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State Department, September 14, 2009
No comment on Israel's settlement plans until after Mitchell-Netanyahu meeting today
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)—Following are Middle East related excerpts from a press briefing conduct Monday by State Department spookesman Ian Kelly:
Iran
QUESTION: Iran’s decision to hold talks with the P-5+1 on October 1st – doesn’t that avoid the UN General Assembly? It takes the – you can’t really raise it and debate there.
MR. KELLY: Well, I mean, I think we still intend to meet – the P-5+1 partners intend to meet during the UN General Assembly. And the point of all this is to sit down with the Iranians and explain directly, face-to-face, the choice that they have. And we’ve explained what that choice is. They have – they can go down one path which leads to the – to integration with the international community, or they can continue down another path which leads to isolation. And that’s the path that we’re concerned that they’re on now because they’re not meeting their obligations to the international community.
And we plan to address this issue of their not living up to their obligations head on. We – this is going to be front and center in our talks with them on October 1st. And we are not planning to start a whole new process here. This is just going to – we’re going to sit down and have the opportunity to explain to them directly what their choice is.
QUESTION: You’re not going to have much to work with at the UN since the talks with Iran are going to be later.
MR. KELLY: Well, I mean, it’s a chance for us all to sit down once again and talk through these concerns that we all have and discuss the best means for us all to get to our common goal, and that’s to make sure that the – that Iran understands that it has obligations as well as rights, and the obligations are to provide more transparency into this nuclear program that they’ve started.
Yeah.
QUESTION: Any information on where the talks might be held and who might represent the U.S. side?
MR. KELLY: No decisions have been made regarding the venue. It’s not going to be – it won’t be in the U.S. It’s going to be in some third location. And that will be worked out with Mr. Solana’s office.
QUESTION: And representing the U.S. – anyone?
MR. KELLY: It’ll going to be at the political director level, so that will be Under Secretary Burns.
QUESTION: Ian, I’m not – you’re going to use this to sit down and explain to the Iranians exactly the choice they have to make, the choice they face?
MR. KELLY: We haven’t had that opportunity for quite a while.
QUESTION: Well, no, but don’t you think the Iranians are fully aware of the choice that you’re offering them?
MR. KELLY: Well, we --
QUESTION: I mean, they’ve thumbed their noses at it --
MR. KELLY: Yeah.
QUESTION: -- for the last several years, and nothing – it’s the same choice that they have faced dating back to the prior administration. What on earth makes you think that somehow now they’re going to be willing to take it?
MR. KELLY: Because we plan to highlight to them exactly what the best means --
QUESTION: And you don’t think the last administration did that?
MR. KELLY: What we say in public is one thing, and what we say in – what we hear in private is another. So the six members of the P-5+1, we are united in this common goal of getting the Iranians to introduce more transparency into their nuclear program. And as I said, we’re not interested in a process that’s going to go on forever --
QUESTION: Well, actually, you seem --
MR. KELLY: -- but, actually, we want to take this opportunity --
QUESTION: You seem to be.
MR. KELLY: Well, I don’t agree. We have a dual-track policy, and we’ve been pursuing one of these tracks. It’s time now to pursue the other one.
QUESTION: Ian, the dual-track policy goes back years.
MR. KELLY: Yeah.
QUESTION: And it hasn’t produced any results yet, and the Iranians say specifically that they’re not interested in talking about their nuclear program.
MR. KELLY: Well, we’re going to talk about, and I don’t –
QUESTION: And they’re just going to hold their – they’re going to, you know, put their hands over their ears and say, you know, I can’t hear you.
MR. KELLY: We hope that the six of us can really lay out to them in a very stark fashion the choice that they have, and we’re going to take this opportunity to do it.
QUESTION: And for some reason – for some reason you --
MR. KELLY: I think it’s really incumbent on us to do this, to take this opportunity.
QUESTION: But you don’t – but for some reason, you think that they don’t understand?
MR. KELLY: Well, look, we’re under no illusions about the Iranians.
QUESTION: Well, I know. Well –
MR. KELLY: And – but we have an opportunity here to present a united front – the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany – to show that the international community wants them to abandon their nuclear – their – any plans they have for militarization of their nuclear program.
QUESTION: All right. Well, you will accept, though, that for the past several years this is the same message the Iranians have been getting, yes?
MR. KELLY: I’ll accept that, sure.
QUESTION: Okay.
MR. KELLY: Like I say, we have no illusions --
QUESTION: Can I ask you --
MR. KELLY: -- about the Iranians.
