BOLTON'S LATEST REMARKS ON Israel/Islamic War

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Ambassador Bolton responds to the jihad media;

Reporter:  I have two questions. Mr. Ambassador, would you ask Israel to withdraw from Shebaa Farms first?  And second, would you invite here Hassan Nasrallah to go to come and discuss directly with him the issues of prisoners?

Ambassador Bolton:  I have zero desire to discuss any issues with leaders of a terrorist group.  And in terms of what we do on Shebaa Farms, that's one of the reasons we asked the Secretary General for proposals.  The Security Council, all five permanent members, concluded that Israel had fully withdrawn from Lebanese territory some years back and that's a clear decision by the Council.  If there's going to be a change in the condition of Shebaa Farms, that's for Syria and Lebanon to decide.

[...]

Reporter:  Ambassador, what is the logic behind you seemingly opposing an Israeli withdrawal from Shebaa and giving it an international protectorate, given the fact that Siniora, the government that President George W. Bush said the intent of this resolution is to support Siniora's government?  So, given that he needs this so tremendously in order to take away the logic of the pretext of resistance, why do you oppose giving it an international protectorate?

Ambassador Bolton:  It is surely a pretext that Hezbollah uses that it maintains anti-ship cruise missiles in its arsenal in order to liberate Shebaa Farms.  And that is an indication of the general pretext of Hezbollah, to have the kind of military capability that it obviously has.  The Security Council has previously decided, unanimously, that Israel had fully withdrawn from all Lebanese territory, even though everybody in the world knew that it was still occupying Shebaa Farms, which is a judgment by the Security Council at that time that Shebaa Farms was not Lebanese territory.  That's as clear as one can be.  And it has been the consistent view of Syria that Shebaa Farms is Syrian territory.  Now, the draft resolution quite properly lists the full delineation of Lebanon's international borders, which means the Syrian border, including in those areas that are disputed or uncertain, including Shebaa Farms.  And if in the declination process Syria and Lebanon agree that that territory could go to Lebanon, then you'd have a different situation.  But the idea that this is at this point anything other than a Syrian-Lebanese issue is just wrong.  And one might ask the government of Syria, if they truly favor the full implementation of Resolution 1559, why don't they give that territory from Syria back to Lebanon and remove Hezbollah's pretext.  Thank you very much.

Reporter: What are you looking at now in terms of this meeting tomorrow afternoon? What sort of elements do you think they're going to bring to the table? And how do you anticipate incorporating those demands into the draft?

Ambassador Bolton: Well, I don't know what they're going to say, so I don't how to respond to the question. We've heard the request. And I said in the Council meeting, I thought, if the Foreign Minister of Qatar, a Council member, and other representatives of the Arab League wanted to address the Council, it was perfectly appropriate to have them do that. And, obviously, we want to listen to everyone's views. And if they think it's important enough to come to New York, then it's important enough for us to listen to. So certainly that's something that will be scheduled, and we'll consider those views very carefully. But I don't know how I can react to them until I hear what they actually have to say.

Reporter: Do you think that Israel can oppose some of the points that ministers tomorrow may bring up to the table?

Ambassador Bolton: Under the Security Council rules, the ambassador of Israel can request the opportunity to address the Council, and I wouldn't be surprised if he did.

Reporter: Ambassador, does this meeting tomorrow effectively mean there's going to be no vote (Inaudible). And how do you feel about a further delay?

Ambassador Bolton: You know, Ambassador de la Sabliere and I worked to get this ready to distribute on Saturday, along with lots of senior officials in our capitals, because we were trying to respond to the mood in the Council to have the Council take action swiftly. We've been working over the weekend to listen to the reactions of other Council members and to consider possible modifications in the text of the resolution before we put it to a vote.

Ambassador Bolton: Obviously, when you have a request from senior ministers to come and speak to the Council we're not going to rush to have the text finished before they arrive. But I also think that we have to try and be thinking about ways to take their views into account, but to continue to move to a vote as soon as other members of the council want. That's what we've been trying to do consistently, to take the views of the other council members into account and move as quickly as we can.

Reporter: The Arab League representative here brought up three points that they want to change, and one of them was not asked of the President. The other was emphatically answered. The question of Shebaa Farms being transferred to the possession of the U.N. force, is that something you might consider?

