in the Middle East region.

    And I must affirm that your personal role, Mr. President, and the role of the United States today, remains as important as was America's contribution towards reaching the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel more than two decades ago. And we look forward to the continuation of this effective role.

    The entire international community, ladies and gentlemen, has supported the courageous vision of peace in the Middle East put forward by President Bush in his speech before the United Nations last fall.

    The Security Council in its resolution 1397 which affirmed that peace in the Middle East must be based on two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side, adopted this vision.

    We in Egypt and the entire Arab world support this vision and strongly believe that it represents the only way to achieve progress towards settlement of the conflict.

    Now it is time to move to implement our common vision in an effective and systematic way.

    And we have a strong foundation to implement that vision. And that is represented in the principles adopted by the Madrid peace conference and supported by the initiative adopted by the Arab League summit conference in Beirut which affirmed Arab rights while responding to all Israeli concerns.

    These are the terms of reference that should govern all future efforts.

    For us to be able to achieve this vision, the confidence that was lost between the two parties during the previous period must be rebuilt as we embark on serious political negotiations that will contribute to the realization of our objectives.

    In this context, Israel must end the siege imposed on the Palestinian people ad withdraw its forces to position of September 28, 2000, and halt assassinations and the repeated incursions into the territories under the control of the Palestinian Authority, and immediately halt all settlement activities in the occupied territories including the illegal confiscation and expansion of settlements under the pretext of natural growth or any other consideration.

    At the same time, the Palestinian Authority must continue to intensify its efforts to a restructuring in a way that facilitates the better performance of its functions based on the principles of transparency and trust in preparation for the establishment of its sovereign independent state.

    The Palestinian Authority must continue in its firm implantation of President Arafat's decisive commitment to halt violence and intensify security cooperation and coordination under the supervision of the United States.

    It also falls upon all of us, as partners in peace, to work towards alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people through economic and humanitarian assistance so as to remove the feeling of despair that stands in the way of reaching the desired settlement.

    Mr. President: Egypt and the Arab States have affirmed their condemnation and rejection of the use of force and violence against civilians.

    Egypt has also affirmed its commitment to continue its major role in the search for peace. At the same time, the United States has affirmed, by putting forward this clear vision for peace, its commitment to affectively play its role in its capacity as the main sponsor of the peace process.

    We look forward to a strong American engagement in the coming phase to implement this vision in the context of an agreed timeframe and through negotiations on a permanent settlement that should lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state on this entire West Bank and Gaza and East Jerusalem.

    For the settlement to be just and comprehensive, Israel must withdraw from all the Arab territories occupied during 1967, including Syrian and Lebanese territories.

    While pursuing our efforts, it must be kept in mind that there are forces that lack the conviction of our joint vision and will continue to obstruct our efforts to move towards a final and comprehensive settlement.

    The way to confront the enemies of peace is to move forward with courage and determination to renew hope to the Palestinians and the Israeli people in the future in which prosperity and stability prevail, and away from the menace of violence and confrontations.

    My meeting here today with President Bush has reaffirmed our joint determination to revive the hopes of peace through the long-standing partnership between our two countries through which we have - and will continue together - to reach historic achievements on the path of peace between Arabs and Israelis for the benefit of the peoples of the region and also for the benefit of regional and international stability.

    The depth of Egyptian-American relations represents one of 2 the essential cornerstones in our joint pursuit of peace and stability in the Middle East.

    In this context, we discussed today means to strengthen our bilateral ties, including our trade and economic relations so as to reinforce Egypt's ability to implement plans for economic reform and to guide us towards a more balanced trade relationship between us.

    Our meeting today coincides with a visit by the United States trade representative, Mr. Robert Zoellick, to Egypt to meet with his counterparts on the Egyptian side that, I hope, will result in tangible progress in furthering our relationship to new heights.

    Mr. President: I look forward to working with you in the weeks and months ahead to chart the correct path on the road to peace, so that we can complete, together, the implementation of the mission that we have started together here, at Camp David, more than 20 years ago, to achieve just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East.

