His Excellency Nasser Judeh
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Remarks by Jordan's Minister of Foreign Affairs
Nasser Judeh and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
following their Bilateral Meeting
Jan. 8, 2010
Washington, DC
SEC. CLINTON: Good morning, everyone.
It is a personal pleasure and of course an honor to welcome back the foreign
minister, to the State Department, representing a country that is such a valued,
allied partner of the United States.
Over the past 10 years, His Majesty King Abdullah has carried on the vision and
spirit not only of his late father but of the Jordanian people. And under King
Abdullah's leadership, Jordan has continued to be a key partner in the pursuit
of peace and progress, in the region and around the world.
So today as we have in all of our previous meetings, the minister and I
discussed a wide range of issues. I want to begin though by stating publicly
what I have told the minister.
I expressed both our condolence for the loss of life that was unfortunately both
American and Jordanian. And I expressed appreciation for Jordan's commitment to
combatting violent extremism at home and abroad.
This is a struggle that unites people of faith, people of peace, people of
conscience everywhere.
Terrorists have targeted our cities and our citizens, and they must be met with
unwavering resolve.
I well remember visiting the hotels in Amman that had been bombed in 2005,
walking through the wreckage, visiting the innocent children, men and women who
had been targeted at weddings. I will never forget what I saw there, as I will
never forget what I have seen elsewhere. And the United States, Jordan and our
partners around the world stand shoulder to shoulder in this fight.
We also share a commitment to seeking a comprehensive peace in the Middle East
based on a two-state solution. We are working with the Israelis, the Palestinian
Authority, Jordan and the Arab States to take the steps needed to relaunch
negotiations as soon as possible and without preconditions, which is in the
interest of everyone in the region. The United States believes that, through
good-faith negotiations, the parties can mutually agree on an outcome which ends
the conflict and reconciles the Palestinian goal of an independent and viable
state based on the 1967 lines, with agreed swaps, and the Israeli goal of a
Jewish state with secure and recognized borders that reflect subsequent
developments and meet Israeli security requirements.
Both the United States and Jordan are concerned about recent activities in
Jerusalem. The United States recognizes that Jerusalem is a deeply important
issue for Israelis and Palestinians, for Jews, Muslims and Christians around the
world. And we believe that it is possible to realize the aspirations of both
Israelis and Palestinians for Jerusalem, and safeguard its status as a symbol of
the three great religions for all people.
On this and other pressing challenges, the partnership between our countries
provides a solid foundation for the pursuit of peace and progress. I look
forward to continuing to work closely with the foreign minister, with Jordan's
new government, and with His Majesty, as we broaden and deepen our partnership
and our friendship.
MIN. JUDEH: Thank you very much, Madame Secretary. The pleasure and honor
are all mine. I'm extremely happy to be here at the State Department again, and
to have this opportunity to have this overreaching exchange of views with
Secretary Clinton.
And I said back in August, when I had the pleasure of seeing Secretary Clinton
here, that the relationship between Jordan and the United States can best be
described as a true partnership, not just a friendship. And I think that this
relationship had -- has withstood the test of time and the numerous challenges
that we've had in our part of the world and globally. and I think that the
relationship gets stronger by the day.
This last year, Madame Secretary, we celebrated, as you well know, the 60th year
of the exchange of diplomatic relations between Jordan and the United States.
And again, this reflects the solid relationship that both countries enjoy. Our
partnership is a strategic and solid one based on common values and a shared
vision of a comprehensive lasting peace, coexistence and prosperity in the
Middle East, and our firm belief in combatting the many challenges that we face
around the world.
I thank you, Madame Secretary, for referring to the tragic loss of life that we
saw in Afghanistan, and, of course, elsewhere as a result of our ongoing and
joint and in fact collective global war on terrorism.
Thank you for referring to the 2005 hotel bombings in Jordan. We must not forget
that we, too, in Jordan were and are still a target, and that we will not waiver
or be deterred in our determination to combat terror, terrorism and terrorists,
and -- wherever they are. In 2005, we said very clearly that we will not wait
for the terrorists to perpetrate their heinous crimes. We will try to uproot
them before they get to the implementation stage of the planning.
And our presence in Afghanistan today is two-fold: number one, to combat
terrorism and the root causes of terrorism, but also to help out in the
humanitarian effort that is needed there.
And I would like to say that our presence in Afghanistan will be enhanced and
increased in the coming phase. This is something that is ongoing.
Jordan was one of the first countries there. We are not only part of a network
of countries that are trying to assist Afghanistan and Afghanis (sic), but also
trying to combat terror and terrorism, but we're also there to defend Jordan's
national interest and to defend Jordanians and safeguard them against this
growing threat.
So, Madame Secretary, we continue to look forward to working with you and with
other governments in combatting terror and terrorism.
