MR. MCCORMACK: Well, let me start off by saying we don't have assets on the ground in Hamas; the State Department does not. So I can't tell you that we have eyes on anything. We rely on news reports as well as talking to our Palestinian interlocutors who are in contact with people in Gaza.

But it would seem that Hamas forces are in control of many important points within the Gaza, many important towns, many important key infrastructure points. I cannot tell you that they control all of the key infrastructure points, all the key buildings, key crossroads, key compounds. But I think that you have seen over the past couple of days the trend line that shows that they are, at the very least, largely in control of the major parts of Gaza.

Yeah.

QUESTION: And you're not concerned that this will spread to civil war -- essentially a civil war in the West Bank?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, we haven't seen the spread of violence in the West Bank and I think everybody's glad for that and everybody's pleased for that. Nobody wants to see violence. The ultimate victims of this are the Palestinian people, not only in an immediate sense of innocent civilians getting caught in a crossfire, but ultimately their dreams for a Palestinian state are diminished by these kinds of acts. That is why it is up to us as well as others in the region to support those, like President Abbas, who have an interest in achieving a Palestinian state via the negotiating table.

Yeah.

QUESTION: What kind of conversations are being had with the Palestinians and your other allies in the region about trying to help President Abbas get control of Gaza? Are there consideration of extra aid, extra support? I mean, similar to what you -- I know it's a little bit different because of the legislation, but similar to what you're doing with Prime Minister Siniora in Lebanon. I mean, here you have, as you've said, a legitimate security force that's battling terrorists.

MR. MCCORMACK: Right. I wouldn't look at the situation as quite as equivalent between Lebanon and the Gaza. But at this point, Elise, I think what we're going to need to do is take a look at where we are with the new situation in Gaza, a new balance of forces within Gaza in which Hamas and its "military wing" is in control of most of the land mass there. So I expect in the days and weeks ahead that we're going to take a look at that to see what -- how to proceed with the security assistance program, how Keith Dayton is going to continue working with the Palestinians. I believe that he has every intention and that we have every intention of his continuing his work with the Palestinians. We'll take a look to see what the balance might be between working with forces on the West Bank vice working with forces in Gaza. Right now I can't tell you what the balance might be in the future.

QUESTION: I just have a couple more. Are you considering Gaza a lost cause at this point or are you -- is the intention to try and help him? I know you're still discussing about how to do that.

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: But is it your intention to try and help him get control?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, nobody's going to abandon the Palestinian people and nobody wants to abandon the hundreds of thousands if not millions of people in the Gaza Strip to the mercies of a terrorist organization and the most extreme elements of the terrorist organization. We're certainly not going to participate in this extinguishing the hopes of a whole swath of the Palestinian population to live in a Palestinian state.

Fundamentally, this comes down to a political dispute. Now, Hamas has chosen to try to short-circuit any of that debate that might have been occurring in Gaza with these violent actions. But we are -- ultimately the Palestinians are going to have to sort out for themselves the politics. We've talked for a long time about this fundamental contradiction within the Palestinian political system in which you have a group Hamas that wants to have a foot in politics and a foot in terror. Well, it's -- certainly the past few days' events have brought into high relief that choice. And it's going to be -- I think the Palestinian people are going to look to President Abbas for leadership and for a pathway out of this crisis within the Palestinian political system.

QUESTION: I just have one more.

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah.

QUESTION: It's not just like Hamas going against Fatah. I mean, there is a cycle of violence between the -- among both Palestinian forces and there is documented evidence, video of forces of Fatah, which are actually in the security services going after members of Hamas that aren't necessarily only in these extra military and security forces as you were talking about, but members of the -- of Hamas -- of the Hamas government, legislators. I mean, what kind of talks are you having with President Abbas about making the distinction between -- are you considering everybody in Hamas, whether they're a legislator or anybody, a legitimate target at this point?

