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 Haaretz
comments: "[US Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza] Rice's
testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the hearings
this week show that the Middle East, after September 11, 2001, will
continue to be the focus of American foreign and defense policy.
Seemingly that is good news for those who believe that active involvement
by the administration is necessary, expressed in energetic personal
involvement by the president and secretary of state, in an effort
to calm the tensions between Israel and the Arabs in general and
the Palestinians in particular."
The
Jerusalem Post writes: "Officials in Jerusalem in particular
had reason to be reassured by [Rice's] comments regarding the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. While reiterating the administration's goal of a Palestinian
state, Rice rightly stressed the need for stopping terrorism as
a prerequisite for achieving that goal. 'The construction of unified
Palestinian security forces that are accountable to the Palestinian
leadership and are not, in effect, armed gangs is probably one of
our most important tasks,' she said, adding, 'We've pressed very
hard for the Palestinians to take on terrorism, because we are not
going to get very far if there is terrorism from the Palestinian
militants.' Also welcome was Rice's call for other nations in the
region to act more constructively in their relations with this country:
'Arab states have responsibilities too. They can't incite violence
against Israel on the one hand, and call for peace and the two-state
solution on the other.' "
TRANSCRIPT
Confirmation Hearing of Condoleeza Rice http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/18/politics/18TEXT-RICE.html?oref=login
The following is the transcript of the hearing on
the nomination of Condoleeza Rice as Secretary of State as recorded
by FDCH e-Media, Inc.
SPEAKERS:
U.S. SENATOR RICHARD G. LUGAR (R-IN, CHAIRMAN
U.S. SENATOR CHARLES HAGEL (R-NE)
U.S. SENATOR LINCOLN D. CHAFEE (R-RI)
U.S. SENATOR GEORGE ALLEN (R-VA)
U.S. SENATOR NORM COLEMAN (R-MN)
U.S. SENATOR GEORGE V. VOINOVICH (R-OH)
U.S. SENATOR LAMAR ALEXANDER (R-TN)
U.S. SENATOR JOHN E. SUNUNU (R-NH)
U.S. SENATOR LISA MURKOWSKI (R-AK)
U.S. SENATOR MEL MARTINEZ (R-FL)
U.S. SENATOR JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR. (D-DE),RANKING MEMBER
U.S. SENATOR PAUL S. SARBANES (D-MD)
U.S. SENATOR CHRISTOPHER J. DODD (D-CT)
U.S. SENATOR JOHN F. KERRY (D-MA)
U.S. SENATOR RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD (D-WI)
U.S. SENATOR BARBARA BOXER (D-CA)
U.S. SENATOR BILL NELSON (D-FL)
U.S. SENATOR BARACK OBAMA (D-IL)
WITNESSES:
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NOMINATED TO BE SECRETARY OF STATE
U.S. SENATOR DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CA)
...
HAGEL:
Thank you. Let me move to the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
What do you and the president envision as a new role or a different
role for the United States now as a result of the Palestinian elections?
For example, are you contemplating a special envoy? How are we going
to engage more deeply and widely than we have in the past? Or are
we going to? Give this committee some sense of where we're going
in the next year.
RICE:
We all believe, and most especially the president, that we have
a really good opportunity here, given the election of a new Palestinian
leader, and given the Israeli Gaza withdrawal plan, which is linked
to the West Bank through the four settlements that would be dismantled
in the West Bank as well. We think this is a moment of opportunity.
That means that there is going to have to be engagement at all levels.
I expect, myself, to spend an enormous amount of effort on this
activity. I can't substitute for the parties and their willingness
to take on their responsibilities, and that's the message that we
have to keep sending. We've had to note that how hard this road
is going to be was in evidence during this last few days. And we've
pressed very hard for the Palestinians to take on terrorism because
we're not going to get very far if there is terrorism from the Palestinian
militants. But you can be sure that we will have very active engagement
because we think this is a time of responsibility. I think I need
to, for the time being, demure on the question of a special envoy.
No one has objections in principle to the idea of an envoy, but
it is a question of whether that is appropriate to a particular
point in time in the process that we're involved in.
HAGEL:
But as secretary of state, you intend to be very engaged with considerable
activity as we go forward?
RICE:
Absolutely. Because, Senator, I think we can afford to miss this
opportunity if the parties themselves are willing to really take
advantage of the opportunity. ...
CHAFEE: Well, thank you. As chairman of the Middle
East Subcommittee on the Foreign Relations Committee, I'm interested
in your comments on the Israeli- Palestinian issue. And in your
opening statement you talked about, America seeks justice and dignity
in a viable independent democratic state for the Palestinian people.
Can you expand at all on viable ? What do you see as a viable Palestinian
state?
RICE:
Well, there are several ways to think about viability. One is that
it has to have territory that makes it viable. It cannot be territory
that is so broken up that it can't function as a state, and I think
that that's now well understood. Has to have economic viability.