On the peace process in the Middle East, I had very good discussions with the
secretary, and this morning I had good discussions with Senator Mitchell as
well, and their respective teams. And we agreed on the need to relaunch serious
negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis, negotiations that are bound by a
timeline and a clear plan, with benchmarks to end this lingering conflict, to
establish an independent sovereign and contiguous Palestinian state along the
June '67 lines in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and Gaza living side
by side with a safe and secure state of Israel.
It is also vital to achieve a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace on the basis of
internationally agreed-upon terms of reference and the Arab peace initiative
that will ensure a secure and collaborative regional order. And we are all in
agreement that there are serious difficulties, but we hope that 2010 will see
the continued and much- needed leadership role that the United States can play
in this regard.
And once again I'd like to remind of the important issues -- (inaudible) --
final status issues, that include refugees and Jerusalem, everything should be
subject to negotiations. And when it comes to Jerusalem, as the secretary very
correctly pointed out, Jerusalem is potentially a flash point. And it is so
sensitive to all the followers of the three great monotheistic religions.
But most importantly, actions on ground in Jerusalem can turn into provocative
and antagonizing actions to the followers of the three great religions. So it's
very important to try and avoid unilateral action in Jerusalem. Everybody is in
agreement that Jerusalem is to be discussed in final status negotiations as --
I'm talking about East Jerusalem, of course -- as occupied Arab territory. There
is a growing sense of urgency to move forward in the talks and to achieve
tangible progress that will create a more enabling political environment that
would allow us to address, collectively and more adequately, other
regional/global challenges before us today.
Absent a successful resolution of the conflict, we will witness further regional
instability and divisions that extremists will exploit not only in the Middle
East but worldwide. And I refer to what I said earlier about the global war on
terror.
As I told Madame Secretary, under the leadership of His Majesty King Abdullah
II, Jordan is fully committed to working hand in hand with our partners in the
region and ready to assist the United States in its efforts to achieve a
regional peace, which is not only in the national interests of the Palestinians
and the Israelis and the Arabs but also of the United States of America. We will
spare no effort in doing all we can to ensure the success of this endeavor and
to fully support U.S. leadership in ensuring negotiations move fast towards
reconciliation on the basis of the two-state solution, as part of a
comprehensive peace.
Thank you so much, Madame Secretary. I look forward to continuing our good work
together on this issue.
SEC. CLINTON: Thank you, sir.
STAFF: We have time for two question.
CNN. Jill.
Q Thank you. Madame Secretary, if I could, a question on the terror report
that the president got yesterday. In that report, it singled out what it called
a visa issue, and they point out that the fact that this suspect did not have a
visa was not correlated to the information that his father gave, concerns about
his son. And then also there was the issue of the misspelling of the name. How
serious are these issues? And what do you plan to do about them?
And just one quick one on the Middle East, if I could. Have you or are you
willing to give guarantees to the Arab countries and to the Palestinians about
the Obama administration's views on negotiations and also the settlement issues?
Thank you.
SEC. CLINTON: Well, first, Jill, as to the report, I think that the
president made it very clear in his remarks, both before and again yesterday,
that we all are looking hard at what did happen in order to improve our
procedures to avoid human errors, mistakes, oversights of any kind. We are, in
the State Department, fully committed to accepting our responsibility for the
mistakes that were made, and we're going to be working hard with the rest of the
administration to improve every aspect of our efforts.
I think it is very clear from the president's stated resolve that this is the
highest priority, not only for him but for all of us. The safety and security of
the American people, of airline travel, will remain at the very top of our minds
and our efforts. And, you know, we will be working with all of our other
partners inside the government to do all that we humanly can to make -- to make
sure that we prevent incidents like this and protect people.
With respect to the Middle East, we are absolutely committed, and have been from
the very first day of the Obama administration, to working with all of our
partners. This negotiation is clearly about issues that most directly affect the
Israelis and the Palestinians, but it is of great matter not just to the people
of the region, not just to the Arab nations, but really to the entire world.
There is a hunger for a resolution of this matter, a two-state solution that
would rebuke the terrorists and the naysayers, that would give the Palestinians
a legitimate state for their own aspirations and would give the Israelis the
security they deserve to have.
So George Mitchell will be consulting, as he has been very broadly, not only in
the region but in Europe and elsewhere. We are in constant close consultation
with friends like our partners in Jordan.
But this is a year of renewed commitment and increased effort, toward what we
see as an imperative goal for the region and the world.
STAFF: And finally NBC.
Q Thank you. Good morning to both of you. Madame Secretary, to start with
you, Senator Mitchell said yesterday -- he talked about a two-year time frame.
Some U.S. report talks about, the first nine month, we concentrate on borders.
And Jerusalem and refugees would be discussed later. Can you confirm, is this
the thinking of the administration? And secondly the Palestinians are saying
that they're not going to come to the negotiation, unless there is a total
freeze on settlement. The Israeli ambassador, he is saying that basically they
don't give them time frame. How are you going to bridge the gap between the two
sides?
