Bill Clinton: “That's an excellent question, first of all. Let me tell you a little about my trip, so I can answer that question. The…”

“That's an excellent question, first of all. Let me tell you a little about my trip, so I can answer that question. The King of Jordan and the Prime Minister of Israel are going to sign this peace agreement in a couple of days, and they've asked the United States, the President, to be the witness of it because we worked so hard on it. I'm going to go to Cairo to see President Mubarak, who's been a real partner of ours in this Middle East peace process, and to visit with Chairman Arafat there in Egypt about all the issues you just raised. I'm also going to Syria, as you know, to hope to make further progress there because until we have a peace with Syria, we can't get a peace with Lebanon and a comprehensive peace in the area. There are two questions in the question you asked. One is the question you asked, what are you going to do to see that Chairman Arafat keeps his commitments under the agreement he made with Israel? The second question is, what can we do to increase his capacity to keep those commitments? Keep in mind, the really difficult thing in this Middle East peace package is, if Israel makes an agreement with Jordan, they are two nations, with two systems of law enforcement, two armies, two sets of borders. They can--they have a real capacity to enforce their agreement, the same as if we can ever get this agreement with Syria or with Lebanon; you will have borders, armies, institutions, law enforcement. With the agreement with the PLO in the West Bank and--I mean, in Gaza and Jericho--I mean, in Jericho and the West Bank, you have only the beginnings of the capacity to honor this. Now, when Corporal Waxman was kidnapped, I believe that Mr. Arafat really made an effort to help find out where he was and to share intelligence with the Israelis, and it was a good first step. But I will press him to honor the agreements in spirit and letter, but we also have to develop his capacity to honor the agreements. That is very important because, keep in mind, the PLO had never--not only never run a police force or an army before but never had to see the lights come on or do all the things Mayor White has to worry about: does the sewer system work; does the water system work; what is the order and structure of events? So the challenge is not only to get them to want to keep their commitments but to ensure that they can keep their commitments.”