And there it probably needs to have economic viability in relationship
to other states around it: to Jordan, to Israel and to others. And
viability also comes from democratic institutions. One of the things
that I think we didn't pay enough attention to in the past is the
development of democratic institutions in the Palestinian territories.
RICE:
At a time when we are promoting the progress of democracy in the
Middle East, the Palestinians are a people who should be able to
adopt those habits and take them up. They are a talented, in many
ways educated population, a population that has tried, even under
very limited circumstances, to have some at least pluralism in their
politics. And so viability, I think, also has a political or democracy
dimension that we need to pay attention to.
CHAFEE:
I'm sure that many Palestinian moderates would like to hear more
specifics on what might constitute a viable Palestinian state. Are
we looking at something, perhaps, along the Geneva Accord lines?
RICE:
Well, as the president said when he met with Prime Minister Sharon
back in, I think, May, we have to recognize that the parties are
going to determine their borders; that it is not for us to prejudge
what those borders might be.
There has been a lot of negotiation. I think they
will need to look at what has been looked at before. But the June
24th, 2002, speech really focused on some fundamentals to get us
to the place that discussions of final status would be successful.
And those fundamentals now seem to be starting to
come into place. The new Palestinian leadership -- I think a Palestinian
leadership that, at least in word, is devoted to fighting terror.
It needs to be in in deed as devoted to fighting terror. An international
community that whenever I talk to people, is quite devoted to and
taken with the idea of helping the Palestinians to build those democratic
institutions, to reconstruct economically in areas which Israel
leaves.
We have in Israel a new coalition that was built
around the idea that Israel will disengage from the Gaza and from
the four settlements in the West Bank.
And we now really -- I'd just like to mention the
neighbors. The Arab states have responsibilities here, too. And
they can't incite violence against Israel on the one hand and call
for peace and a two- state solution on the other. And so, we've
got work to do with them.
But as the fundamentals are beginning to come into
place, everyone can be certain that it is a very high priority to
seize this moment to try and push toward the day when we have interlocutors
who can work on the final status issues.
CHAFEE:
In the news today some are calling upon the new Palestinian leadership
to be more proactive against some of the violence which is occurring
within their own ranks. The previous Palestinian leadership did
not intend to do that under Yasser Arafat; the danger being that
once Palestinians take up arms amongst themselves, you could have
Palestinian civil war.
How do you look -- how do we go forward with that
dilemma?
RICE:
Well, I do believe that Abu Mazen made a good start in what he said,
which is that there really is no route to a Palestinian state through
violence. And that means that he is appealing, to my mind correctly,
to those Palestinians who realize that the use of terror techniques,
the use of violence is not going to result in the fulfillment of
their national aspirations. Having said that, the people who insist
on violence and insist on terrorism have got to be isolated and
ultimately disarmed. The Palestinians are fond of saying there has
to be one authority, one gun.
We can help with that, because the restructuring
of the Palestinian security forces is something that we have helped
with in the past and should now with other neighbors, like Egypt
or Jordan, be helping with in the future.
The construction of unified Palestinian security
forces that are accountable to the Palestinian leadership and are
not, in effect, armed gangs is probably one of our most important
tasks. So I don't see it as a matter of civil war, but rather as
a matter of the isolation of those who are unwilling to pursue the
aspirations of the Palestinian people through peaceful means. ...
SUNUNU:
Do you intend to recommend a financial assistance package for the
new Palestinian leadership to restructure their security forces?
And is it
likely that that request would be part of a supplemental budget
early in the
year?
RICE:
Thank you, Senator. I will look with others when I get to State
at
precisely how we might fund the obligations that I'm sure we're
going to
have to undertake to help the Palestinians in this important period
of time.
Clearly, the training of the security forces is going to be critical.
They've got to fight terrorism. They've got to have trained security
forces
to do it. It will be a good investment to train those forces. I
would just
note that we have, through indirect assistance, through the United
Nations,
through nongovernmental organizations, provided a good deal of funding
to
Palestinian reconstruction, Palestinian humanitarian needs. We also
have --
the president approved the funding of $20 million in direct support
to the
Palestinians just recently to help with their election. So there
is a fund
flow, and we will look at what more we need. I would hope that some
of this
would be funded by their Arab neighbors. I have to say that if people
really
want a peace, if the countries in the neighborhood, as they come
and tell me
and they come in to tell the president, they tell Secretary Powell
all the
time, We have got to have peace; you've got to work on behalf of
the
Palestinians, then there are a number of their neighbors who could
really
afford to help fund some of these efforts. And I'm sure that I will
be
actively seeking their support, because that is one thing that the
neighbors
could do for the Palestinian people.
SUNUNU:
Well, that was my second question, is what can the Arab states do
to
help. Obviously, with $45 or $50 a barrel oil, the economies there
and the
revenue base there is much stronger than it has been in past years.
