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THE
U.S.-MIDDLE
EAST
PARTNERSHIP
INITIATIVE:
BUILDING
HOPE FOR
THE
YEARS
AHEAD
Secretary
Colin L.
Powell
The
Heritage
Foundation
Washington,
DC
December
12, 2002
SECRETARY
POWELL:
Thank
you very
much,
Ed, for
that
warm
introduction.
It's a
great
pleasure
to be
with you
this
afternoon,
and
Frank
and
Bill,
good to
be with
you
both.
And to
many
other
distinguished
ladies
and
gentlemen,
excellencies,
friends,
I want
to thank
you
especially,
and the
Heritage
Foundation,
for
inviting
me here
to spend
a few
moments
with
this
audience
and with
the
watching
and
listening
audience
and
discuss
the
hopes
and
aspirations
that we
share
with the
peoples
of the
Middle
East. I
also
especially
want to
welcome
the
distinguished
guests
in the
diplomatic
corps,
Congressional
staff,
the NGO
community,
and the
private
sector.
Thank
all of
you for
finding
time in
your
schedule
to join
us this
afternoon.
It is
fitting
that we
meet
here at
the
Heritage
Foundation.
For the
Heritage
Foundation's
vision
-- to
build a
country
"where
freedom,
opportunity,
prosperity,
and
civil
society
flourish"
-- is
the same
vision,
the very
same
vision,
that we
share
with the
peoples
of the
Middle
East for
their
countries.
The
Middle
East is
a vast
region
of vast
importance
to the
American
people.
Millions
of us
worship
in
churches,
mosques,
and
synagogues,
professing
the
three
great
faiths
that
were
born in
the
lands
between
the
Mediterranean
Sea and
the
Persian
Gulf.
Our
language
and
traditions
are
filled
with
references
to
Jerusalem,
to
Bethlehem,
to
Mecca.
Our
phone
books
list
names -
such as
Mousavi,
Levy,
and
Shaheen
- that
speak of
deep
family
roots in
the
Middle
East.
Our
farmers
grow
wheat,
and our
workers
make
airplanes,
computers,
and many
other
products
that we
sell to
the
countries
of the
region.
We, in
turn,
benefit
from
traded
goods
and
investment
from the
Middle
East.
Tragically,
thousands
of our
countrymen
and
women
died on
September
11,
2001, at
the
hands of
terrorists
born and
radicalized
in the
Middle
East.
Recognizing
the
region's
importance,
we have
for half
a
century
and more
devoted
our
blood
and our
treasure
to
helping
the
peoples
and
governments
of the
Middle
East.
Indeed,
my own
career
in
public
service,
and
especially
military
service,
has been
shaped
by
events
in that
region.
I was
privileged
to be
Chairman
of the
Joint
Chiefs
of Staff
when the
United
States
led the
international
coalition,
which
included
many
Arab
countries,
that
evicted
the
Iraqi
invaders
from
Kuwait.
Today,
as
Secretary
of
State,
the
Middle
East
requires
and
deserves
a great
deal of
my
attention.
Our
Middle
East
policy
has
emphasized
winning
the war
on
terrorism,
disarming
Iraq,
and
bringing
the
Arab-Israeli
conflict
to an
end. The
war on
terrorism
is not
confined
to the
Middle
East.
Our
friends
there
have a
very
important
stake in
that
conflict
and in
winning
that
conflict
because
many
have
suffered
the
scourge
of
terrorism
first
hand. I
am
pleased
that our
friends
have
stepped
up to
the
challenge
by
extending
basing
rights
for
Operation
Enduring
Freedom
in
Afghanistan,
exchanging
intelligence
and law
enforcement
information,
arresting
suspected
terrorists,
and
clamping
down on
terrorist
financing.
With
the
countries
of the
Middle
East,
our
friends
and
allies,
and the
community
of
nations,
we must
also
deal
with the
grave
and
growing
danger
posed by
the
Iraqi
regime,
led by
Saddam
Hussein.
By
unanimously
passing
Resolution
1441,
the
United
Nations
Security
Council
has
offered
Iraq a
final
opportunity
to meet
its
obligations
to peace
and to
the
international
community.
The
Iraqi
regime
can
either
disarm,
or it
will be
disarmed.
The
choice
is
theirs -
but this
decision
cannot
be
postponed.
We
also
have a
deep and
abiding
national
interest
in
bringing
the
Israeli-Palestinian
conflict
to an
end.
With our
friends
in the
region
and the
international
community,
we are
working
to bring
about a
lasting
peace
based on
President
Bush's
vision
of two
states,
living
side-by-side,
in peace
and
security.
This
peace
will
require
from the
Palestinians
a new
and
different
leadership,
new
institutions,
and an
end to
terror
and
violence.
As the
Palestinians
make
progress
in this
direction,
Israel
will
also be
required
to make
hard
choices,
including
an end
to all
settlement
construction
activity,
consistent
with the
Mitchell
Report.
As
President
Bush has
stated,
with
intensive
effort
by all,
the
creation
of a
democratic,
viable
Palestine
is
possible
in 2005.
Our
ultimate
goal is
a just
and
comprehensive
Arab-Israeli
settlement,
in which
all the
peoples
of the
region
are
accepted
as
neighbors,
living
in peace
and
security,
and
building
a better
future
for all
the
peoples
of the
region.
These
challenges
have
been at
the
forefront
of
America's
Middle
East
policy,
and with
good
reason.
Each of
these
challenges
profoundly
affects
our
national
interest,
and the
interests
of the
peoples
who call
the
Middle
East
home. We
remain
deeply
committed
to
meeting
each of
these
challenges,
meeting
them
with
energy
and
determination.
At
the same
time, it
has
become
increasingly
clear
that we
must
broaden
our
approach
to the
region
if we
are to
achieve
success.
In
particular,
we must
give
sustained
and
energetic
attention
to
economic,
political,
and
educational
reform.
We must
work
with
peoples
and
governments
to close
the gulf
between
expectation
and
reality
that
Queen
Rania of
Jordan
has so
eloquently
termed
the
"hope
gap."
The
spread
of
democracy
and free
markets,
fueled
by the
wonders
of the
technological
revolution,
has
created
a dynamo
that can
generate
prosperity
and
human
well-being
on an
unprecedented
scale.
But this
revolution
has left
much of
the
Middle
East
behind.
Throughout
history,
the
countries
of the
Middle
East
have
made
invaluable
contributions
to the
development
of the
arts and
sciences.
Today,
however,
too many
people
there
lack the
very
political
and
economic
freedom,
empowerment
of
women,
and
modern
education
they
need to
prosper
in the
21st
century.
The 2002
Arab
Human
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