For Immediate Release
Office of the White House Press Secretary
July 14, 2006
Press Gaggle by Tony Snow
Strelna, Russia
5:47 P.M. (L)
www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/07/20060714-4.html

MR. SNOW: ...the President ...was pleased by a statement -- I don't know if
you've seen it -- that came out yesterday by the Saudis that, among other
things, pointed out that Hezbollah, acting independent of a government, had
behaved in a manner that I will paraphrase as irresponsible. I would direct
you to the Saudi statement because I'm sure I don't have that exactly
right -- as a matter of fact, we actually did a print out of it. Let's see,
"uncalculated adventures undertaken by elements in Lebanon without recourse
to legal authority and consulting and coordinated with Arab nations."

In other words, what the Saudis were saying is that Hezbollah has been
acting in a manner that's completely independent of the state of Lebanon.
And we're looking forward to a foreign ministers meeting -- with Arab League
Foreign Ministers tomorrow, and hope that their comments will reflect the
same concern about Hezbollah's acting independently and thereby imperiling
the democracy in Lebanon, which we support.

The President also reiterated his support for the democracy in his
conversation with Prime Minister Siniora. They talked about ways to move
ahead not only within the Arab League, but also the President encouraging
his allies to speak out with everybody involved, including the Syrians and
once again made the point that Hezbollah has been granted shelter in Syria,
it is financed by Iran and both parties should be held responsible for some
of the activities that are going on there.

He also reiterated the statement yesterday, that he believes that the
Israelis have a right to protect themselves, and also that we think it's
important that in doing that they try to limit as much as possible so-called
collateral damage, not only to facilities but also to human lives.

So that is basically it.

Q Now, Siniora is describing the President's comments as promising to get
Israeli to rein in its attacks. Did the President say anything like that?

MR. SNOW: No. What the President -- or, the President reiterated his
position. Prime Minister Siniora at one point -- I think he's been public
about this -- has wanted a ceasefire. It is unlikely that either or both
parties are going to agree to that at this juncture, although we certainly
hope that we get to a ceasefire soon and we hope that all parties work
toward it.

But, again, as the President said, this began because Hezbollah crossed into
Israeli territory, kidnapped two soldiers and, furthermore, has been engaged
in a long series of rocket attacks on people in Northern Israel, although we
have been focusing on it -- that is, "we" collectively, and especially the
American press in the last couple of days -- this has been going on for a
long time, it just hasn't reported. It's been a much keener and sustained
interest in Israel.

The Israelis have decided to try to have targeted attacks against rocket
launch sites, many of which are deliberately placed in civilian
neighborhoods. And they regret the loss -- or they've expressed regret for
the loss of innocent life, but they also pointed out that military necessity
compels them to hit where the launchers are, but I will let the Israelis
speak for themselves on this.

Q Did the President discuss with these leaders a U.N. delegation that's
going into the region?

MR. SNOW: Yes. Well, we support the U.N. delegation. It really didn't go
much further than that. As you recall from Secretary Rice's comments last
night, she was actively engaged in helping put together the initiative and
she certainly supports it and encourages it.

But as far as any specific directions, look, we think the United Nations is
trying to helpful here, ad that's important, because the more pressure was
can bring to bear on Hezbollah -- and there's an important point to note
here: the attacks by Hezbollah, which, again, to reiterate -- I'll use the
Saudi phrase once again, "without recourse to legal authority and consulting
and coordinating with Arab nations" -- it is clear that the Arab nations --
that Saudi Arabia, that the Jordanians, that the Egyptians do not look upon
Hezbollah as being a legitimate government entity, as a matter of fact, they
look upon it as an active threat to the government of Lebanon.

And U.N. Resolution 1559 made it pretty clear that foreign powers ought to
stay out of Lebanon and let the democracy itself take root. And so the
United Nations is going there to work with strengthening the provisions of
1559. Prime Minister Siniora also wants help, and we support his aim, in
making sure that his government acquires effective control over all Lebanese
territory, including the southern regions where, in many places Hezbollah
holds sway. And the President certainly offered his support for that goal.
And, again, it's consistent with 1559.

Q Following up on something that came up last night with the Condi
briefing -- is the President -- is the White House working with the G8 on a
draft resolution to address this issue? Because she talked about how
important it was to speak with one voice.

MR. SNOW: There were some draft resolutions underway before everybody headed
over here. But I think it's safe to say that with the pace of events -- and
I did speak to some of the people involved in negotiations -- they're going
to have to redraft them. It is certainly going to be a topic of much concern
and so I expect them to talk about it a lot. I don't want to make any
promises about draft resolutions, but it is important for everybody to speak
one voice.

