|
Despite Arab unwillingness to make gestures, Mideast progress being made—State Department
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release)--Here are Israel-related excerpts from Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley's briefing of the media on Monday. The briefing followed a joint press conference of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Jordan's Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh.
QUESTION: Can I change the subject? On the Israel home evictions, I know the Secretary said that they were deeply regrettable. Do you consider this like a legal violation of Israel’s obligations under the Roadmap? And did Senator Mitchell know about this when he had traveled to Jerusalem, and did he raise it with the Israelis?
MR. CROWLEY: Well, I mean, basically, this is not a new issue. This particular case has been working its way through the Israeli courts for some time. So in that sense, everyone was well aware of this particular case. That said, at this point in time, we are looking for all of the parties to take meaningful steps to return to a negotiation. And as the Secretary said, this is a step in the wrong direction.
QUESTION: So I mean, if it’s not kind of a legal violation, then certainly it’s a violation of the spirit of what you’re trying to do with Israel right now.
MR. CROWLEY: Well, certainly the Israel Government, the Palestinian Authority made commitments under the Roadmap, and this is a violation of those commitments.
QUESTION: P.J., you said earlier that – you described earlier the conversation between the Secretary and the Jordanian Foreign Minister as an excellent – as excellent. You said it was an excellent discussion on this. And yet, for the second time in three days, you’ve had an Arab foreign minister come out and basically say, “No way, we’re not going to do anything that Mitchell or you or whoever has asked us to do.” How can you say that there’s progress being made and that Mitchell is close to getting the two sides back to the table?
MR. CROWLEY: Well, obviously, I think that we are working hard to put ourselves in position for negotiations to begin. I think we are saying that there’s still work to do and – even as we have experienced some progress.
QUESTION: Well –
MR. CROWLEY: But to finish the point, I think that both on Friday and today, you had strong statements by both the foreign minister of Jordan and the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, first of all supporting the reengagement of the United States in this process, supporting the efforts to begin a negotiation, acknowledging that once you get to a negotiation, all of the issues are on the table. And certainly, they’re very supportive of our efforts, supportive of the Arab Peace Initiative.
Clearly, we have to – we still have work to do to create the conditions to get a negotiation restarted, and that is what George Mitchell will continue to do in the days and weeks ahead.
QUESTION: Well, is the Secretary disappointed that these foreign ministers are coming here and standing or sitting next to her, are coming out and saying –
MR. CROWLEY: Not at all. I think what she said on Friday and I think inferred today, part of her purpose is to touch base
Go to top of right column
|
|
regularly with her counterparts in the region. We’re comparing notes on countries that we’ve talked to, countries that Jordan ,which has been invested in the peace process for many, many years, what they’re saying, what they’re hearing. We have reason for optimism that we continue to make progress towards a restart of negotiations. George Mitchell will continue to work intensively on this in the days and weeks ahead. So I think you have two strong reaffirmations of the importance of this effort, the critical role played by the United States, the willingness of countries to step up and take meaningful steps towards normalization. And –
QUESTION: Wait, wait. No, I’m sorry. You did not have a reaffirmation of countries taking meaningful steps towards normalization; you had the exact opposite.
MR. CROWLEY: I think you had – you have two strong affirmations –
QUESTION: Was that – were you listening to the same comments that –
MR. CROWLEY: -- that the elements of the Arab Peace Initiative, the discussions that George Mitchell, the Secretary, at times the President, had. This is precisely the right course. We are not there yet. We still have to put together, we think, the conditions that allow us to call for negotiation to resume. I mean, George Mitchell will be the first to tell you that on the one hand, we still have work to do, but on the other hand, we think that progress is being made.
QUESTION: I have a couple more on the evictions.
MR. CROWLEY: Sure.
QUESTION: Why didn’t the State Department issue some kind of statement criticizing when the United Nations and the British did, as well?
MR. CROWLEY: Well, I think you heard from – the Secretary used the term “very regrettable.”
QUESTION: Well, that was because she was asked.
MR. CROWLEY: Yesterday, Assistant Secretary Feltman was on the phone to Israeli officials to express our concern about the step. So we are, in fact, in close communication with the Israelis, and we have conveyed our deep concern about these efforts.
QUESTION: Do you think that there’s any connection to the Fatah Party congress meeting that’s starting this week? Because the Palestinians are certainly going to raise this in a way that kind of will make Israel question that they don’t have a partner for peace.
MR. CROWLEY: I think, clearly, this step was unhelpful, not only because of what happened, but also because of the timing.
Yes.
**
QUESTION: Just one more on the East Jerusalem issue. Can you confirm reports that State Department officials had a conversation with the Israeli ambassador here in Washington? And what was the nature of that?
MR. CROWLEY: Yesterday. Assistant Secretary – Acting Assistant Secretary Jeffrey Feltman had a conversation with the Israeli ambassador. He expressed our concerns, and he promised to report those concerns back to the Israeli Government.
|
|
