The President's news conference with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt at Camp David, Maryland

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, June 17, 2002

June 8,2002

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 art of our country, a place where we like to come and relax and a place where we like to welcome our friends.

We had a--the President and I had a good dinner last night. 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 private visit and then met with our 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'll mention that in a second, but we're still in a war against people who want to harm America and people who want to harm Egypt. And we've had--we've got a good friend, Americans have a good friend, when it comes to this war on terror, in Egypt.

The President understands that we've got a long way to go in order to be successful. He's now been told again by me 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 appreciated so very much his--listening to his ideas as to how to achieve that 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, 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're more likely to achieve peace. And we discussed how to achieve those objectives.

The President of Egypt has had a lot of experience, and I appreciate his experience, and I appreciate his advice. Anytime he is willing to give it, I'm willing to listen. And so, Mr. President, I want to thank you for your time, and I appreciate your friendship, and welcome you to Camp David.

President Mubarak. Thank you very much for that. I will deliver my speech in Arabic language.

President Bush. He's going to speak in Arabic. That's good. The American press--

President Mubarak. I would like to thank President Bush for his welcoming remarks, which reflects the deep friendship between us. During our stay at Camp David here, I conducted extensive discussions with President Bush on a 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 junction which requires us to exert all possible efforts on the political and security tracks, to rebuild the confidence between the parties, on one hand, and to relaunch a 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 here 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 here 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 the 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. This vision was adopted by 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. We in Egypt and the entire Arab world support this vision and strongly believe that it represents the only way to achieve progress towards the 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 references 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 and withdraw its forces to positions occupied on September 28, 2000; and halt assassinations and the repeated incursions in the territories under the control of the Palestinian Authority; and immediately halt all settlement activities in the occupied territories, including the illegal confiscation of land and expansion of settlements under the pretext of natural growth or any other consideration.