SEC. CLINTON: Well, I think, what Senator Mitchell rightly said is that
he wants to move as quickly as possible, that there's an urgency that we
certainly feel. But there has to be a negotiation on all of the final status
issues.
And as Minister Judeh and I discussed earlier, resolving borders resolves
settlements. Resolving Jerusalem resolves settlements. So I think we need to
lift our sights. And instead of being -- looking down at the trees, we need to
look at the forest.
You know, where are we headed together? We know what a final resolution will
have to include: borders, security, Jerusalem, refugees, water. We know what the
elements of this two-state solution must include.
So I think Senator Mitchell was being, you know, very prudent in saying, these
are hard issues. They require a lot of back-and-forth between the parties,
guarantees and assistance from the rest of us who are, you know, trying to move
this forward.
So it might take as much as the time he mentioned. But obviously we hope to be
moving much more expeditiously. But first we have to get negotiations relaunched.
You know, Nasser and I could stand here and talk about what we would like to see
happen. But at the end of the day, there are two parties that have to make it
happen.
So our goal is to persuade the two parties to get into this very in- depth
negotiations on all of these issues as soon as possible.
Q Going to the foreign minister, on Afghanistan, you lost a member of the
intelligence service. And there is controversial issues about that employee. Can
you just shed some light on that, on whether he was a double-agent or not, and
whether this can affect the shared intelligence between the United States and
Jordan?
MIN. JUDEH: May I start, first of all, by just picking up on the very
positive statement that the secretary of State has made on the pursuit of peace
in the Middle East, and just say that in the final analysis -- in the final
analysis, time is of the essence. The president of the United States and the
secretary of State, from the beginning of 2009, expressed a sense of urgency and
said that peace in the Middle East is U.S.' national interest. Time is not on
our side.
You asked about time frames and setting deadlines, and whether people agree or
disagree. I think His Majesty King Abdullah II, the secretary of State has said
it before, Senator Mitchell has said it before: you cannot just have another
open-ended process. Some deadlines have to be put on the table. And these
deadlines have to serve the parties, rather than present obstacles in the path
towards peace. They help -- they help the parties put things in the right time
for -- time frame, and the right perspective.
We've said it in the past: we've had too much process, and not enough peace.
What we don't need in the region right now is another open-ended process that
leaves issues unresolved and that leaves loose ends without being tied. So it's
important.
And, yes, final-status issues, as the secretary listed them, are known to
everybody. But if you sort out borders, if you resolve the question of borders,
then you automatically resolve not only settlements in Jerusalem, but you
identify the nature on the ground of the two-state solution and how it looks
like, and then all other things fit in place. That's on the -- on the peace
process.
And I hope that with the many difficulties that we saw in 2009 -- and this is
not the first year that we see difficulties. This is a 60-year-old conflict.
We're going to have difficulties and more difficulties, but our resolve should
not be affected by this. We will have more difficulties, but let 2010,
hopefully, be the year of negotiations that lead to the establishment of the
Palestinian state and security for Israel, and peace for the entire region.
On Afghanistan, neither the secretary nor I are intelligence officers -- I'd
like to think that we're intelligent officers -- (laughter) -- but we're not
intelligence officers.
And I can't presume to speak on behalf of the secretary, but I'll speak for
myself in saying that I'm not at liberty to discuss intelligence operations or
ongoing shared intelligence between like- minded countries. However, I have said
very clearly that, in the global war on terror and terrorism, Jordan is at the
forefront. And we're there as part of that global network, and we're also there
to protect our national interest.
We were a target of terror and terrorism many decades ago, not just recently.
And we've had to be not only creative, but we've had to be extremely effective
in our pursuit of those who want to do harm to our country and to our citizens.
Most recently, in 2005, we had the hotel bombings. But that may not count the
tens of attempts that were foiled or thwarted. And this is the result of our
commitment and our ongoing operations, whether it is military personnel or
intelligence work or whatever -- or humanitarian work, because in our pursuit of
terrorists, we're saving humanity. And I think this is where the United States
and Jordan and other like-minded countries are fully on board together.
We're not just talking about counterterrorism. We're not waiting for terrorists
to carry out their plans. We're talking about terrorism prevention. We're
talking about finding the root causes and finding the root of where terrorists
plan and plot and trying to stop them right there and then, before they get to
us and attack our citizens and our interests and kill innocent civilians.
So there is a Jordanian presence in Afghanistan. It's been there for many years
-- again, humanitarian presence, a logistical presence and intelligence and
operations to protect our own citizens and to prevent terrorists from carrying
out their heinous crimes. And information is power, they used to say, but
sharing information is also power. And I think that sharing information between
like-minded countries is just as effective in combating terror than -- as
combating terror (bilaterally ?), so.
Q Thank you very much.
SEC. CLINTON (?): Thank you all very much.
MIN. JUDEH: Thank you.
END.