    I am confident that our joint efforts, supported by a solid determination, will lead us to achieve this goal in the near future, thank you.

    President Mubarak and President Bush then answered journalist's questions.

    A questioner pointed out that although successive American administrations had said that Israeli settlements -posed an obstacle to peace, ever since Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon came to office there has been an increase in the number of settlements by almost 40 per cent. What is the stand of the American administration on settlement building?

    And what message would president bush tell the Israeli government?
President Bush: On April 3, I delivered a speech in which I said that all parties have responsibilities to achieve peace and Israel must work to create the conditions necessary to achieve peace.

    I am confident that leaders should understand the need to develop the institutions necessary for a peace state to emerge.

    Chairman Arafat, as far as I am concerned, is not the issue. The issue is whether the Palestinian people can have a hopeful future. The President believes that the chairman should be given a chance to deliver. And that is an interesting point.

    The issue really deals with people who suffer and people who believe that it is in the Palestinians interest to have an independent state at peace. I believe it's in Israel's interest. Otherwise, I would not have taken this position.

    Question to President Mubarak and President Bush: is it realistic to ask for a complete halt to violence as a precondition for resuming political negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis?

    President Mubarak: till now, violence has not stopped and I don't think violence will come to an end unless people feel that there is hope for peace.

    President Bush: here's the timetable I have in mind. We need to start immediately in building the institutions necessary for the emergence of a Palestinian State which, on the one hand, will give hope to the Palestinian people and, on the other hand, say to the world, including the neighbourhood, that there is a chance to live in peace, to defeat terror. And that's important.

    I also agree with the President of Egypt that as we discussed the development of institutions necessary to provide hope and security in the region that we have got to talk about a political - to have a political dialogue.

    Part of the consultation process that we are having is to determine what's feasible in terms of that political dialogue, what's feasible in terms of the timetable that a lot of people are anxious to talk about.

    But we are not ready to lay down a specific calendar, I even for the fact that we need to get started quietly - soon so that we can seize the moment.

    And one of the things I am most appreciative about the progress made to date is that people now understand that they have responsibilities. As I said in my April 4 speech, I talked about the responsibilities necessary to achieve a vision of peace.

    And President Mubarak has shown that he is accepting responsibility. He is very much involved in this process. He is very much anxious that we work together to achieve that which is necessary and, to put it in his words, to come up with an effective and systematic way to get to the vision outlined.

    Question:

    I want to know whether those Palestinian reforms of President Bush have to happen first and can they be done, in your opinion, by asserts of Arafat?

    President Mubarak: We should give this man a chance. We are working very hard in cooperation with the Untied States to reform the Palestinian Authority.

    Such a chance will prove if he is going to deliver or not. If he is going to deliver, I think everybody would support him. If he is not going to deliver, his people will tell him that.

    President Bush: My attitude about violence is this: people have responsibilities to do everything they can to stop violence.

    Chairman Arafat must do everything in his power to stop the violence, to stop the attacks on Israel - I mean everything. And that includes reforming the security forces so that their primary function is to deal with violence.

    The Arab world must work hard to defeat terror and violence. My opening comments were sincere about the President of Egypt. He is working hard to defeat violence and terror.

    And so the one thing I am certain of is that we have all got to focus a lot of energy and attention on stopping violence, not only in tile Middle East, but all around the world. There are terrorists who would love to destroy any peace process.

    And we have the responsibility to prevent them from doing so. And that means working all the time to stop it from happening.

    There are people who hate freedom, and they will use terror to destroy innocent lives to achieve evil objectives.

    And all of us - that is what I am certain about - all of us must work together. I am certain that if we don't work together and assume our responsibilities it's going to hard to win the war on terror.

    I am certain if we stay focused and tough and resolute we can win the war on terror.

    And as we remain tough, we are going to be able to achieve peace in parts of the world where people have said there's no chance for peace - and it's not just in the Middle East.