Dennis Ross Quotes (43 Quotes)



    If you are embracing violence, if you insist on maintaining an independent militia, if you reject the idea of coexistence, you are not a partner and we will not deal with you, ... The point is to be very clear don't try to be overly subtle on this one.

    This is a leader who governed Syria for 30 years. The landscape is changing with the change in Syria. The landscape is changing with Israel being out of Lebanon. The landscape is changing with permanent status negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians that are serious.

    This has been a good start and the process has been set in motion. We have to see the process produce results and we're working to that end.

    It has been clear from the guidance I had in coming out here that both ... (Secretary of State Madeleine Albright) and the president believe that it is important to bring this process to a conclusion. But the president and the secretary will make a decision on when it is appropriate to do so.


    It's a reminder that this is a very difficult time,

    It looks as if the world sees Arafat as someone who ended his life as someone who was determined to prevent peace or was against it,

    At this moment, the differences are too difficult to overcome, ... We need more time to work them out.

    What the Bush administration needs to do is ... make their own assessment exactly what the landscape is. What's possible, what's meaningful. And if they focus that way, that will inevitably take some time.

    We can't have a failure in Iraq, but we also can't be there for the next 10 years because if we are, it's going to become, I think, a failure in and of itself.

    To have peace in the Middle East, we are going to have to see that religion is a source of peace.

    We're not looking for meetings as an end in themselves. We're looking for results.

    I think we've seen over the course of the last year is that Chairman Arafat may well be committed to wanting to live in peace with Israel, but his own capacity at this stage to reach a permanent agreement is at least something that has to be questioned.

    When one thinks about religion, one should think about peace.

    Our concepts are still basically the same, but we have made some modifications and that's what I've been going over with the leaders today,

    Ross said the report allowed both Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat to move without appearing to make unpopular concessions. It may give each of them an excuse to do something, ... They will not respond to each other. That much is very clear.

    There is no question that Jordan is strongly committed to the peace process and will always be supportive of any effort to try to find ways to put things back on track,

    That's the new struggle of our time, and we have to frame it that way to understand what we're contending with and why it's so important for us not to fail.

    This is a process that has been going on for a long time. The ideas were originally conveyed in the middle of January. At some point it has to come to a conclusion.

    The work is going very well, and ... I hope and expect that we will conclude an agreement shortly thereafter.

    President Clinton made it clear he is prepared to get them together again if he is satisfied there's a readiness to make decisions.

    And that's going to create a stalemate between the two sides unless we build a bridge to the future in advance of that stalemate.

    In these countries there still is a climate that certainly makes it possible and doesn't make it illegitimate to embrace this ideology.

    My focus right now is meeting with each side ... to see what kind of conclusions they have drawn about the insights that developed at Camp David, and then we'll see if there are ways to overcome the differences,

    At the end of the day, every administration does what it needs to do, but obviously they will have to pay attention to this.


    I think it's always important when you're approaching Middle East peace never to set your hopes too low.

    What's important is not meetings for their own sake but results ... that will have a consequence on the security environment.

    The meeting will try to overcome obstacles and try to reach an accord over redeployment in Hebron,

    We're hopeful that we'll see an agreement very soon.

    Not withstanding the unique confluence of circumstances, he (Arafat) was not able to take advantage of that opportunity,

    AIPAC is taking the public statements seriously. They're alarmed by a nuclear capability, and the administration appears to be adopting an approach that isn't changing Iranian behavior.

    They conducted this meeting in a spirit of partnership, recognizing that they have common interests and common stakes. They each felt, and each said, that it was a new beginning.

    The problem is, you've got a complete dysfunction on the Palestinian side. For all the talk of peace process, the United States will be with Israel on its unilateral steps and hoping that the next prime minister of Israel will do what Sharon would have done.

    I really feel there's a need much more for a third party to build bridges between the two sides before it's too late,

    It's in Syria's interest to remove any cloud, any stigma, any questioning about where it's coming from and what it's doing,

    Our objective is have the agreement implemented. Both sides have obligations and responsibilities, and we expect both sides to carry out those responsibilities and obligations.

    The nuclear weapons would deter us from attacking them, and they see that the weapons also give them great leverage.

    Security is something that serves Israeli interests and Palestinian interests. You have a common threat and you have a common enemy and it's important to deal with that as partners.

    make the decision on how to resume with the final procedures.

    There isn't a peace process if you don't overcome the differences. Security is one part of it, political is the other. In the current circumstances, the first thing that must be done is to reestablish a basis for security.

    We had a very good discussion, and I think we are making headway. Issues are being dealt with seriously, intensively and comprehensively in a way that I think gives us a chance to put the process back on track.

    If you have differences, the place to deal with differences is at the table, not on the streets, ... There is no place for violence in this process.


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