MR. MCCORMACK: Look; certainly, we expect the Palestinian Security Forces that report to President Abbas to adhere to professional standards of conduct, to adhere to internationally accepted standards of conduct. I can't go case by case for you, but one thing I know I'm not going to do is try to draw an equivalence between a terrorist organization and the legitimate institutions of the Palestinian Authority.

Look; if you can go by some of the reports coming out of Gaza, there are reports of the Hamas military wing using tunnels underneath some of the Palestinian Authority security force institutions to launch attacks. That didn't just happen in the past couple days. They didn't just dig the -- start digging these tunnels in the past four days. This has been something that is premeditated and planned and quite clearly meant to try to extinguish any sort of political debate within the Palestinian system about which way the Palestinian people want to go.

And I can assure you that we are going to stand with those who want to negotiate the basis for a Palestinian state. That certainly is not Hamas at this time. They have consistently rejected the international principles that they -- that the international system has asked them to adhere to in order to have a different kind of situation in the Palestinian areas and they refuse to do so, but -- so we're going to continue to work and try to strengthen those moderate Palestinian forces that seek peace in the region.

Yeah, Sylvie.

QUESTION: Ban Ki-moon today spoke about the possibility of sending an international force in the Gaza Strip.

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah.

QUESTION: Do you think it would be politically a good idea and military feasible?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, we'll, of course -- yeah, we'll, of course, take a look at whatever the Secretary General has to propose. And I have to confess I haven't seen any details of such a proposal. But I would, just as an initial reaction, put out for you that I think it would be difficult to find forces that would be ready and effective in going into such a clearly non-permissive environment.

Yeah, Libby.

QUESTION: Just more broadly, Sean, given the trend line in Gaza in the last few days, doesn't this represent a severe setback to any efforts Secretary Rice has made to bring a solution to this?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, what it is -- it's a challenge to the Palestinian political system. And I think what it does is underscore the importance of working with those moderate forces in the Palestinian political system that have an interest in a peaceful negotiation; that have a vision for the Palestinian people that is based on greater freedoms, greater democracy, greater prosperity and a Palestinian state.

That -- the importance of that and the importance of that mission is in no way diminished by these actions. In fact, I think it only underscores the importance of continuing to try to move forward on that track, and to not let those who have made a conscious choice to use violence and to use terror to undermine the aspirations of the Palestinian people to allow them to succeed.

Kirit.
 

QUESTION: (Inaudible) off of Libby's question, does the recent violence give the Secretary any pause to reconsider any plans she may have to visit the region? And then second, you had mentioned earlier this morning that the Secretary had spoken with the Jordanians and the Egyptians to urge them to try to help Mahmoud Abbas. Could you tell us what she'd like to see them do to help support Abbas?

MR. MCCORMACK: Right, a couple things. One, in terms of travel plans, no changes at this point. We'll keep you up-to-date. Yesterday she did speak with Egyptian Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit and they talked about ways in which the Egyptian Government might augment their security forces along that strip of land in Egypt that abuts the Gaza Strip. She encouraged the Egyptian Government to support President Abbas in his efforts in any way that they can politically, diplomatically.

She did not speak with the Jordanians directly, it was our Ambassador went in and spoke with the Jordanian Government and it was basically the same message, absent that augmentation of the security forces along Gaza. But it was just a general message of talking to them about ways in which they might support President Abbas, moderate Palestinian political forces as well as to work within the Arab world to generate this similar kind of support.

Yes, sir.

QUESTION: Sean, do you have a comment on the death of Kurt Waldheim, who was the former U.S. Secretary General and was on your watch list?

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah, we'll come back to it.

Yeah.

QUESTION: I just wanted to ask, have you had time to look sort of more closely at the report the UN leaked so-called secret report? I specifically wanted to ask, though, there was a reference to something that Elliott Abrams reportedly or allegedly had said in -- sort of a threat to withhold UN -- U.S. funds to the UN unless the UN agrees to not talk to Hamas.