And I think the one area of common agreement is that Hezbollah cannot act
independently of the government of Lebanon. What it has done is deliberately
place in peril the people of Lebanon, as well as the government. And the
President has also made it absolutely clear that we want that government to
survive and thrive and we are going to do what we can to help them do that.

Q So there will be one kind of resolution or another, it's just that they
have to be reworked?

MR. SNOW: I can't -- look, I don't have a crystal ball. We'll just have to
see what happens.

Q Okay. There may be resolutions.

MR. SNOW: Well, you don't call it "resolution." I think you have a statement
or whatever. But, again, no promises on that; we'll just have to see what
happens when the leaders get together.

Q The President didn't make any promises or anything to the Lebanese Prime
Minister? Did he give him any idea of what he might try to do with Israel,
as far as making them hold back a little bit on attacks?

MR. SNOW: The President is not going to make military decisions for Israel.
What he said is that -- look, there have been ongoing conversations. As a
matter of fact, today Secretary Rice -- let me pull out my list. I mentioned
the three heads of state the President has talked with. Secretary Rice has
talked to David Walsh, [sic] she's talked to Kofi Annan, the Qatari foreign
minister, she talked to Mahmoud Abbas, she talked to Siniora, and she is
working on trying to get -- well, I won't tell you who she's working on
getting through to.

Q Who's David Walsh?

MR. SNOW: He's our -- Welch, I'm sorry. Welch. Sorry, can't read my own
writing. David Welch.

Q Who is he?

MR. SNOW: He's our Assistant Secretary of State. He is traveling with Eliot
Abrams through the region.

Q So the President has not -- you know, Condi last night was talking about
Israel should exercise restraint. The President has not called any Israeli
officials to make that point?

MR. SNOW: He has not spoken with Israeli officials. However, Secretary Rice
and National Security Advisor Hadley have had a number of conversations.

Q Those conversations with the Israelis escalated over the last 24-48 hours
or are we talking kind of over this 17-day --

MR. SNOW: Well, of course we've been talking through the 17-day period. But
you must understand that what Hezbollah did -- look, there were active
negotiations between the Israelis and other partners on the kidnapping.
Hezbollah steps in, what, five days ago, six -- whatever. I mean, that is
when you get a real escalation point. And the moment that happened,
obviously, it became a matter of greater concern because it was pretty
obvious that what Hezbollah is trying to do is to destabilize the situation.
It has an interest in renewed violence at a time when Arab nations have been
speaking out more and more about the importance of a two state solution;
they agree with us on that.

And what is heartening to note is that a number of Arab nations are, in
fact, saying to Hezbollah, sorry, you're on your own. And, in addition,
they've been talking with the government of Syria because it is pretty clear
that Syria has considerable influence over what goes on there.

Q Does the President have any plans to talk any Israeli leaders? Or at this
point, no?

MR. SNOW: At this point -- look, I think -- the Israeli leaders have been
consulted, and they've been consulted by the Secretary of State and the
National Security Advisor. And they'll continue their conversations and
there is no -- I don't want to say there's no need, I'd just say the
President has not expressed any plans to speak with the Prime Minister, but
should it become necessary, he will.

...

MR. SNOW: All right, just a couple of extra notes. Secretary Rice, since I
last had contact with her office, has spoken with the Emir of Qatar and also
I think even as we speak, or about as we speak is going to be speaking with
Prime Minister Olmert.

Let me re-emphasize something that's important about what's going on. What
Hezbollah has done is force people to make choices. And quite often in
protracted situations like this you have forcing event, and in many ways
this is a forcing event. And what you're beginning to see is the Arab
nations coming to the realization that independent actors and terrorist
organizations like Hezbollah are an act of threat to everybody, because they
can -- a small number of people can work to destabilize not only a nation,
but to aim at destabilizing a region. And that has been a focus of a lot of
the talks.

In any event, again, Secretary Rice has spoken with the Emir of Qatar and
also with -- I think is going to speaking with Ehud
Olmert.

An additional point, too, you know, when you're thinking about choices.
Again, the Iranians and Syrians also have a choice to make, which is whether
they continue provoking and supporting terrorist organizations within the
region. The President intends to work with allies, including France --
remember, France was instrumental in helping write U.N. Resolution 1559,
which led to the removal of Syrian forces from Lebanon, the official Syrian
government presence. And the French were very helpful on that. And I think
we look forward to their help on dealing with Hezbollah, too.