QUESTION: All right. There’s an unrelated – sort of semi-unrelated thing, there’s a report in Iran that the U.S. is prepared to sell them planes, Boeing planes and spare parts.
MR. KELLY: Not true.
QUESTION: Do you know anything about that?
MR. KELLY: It’s not true. It’s inaccurate.
QUESTION: What is inaccurate?
MR. KELLY: That we’re selling them spare parts and Boeing planes.
QUESTION: Planes.
MR. KELLY: Yeah.
QUESTION: What’s the U.S. position on whether the Pakistanis can use U.S. --
MR. KELLY: Is there anything else on Iran, by the way?
QUESTION: I actually --
MR. KELLY: Yeah, Mark, go ahead.
QUESTION: Well, first of all, a moment ago you said something that was interesting. I just wanted to ask you about it. You said what we say in public and what we hear in private are not necessarily the same --
MR. KELLY: No, no. Okay, yeah --
QUESTION: Can you clarify that?
MR. KELLY: I didn’t phrase that – I didn’t phrase that very well.
QUESTION: Right, okay. (Laughter.)
MR. KELLY: What nations say in public is one thing, and what they say in private is another thing.
QUESTION: Are you --
MR. KELLY: I’m sorry. I was a little --
QUESTION: Fair enough. But --
MR. KELLY: -- a little lax in my phraseology there.
QUESTION: Fair enough. But does that suggest that something you’re hearing in private gives you more optimism about the profitability of these talks than what you were in hearing in public?
MR. KELLY: No. I’m not trying to suggest that. I’m just trying – what I’m highlighting here is that we want to explore this avenue. We want to have this opportunity to sit down with them and for us to present the international community’s concerns directly face-to-face to the Iranians.
QUESTION: Okay. And then one last Iran-related question. And I apologize if this has come up in previous briefings and I didn’t see it. But Hugo Chavez was quoted as saying that Venezuela wanted to pursue a peaceful nuclear program with help from Russia.
MR. KELLY: Yeah.
QUESTION: And there’s obviously been a long and close association between Venezuela and Iran.
MR. KELLY: Right.
QUESTION: They’re close allies.
MR. KELLY: Yep.
QUESTION: Is there any concern about technology transfers or nuclear transfers on the U.S. part between Iran and Venezuela?
MR. KELLY: Yeah. The short answer is, to that, yes, we do have concerns. We have concerns in general about Venezuela’s stated desire to increase its arms buildup, which we think poses a serious challenge to stability in the Western Hemisphere. What they are looking to purchase and what they are purchasing outpaces all other countries in South America. And of course, we’re concerned about an arms race in the region. And we urge
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Venezuela to be transparent in its purchases and very clear about the purposes of these purchases. And we’re also very concerned that they put in place very clear procedures and safeguards that these – that these arms are not diverted to any irregular or illegal organizations in the region.
QUESTION: Well, what about their nuclear – this idea of a nuclear program?
MR. KELLY: Yeah, I’ve seen – yeah, I think I saw a press report on that. Venezuela is a signatory of the NPT. It has certain obligations, of course, under the NPT for any civilian nuclear program. And of course, we will be looking closely at this. But beyond saying that, let me see if I can – if we can get you some information from our – from the people who follow these things day to day.
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Israel
QUESTION: Regarding Prime Minister Netanyahu, he just said today that settlement construction will not freeze at all and rejecting the U.S. call for that. I was just wondering where do negotiations move on from now, and if the U.S. thinks that he’s not committed to a peace process with the Palestinian?
MR. KELLY: Well, first of all, let me just take this opportunity to update you where we are with our talks. You know that Senator Mitchell is in Israel today. Today he attended the funeral of Assaf Ramon, who is a Israeli pilot who died in a training mission. We have a special connection to this family because it was his father who was on the space shuttle Columbia when that tragically exploded. Senator Mitchell felt it important that he attend this funeral as well. And of course, we hope the memory of Assaf’s dedicated and honorable service to his country tempers the grief of his family.
Tomorrow he expects to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu. He also plans to meet with President Abbas. Given that they are going to meet tomorrow and discuss all these issues, let’s see what comes out of that meeting tomorrow. Our policy, of course, is crystal clear on it. Senator Mitchell, as well over the weekend, met with President Peres, Foreign Minister Lieberman, and Defense Minister Barak. I’m told the talks were positive and productive.