Is there
any specific role that you see for the Arab states in addition to
financial
resources? One of the issues that was raised in some of our meetings
were
perhaps the opportunity to assist in the training of the security
forces.
And let me be clear, there are two different steps to this. One
is
restructuring the security forces, which will take resources and
funding in
and of itself, and a lot of political will. And then the second
step would
be the training of security forces.
SUNUNU:
Is there a particular partner in the region that you think might
be
best suited to that training role?
RICE:
Yes, it appears to me that both the Egyptians and the Jordanians
will
probably have a role to play. They've played that role before in
various
ways. And we have had extensive conversations with them, at other
times,
about playing that role at the conference in Aqaba. And we would
want to get
them involved. The Egyptians, of course, also have a role to play
in helping
stabilizing the Gaza, as the Israeli forces withdrawal. And we have
talked
with them about that. There are other roles that we need the Arab
states to
play. And I think the most important is, as I mentioned earlier,
you can't
insight hatred against Israel and say you want a two-state solution.
It's
just got to stop. They've got to stop it in their media. They've
got to stop
it in their mosques, because it is a message that is inciting the
people who
want to destroy the chances for peace between Israel and Palestine
-- a
Palestinian territory. So we sent that message. And it was probably
little
noticed, but when we went to Sharm el-Sheikh, the Arabs actually
issued a
very good statement. And it was on behalf of Arab states, the Arab
League,
and it was a very good statement. We will be going back to them
to remind
them of that statement and to ask them to live up to it.
SUNUNU:
In addition to the value of that statement, I would mention that
one of the things that came up, time and again, was the impact that
your visit
had on the area and the importance of that kind of high-level engagement.
I know you answered some questions with regard to a special envoy.
It's
something that you have supported in concept. But I would just underscore
the value of that high-level engagement, whether it's through a
special
envoy or your personal commitment.
...
MARTINEZ:
Shifting to the Middle East, I had the opportunity to travel there
recently, and also saw the Palestinian election take place. One
of the great concerns that seems to be there, as we look to a peace
process, is the continued instability in southern Lebanon, the fact
that the United Nations resolutions have never been implemented,
Syria has never really left the region, the Lebanese government
has never really taken over the southern part of Lebanon. And this
continues to exacerbate the inability of Israel to not suffer the
terrorist attacks, which then creates more instability in the region.
Do you think there would be an opportunity for us to more forcefully
assert the need for that resolution to be observed by Syria and
Lebanon?
RICE:
Absolutely, Senator. The Resolution 1546, which we and the French
co-sponsored, to put the Syrians on notice that the world expected
them to observe the legitimate sovereignty of Lebanon, to begin
to remove their
forces, to stop terrorism from there, I think was a very important
achievement. Secretary General Annan has appointed someone to keep
on top of the implementation of that resolution, and that's also
very important.
Lebanon can be one of the democratic strongholds in the Middle East.
And so we need to pay attention to what is going on in Lebanon.
And if I just might say one line about Syria as well, I think that
it's fair to say that the
Syrian government is behaving in a way that could unfortunately
lead to
long-term bad relations with the United States.
RICE:
It is incumbent on Syria to respond, finally, to the entreaties
of the
United States and others about their ties to terrorism, about the
harmful
activities that are taking place from Syrian territory into Iraq,
and to act
on a number of the steps that were first outlined to them by Secretary
Powell, almost three years ago and then by Deputy Secretary Armitage,
just very recently.
And
so this is an important issue with Syria. And I just want to thank
the
Congress. We do have, thanks to the Syrian Accountability Act, some
tools, but we will have to mobilize them, because Syria should not
be, but is thus far not a constructive force.
...
RICE:
We do have a number of other problems with Iran, not just the nuclear
problem. I think that the future of Iranian relations -- U.S.-Iranian
relations rests not only on the nuclear issue, but a number of other
issues,
too: terrorism, our past, their human rights record.
RICE:
The way that we've chosen to do this is that the Europeans worked
very closely with us. And we're trying to see if, indeed, the process
that
they're engaged in is going to bear any fruit. BIDEN: I understand
that. And
I think you've given me a straightforward answer. And I want to
make sure I don't misunderstand you. When I talked to our European
friends, who are the three, their foreign ministers and/or their
parliamentarians who are engaged in this, they what they say to
me is essentially what you just said. I think the Europeans would
be willing to cut a deal with the Iranians now, relating to
economic help, if there was a verifiable forswearing of production
of nuclear weapons and a missile program. But the truth is -- and
I'm not being (inaudible)
you understand it -- even if they did that, as long as they were
continuing to support Hezbollah, as long as they were exporting
the destabilization of Israel -- efforts to destabilize Israel --
as long as they were engaged in human rights abuses, then the administration's
position would be, even if the Lord almighty came down and said,
We guarantee you we can verify this, guarantee we can verify a compliance
with no nuclear weapons and no missile technology, we still wouldn't
go for that deal, would we?
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