Ambassador Bolton: We say in the text of the resolution now what we think is appropriate. It's an issue between Syria and Lebanon. The key operative part of the draft resolution now asks for proposals from the Secretary General on how to address the issue. And I think that's really- as part of the overall handling of the matter, that that's the way to proceed. And to try to prejudge an outcome at this point would be a mistake.

Reporter: I have two questions. Mr. Ambassador, would you ask Israel to withdraw from Shebaa Farms first? And second, would you invite here Hassan Nasrallah to go to come and discuss directly with him the issues of prisoners?

Ambassador Bolton: I have zero desire to discuss any issues with leaders of a terrorist group. And in terms of what we do on Shebaa Farms, that's one of the reasons we asked the Secretary General for proposals. The Security Council, all five permanent members, concluded that Israel had fully withdrawn from Lebanese territory some years back and that's a clear decision by the Council. If there's going to be a change in the condition of Shebaa Farms, that's for Syria and Lebanon to decide.

Reporter: Mr. Ambassador, how do you evaluate the Lebanese request? Do you consider them really serious and essential or they will not affect any final draft resolutions you are discussing now?

Ambassador Bolton: Well, let me just say it's not as though we drafted this resolution in a closet somewhere and suddenly sprang the text on any member government. We - the United States and France - were in close touch with both the government of Lebanon and Israel throughout this entire negotiation process, not just here in New York but in the critical early discussions among capitals. Secretary Rice has spoken with Prime Minister Siniora I don't know how many times in the past eight or nine days. And we've had our ambassador there, and in Jerusalem, working on this. We've had representatives from Washington who have gone to both Beirut and Jerusalem. The government of France has been in equally close contact. So throughout the entire negotiation and consultation process to get us to the point where on Saturday we circulated the draft resolution, was in very close contact with the government of Lebanon and the government of Israel. And as President Bush, I think, has said, there's no doubt that all the concerned parties are dissatisfied with some part of this resolution. If you could write a resolution that in every respect satisfied every party, you probably wouldn't be in a crisis now. So the effort has to be not to achieve perfect agreement or to completely satisfy anyone, because that's not possible at the present juncture, but to take the concrete steps we need to get on the road to a lasting solution. We're continuing to listen to views here which we receive from Council members and others. We'll hear the views of the Arab League tomorrow. And we'll continue to work for what our objective has been since the text was circulated on Saturday, which is the most rapid adoption of the resolution we can get. Let me just take one more over here.

Reporter: Ambassador, what is the logic behind you seemingly opposing an Israeli withdrawal from Shebaa and giving it an international protectorate, given the fact that Siniora, the government that President George W. Bush said the intent of this resolution is to support Siniora's government? So, given that he needs this so tremendously in order to take away the logic of the pretext of resistance, why do you oppose giving it an international protectorate?

Ambassador Bolton: It is surely a pretext that Hezbollah uses that it maintains anti-ship cruise missiles in its arsenal in order to liberate Shebaa Farms. And that is an indication of the general pretext of Hezbollah, to have the kind of military capability that it obviously has. The Security Council has previously decided, unanimously, that Israel had fully withdrawn from all Lebanese territory, even though everybody in the world knew that it was still occupying Shebaa Farms, which is a judgment by the Security Council at that time that Shebaa Farms was not Lebanese territory. That's as clear as one can be. And it has been the consistent view of Syria that Shebaa Farms is Syrian territory. Now, the draft resolution quite properly lists the full delineation of Lebanon's international borders, which means the Syrian border, including in those areas that are disputed or uncertain, including Shebaa Farms. And if in the declination process Syria and Lebanon agree that that territory could go to Lebanon, then you'd have a different situation. But the idea that this is at this point anything other than a Syrian-Lebanese issue is just wrong. And one might ask the government of Syria, if they truly favor the full implementation of Resolution 1559, why don't they give that territory from Syria back to Lebanon and remove Hezbollah's pretext. Thank you very much.

Comments

[Beakerkin]

Well I almost made it to Israel but DHS extended me until the end of January. I was going to go on one of the volunteer programs but it will have to wait.

My coworkers overwhelmingly support Israel but do not understand my desire to go under these circumstances. One summed it up " Beakerkin you have survived twice in NYC what on earth are you going to Israel for"

I looked him straight in the eye and said "the hat trick". The whole place could not stop laughing.

I will be back in NYC soon enough.