U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Daily Press Briefing
MONDAY, JULY 31, 2000

QUESTION: Do you have any comment on the Hezbollah warning of violence if the US moves the embassy to Jerusalem?

MR. REEKER: I saw those reports and I can certainly say that we find these types of threats to be outrageous. Certainly it
demonstrates Hezbollah's continuing support for terrorism, and such violent threats deserve the condemnation of the entire
international community. This illustrates once again why that organization is on our list of terrorist organizations.

UESTION: The Hezbollah also said, Phil, that they would like to see a - not the Palestinian Authority have a stake in Jerusalem
but the whole of the Palestinian - excuse me, the whole of the Islamic peoples of the world. How does the US respond to that
particular point of view?

MR. REEKER: I don't think I have any particular response to statements out of Hezbollah. As I indicated, the type of
statement that they released that we've read about include threats which are absolutely outrageous. This type of terrorist
nature, the support for terrorism, is something that can't be olerated, not in the peace process, not in any sort of
communication. And we've made our views very clear on that and this organization, as I said, is an organization that we consider a terrorist organization.

QUESTION: What does Secretary of State Madeleine Albright hope to get - rather, hope to learn from the Vatican with regards to Jerusalem given that their policy since 1966 has been that Jerusalem be an international city?

MR. REEKER: I think as you would have seen from Ambassador Boucher's short briefing that he made when he announced that the Secretary would be traveling to Rome - in fact, the party has arrived in Rome just a short while ago - that the Secretary is traveling there to meet with Vatican Foreign Minister Archbishop Tauran and they will be discussing the Middle East peace process. As Ambassador Boucher indicated, this has been an area of great interest to the Vatican in the past and the Secretary has kept in touch with Vatican officials and, in fact, from Camp David spoke with the Vatican Foreign Minister. So, after Camp David, this is now a chance for us to help keep them informed of where we stand and where the process stands, and that's what she'll be doing when she meets with him tomorrow in Rome.

QUESTION: I'm basing this on a Reuters report, but is the nternationalization of Jerusalem a foreign policy option right
now?

MR. REEKER: I don't have anything to add for you on where we stand with the Middle East peace process. As you know, we continue to support that process. The Secretary is simply using this opportunity to meet with the Foreign Minister of the Vatican in Rome to bring him up to date, keep him informed on that process and what happened at Camp David.

QUESTION: Is the review of the decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem, or rather the review of the option of moving the
embassy to Jerusalem, is that linked to an agreement on the status of Jerusalem between the Israelis and Palestinians, or is
it - will it take place regardless of any agreement?

MR. REEKER: I think you all saw the President's comments on that from Friday saying that he is taking under - that this will be
taken under review before the end of the year the decision on moving the embassy. And I really don't have anything to add to
what the President has said on that.
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