THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

                   REMARKS BY PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU
                               AT STAKEOUT

The North Portico

11:27 A.M. EDT

Q (Asked in Hebrew.)

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: (Answered in Hebrew.)

Q Mr. Prime Minister, can you assess for us the prospects of actually getting an accord done this weekend?

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: I can't tell you. We come with the best intentions, and we hope that there will be an accord. We're asked to give additional territory; we want to ensure that this territory doesn't become a base and a haven for terrorists to attack us, as happened before. And therefore, we seek assurances that the obligations that the Palestinians took upon themselves in the Oslo Accords will be fulfilled -- chiefly and firstly, the commitment to fight terrorism in word and deed; in deed, the operational moves that must be taken against the terrorists; in word, the stopping of the incitement and the final annulment of the Palestinian Charter that still calls for our -- destruction through terror.

If there is a willingness and a determination on the Palestinian side to do this, then I think the chances will be good. And I hope that that is the case.

Q Are you prepared to leave here without a deal if your demands are not met? Are you prepared to leave here without a deal if your demands are not met?

Q (Asked in Hebrew.)

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: (Answered in Hebrew.)

Q (Asked in Hebrew.)

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: (Answered in Hebrew.)

Q Mr. Prime Minister --

Q (Asked in Hebrew.)

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: (Answered in Hebrew.)

Q Mr. Prime Minister, do you think this weekend negotiations might help change your position on the Palestinian state?

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: I think the important thing is to avoid a situation where we don't have an agreed upon procedure to enter and conclude permanent status negotiations. If we succeed -- it's an "if," because in order to succeed we need to have our security interests and the Palestinian obligations on security fulfilled -- but if this is done, then we'll enter final status talks, and those final status talks, naturally, each side will have differences.

We're concerned with the kind of regimes that we see in our area -- with Iraq, with Iran, with the possibility of having an allied regime right next to our doorstep. We want to have certain assurances. This can only be done through negotiations. It can only be done through the balance of the Palestinians' desire to run their own lives and our desire to protect our lives. And this must be done by negotiations.

So rather than deal with the outcome, I think in this case, when we deal with the final status negotiations, we must deal with the process, and an agreed upon process that moves us towards agreement, rather than disagreement and confrontation.

Q In the past two years we've seen the reduction in major terrorism in terms of bus bombings and so forth -- to your credit, to Mr. Arafat's credit. What do you -- like the incident with the guy with the rifle shooting the two Haredim guys -- that stuff can go on almost indefinitely. How do you -- what do you expect him to do, how do you deal with that?

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: We have taken a very clear position against terrorism. That position is manifested first by the very tough measures that we have taken against the terrorists, themselves. We have targeted the terrorists, we fight the terrorists, and we do so knowing fully well the risks involved. But we know that the risk of not fighting them is greater. That has produced a change.

Equally, we have been very firm in telling the Palestinian Authority that any movement to give them additional land is premised on their fighting terrorism, as I said, in word and in deed. And if -- again, if they do so, then we have an ability to move forward.

But understand my concern. Israel is a tiny country. We're asked to give large blocks of land right next to our cities, right next to our "White House," right next to our "Capitol" -- right next to our major cities. How do we know that these areas, these territories do not become bases of terrorism?

The answer is, we can't have full knowledge, full guarantee, but what we can have are concrete assurances by the Palestinian Authority that they will take those steps that have been promised before and have yet to be carried out to minimize that risk, to fight terrorism, to prevent the use of Palestinian areas as launching grounds for terrorist attacks against us.

That is our basic expectation and that is our basic hope in the Wye Plantation talks. We're going there with the objective of trying to secure an agreement. I was asked a minute ago in Hebrew -- and I know your Hebrew is good, but it's not that good -- do you really expect -- do you really expect -- something like that to happen there. And the answer is, yes. That's what we've come here for -- to see a concretization of the fulfillment of Palestinian obligations. And if they do their part, we shall do our part.

Q Can you discuss the specific steps you --

Q Mr. Prime Minister --

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: That's the longest sound bite you've had in years. (Laughter.)

END 11:37 A.M. EDT