MR. MCCORMACK: It's a UN report and I understand it expresses the views of an individual, a former envoy, and you can talk to him about his views and you can talk to the UN about whether or not those views expressed in that report represent the views as -- of the UN as a body.

QUESTION: Did you threaten to hold up funding for the UN if it --

MR. MCCORMACK: You can talk to the UN about their report.

Yeah, sure.

QUESTION: What's Dayton doing right now? What's -- and I have a follow-up to that as well. What's -- where is he, what's going on with --

MR. MCCORMACK: He's in the region and I'm sure he is closely following the situation in contact with his Palestinian interlocutors, feeding back information about the situation on the ground. And I'm sure that the Secretary, as well as others, are going to be looking to him as we get a clearer picture of the ramifications of what Hamas has done, as to what sort of assistance we might provide to those legitimate Palestinian institutions that report to President Abbas. Beyond that, I can't really speak to his activities.

QUESTION: But if I'm not wrong, for the -- in recent -- you know, in the last four weeks, there was that proposal for a U.S. -- the U.S. proposal for benchmarks that the Israelis should have to meet and Olmert just came out and said, "Oh, we -- you know, we can't do this," and it seemed to die. I mean, is -- and then there was the request by Fatah to get ammunition in and -- I mean, the Israelis and the U.S. were looking at that and then we didn't hear anything more about that. I mean, did both of those proposals just fade away or are they still in play? I mean --

MR. MCCORMACK: No. In terms -- the benchmarks are just meant to put down on a piece of paper some practical political targets for the Palestinians and the Israelis to work on. Deals with practical issues like checkpoints and those sort of issues. So no, that is still active, that is still --

QUESTION: You're still trying to get the Israelis to accept them?

MR. MCCORMACK: We're still working with both sides. Look, I'm sure that if -- these were our thoughts and ideas. I'm sure that the Palestinians and the Israelis are going to have suggestions concerning the document. It's not something that is written in stone. It's meant to be a cooperative exercise and it's not meant to impose anything on either side. It's meant as a useful tool around which -- you know, with which they can have a conversation, you know, some practical things that they might focus on.

In terms of assistance to the Palestinian security forces, because of congressional notifications and reprogramming, that was actually a program that was just really getting off the ground as Hamas launched this attack. And our assistance to the security forces really centered around training and non-lethal assistance, things like communications and uniforms and that sort of thing.

QUESTION: Sean, can you just -- in the last 48 hours, who has the Secretary spoken to other than -- you said the Egyptian Foreign Minister yesterday and then Abbas today?

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah, in terms of -- she's spoken with Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit on Wednesday. She spoke to Omar Suleiman, the Egyptian intelligence head, on Tuesday. She spoke with President Abbas today. She spoke to Israeli President Shimon Peres to congratulate him on his election to the presidency. And --

QUESTION: Today?

MR. MCCORMACK: Yes, today. And on Monday, she spoke with Foreign Minister Livni.
Yeah, Nina.

QUESTION: Sean, the Arab foreign ministers are holding emergency talks tomorrow. Will there be a U.S. representative there or will the Secretary speak with any of her counterparts after the meeting?

MR. MCCORMACK: I can't tell you whether or not she's going to speak with her counterparts, but we are in contact with the key players that are going to be attending that meeting. I'm not sure if we're going to have an observer there or not, but we'll get a readout of the meeting. And obviously, the results of the meeting will be out there for all to see.

QUESTION: Are you relying primarily on the Egyptians to try and broker some kind of --

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, I think we're -- everybody's looking to some of the leading states in the region that have played an active role on this issue. That includes the Egyptians, the Jordanians and the Saudis as well as others. But I think people in the region look primarily to those three states to take a lead.

Yeah, Farah.

QUESTION: I mean, it seems as though U.S. policy in this conflict for the -- over a year has been to encourage the moderates to confront the extremists, to encourage Abbas to confront Hamas. Isn't that whole strategy based on the wishful thinking that Abbas would actually win?