QUESTION: Right. But after this, I mean, isn’t this closing the door to –
MR. KELLY: I’m not closing the door to anything, especially not with Senator Mitchell about to sit down with the Prime Minister tomorrow.
QUESTION: Thank you.
QUESTION: Excuse me.
MR. KELLY: Yeah.
QUESTION: Yeah, just – sorry, one more on Iran. You say that it’s incumbent on the U.S. to go down this avenue, but you’re also not interested in a whole new process.
MR. KELLY: Right.
QUESTION: So I’m wondering has the U.S., in speaking with the partners in the P-5+1, given any kind of a limit to this avenue, or what the U.S. expects if it doesn’t go anywhere --
MR. KELLY: Yeah.
QUESTION: -- if Iran just stays not talking on a nuclear program?
MR. KELLY: Yeah. Well, Under Secretary Burns speaks often to his political director colleagues. They have talked about the way forward. And as I say, we – our patience is not infinite. We’re not willing to let this go on forever. I think you’ve seen President Obama talk about a time period that ends this fall. But I think beyond that, I mean, we have not had the opportunity really to get an official response from the Iranians on our offer that we made back in April. And so this is why I say we want to take this opportunity to hear from them, face-to-face directly across the table what their choice is in terms of the – which path they’re going to pursue.
Al Qaida
QUESTION: After eight years of 9/11, Usama bin Ladin again had another tape and it’s been eight years now. Before, he used to appear on camera with the video and audio, everything, but now only for the last several tapes, only audio. Do you believe he’s still alive? And who delivers and where they deliver all these tapes?
MR. KELLY: Yeah.
QUESTION: Do --
MR. KELLY: Yeah. I don’t know. But I’ll tell you, no matter what he says, it doesn't do anything to gloss over or dress up the very stark, indisputable fact that al-Qaida murders innocent people indiscriminately – women, children, Muslims, Christians, Jews. And – but I can’t tell you exactly why they do video and why they do audio. Frankly, I don’t care.
Scholars for Peace in Middle East deplore Israel divestment effort
HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (Press Release) —The Board of Directors of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) deplores the recently publicized demand that Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF) divest itself of its holdings in an Israeli-owned company, Africa-Israel. SPME is an international academic organization of 28,000 academics world-wide, based in the United States.
The divestment demand came from 59 academics, several of whom are well known for anti-Israel activism. The anti-Israel faculty had their facts wrong (TIAA-CREF had already terminated its holding, presumably for financial reasons), but their demand illustrates certain academics' hostility, bias and prejudice towards the state of Israel, and their indifference to the facts.
The SPME Board of Directors commends TIAA-CREF for its long-standing and consistent policy of resisting the politicization of its allocations, and urges that any future calls to divest from Israeli companies for political reasons be rejected.
Furthermore, because of recent confusion in the media, we encourage TIAA-CREF to make a public statement about its purely fiduciary decision to drop Africa-Israel from its holdings, and about its commitment to resisting the politicization of its allocations.
El Al divulges honey cake
recipe for High Holidays
NEW YORK (Press Release)—With the Jewish New Year right around the corner, EL AL, Israel’s national airline, prepares for this holiday season by offering sweet honey cake to passengers traveling in all classes of service.
In celebration of this holiday, 300 lbs of sliced apples, 155 lbs of honey, and more than 500 pounds of honey cake will be served to all passengers flying from New York (JFK/Newark) to Ben Gurion International Airport in Israel. Worldwide, EL AL has added 250 flights (25,000 seats), a 12% increase in capacity as compared to the same holiday period last year.
Chef Steven Weintraub, Executive Chef of Borenstein Caterers, provides his special recipe for cakes that will be served on EL AL flights as well as in the First and Platinum Business class King David Lounges.
HOLIDAY HONEY CAKE RECIPE:
1 cup of honey
½ cup of sugar
4 whole eggs
1 cup of coffee, black and room temperature
¾ cup of vegetable oil
1 fresh orange, grated fine (include juice pulp and skin)
4 - 4 ½ cups of flour (adjust flour amount to ensure mixture is moderately loose)
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
A pinch of salt (1/8 tsp)
1 cup of raisins
INSTRUCTIONS:
Mix honey, sugar, eggs, coffee, oil and orange thoroughly. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Slowly add dry mixture into liquid mixture. Blend well. Fold in raisins. Pour mixture into a 9 x 13 greased baking pan or into a 36 muffin tin. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour. After 45 minutes of cooking, check periodically. Let cool on a wire rack.
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