MR. MCCORMACK: No, the strategy is to help build up functioning, effective, legitimate institutions of a future Palestinian state. That's the strategy and that goes back to the President's Rose Garden speech in 2002. And that's been the focus of our efforts. And it was harder to accomplish in some areas than others. There was great progress that has been made, actually, in regularizing and bringing up to an international standard Palestinian finances. They were a mess in the wake of the rule of Yasser Arafat. This was a system of multiple bank accounts, hidden accounts, cutouts, people being paid in brown paper envelopes. And it was all designed to keep Yasser -- you know, to benefit Yasser Arafat and to benefit those around him. And that's a system that Salam Fayyad and President Abbas got a hold of and have made great strides in improving to the point now where the international system trusts their dealings with them.

Now the Palestinian Security Forces were an equal -- in an equal state of disarray; again, the same kind of -- the same kind of fractured, unclear chain-of-command again all designed to keep Yasser Arafat in control. So the object was to help build up those security forces, make them more professional, have clear chains of command, and make them more capable, and make them -- in every case, the idea was to have these institutions serve the needs of the Palestinian people, whether that's in finances or in security.

Now in security, it took longer and it has taken longer. And I would suggest to you that the timing of this Hamas strike against these institutions isn't a coincidence, just as the training and equipping program for these security forces that report to President Abbas is really starting in earnest, really starting to get going. That's when they attack. They attack just as the Egyptian Government is making efforts to try to bridge differences within the Palestinian political system. They attack just as the Qassam rocket attacks have been reduced -- not ended, but reduced. So it's a clear attempt by these forces of violent extremism to short-circuit the debate within the Palestinian political system about which direction the Palestinian people are going.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) I mean, forgive me --

MR. MCCORMACK: No --

QUESTION: But it seems as though so much of what you're saying is -- it doesn't jive with the reality on the ground of what's happening and -- you know, you're talking about building the Palestinian institutions and everything we're hearing out of Gaza is about the collapse.

MR. MCCORMACK: Look, you know, every single day, members of Hamas, members of the Hamas military get up and they know what they want to do. They want to work actively to try to subvert any progress to a political reconciliation of the State of Israel. They want to work to subvert any attempt to bring a functioning, legitimate democracy to the Palestinian people. We know that. That is what the Palestinian people are up against, that is what we are all up against, those of us who have an interest in bringing peace to the region.

Is that difficult? Absolutely. And is it made -- has it been made more difficult by the fact that the Palestinian leadership, prior to President Abbas, was thoroughly corrupt and thoroughly authoritarian? Yes, it is. But that does not mean -- just because we have these challenges does not mean that you give up on the Palestinian people. That is not what President Bush, that is not what Secretary Rice is going to do.

So are the forces of violent extremism going to fight back, are they going to punch back against attempts to bring greater freedom, greater democracy, greater prosperity not only to the Palestinian people, but to peoples throughout the Middle East? You bet they are and we're seeing that. But that -- does that mean that we are going to fight any less hard? Absolutely not. Does that mean we're going to give up? No. Does that mean that we are going to sacrifice those people in the region who are forces for moderation, who are forces for political dialogue, who are forces for peace? Absolutely not.

That is precisely the wrong time to do that and that is why Secretary Rice is making -- is going to make it very clear that we continue to support those forces of moderation and those who want to bring peace to the region.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Well, I was going to ask some questions, but you seem to have asked and answered all of them yourself. Can we change -- move on or do you want to do Waldheim first?

MR. MCCORMACK: Whoever wants to go next.

QUESTION: Let the guy -- do Waldheim.

(Laughter.)

QUESTION: Please.

MR. MCCORMACK: There you are. Certainly, I think that our hearts go out to those members of his family who miss his passing.

QUESTION: Any other comment on that?

QUESTION: Madame Secretary, do you support Mahmoud Abbas's move today to (inaudible) a state of emergency?