  {"id":201284,"date":"2014-04-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T18:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?p=201284"},"modified":"2019-03-12T18:08:45","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T18:08:45","slug":"auto-insert-201284","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/auto-insert-201284\/","title":{"rendered":"US Department of State daily press briefing &#8211; Update on Middle East peace process\/Non-UN document (excerpts)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">\n<hr height=\"7px\" \/>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>Jen Psaki<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>Spokesperson<br \/>\nDaily Press Briefing<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>Washington, DC<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>April 10, 2014<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">\/&#8230;<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">\n<li style=\"text-align:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.state.gov\/r\/pa\/prs\/dpb\/2014\/04\/224644.htm#MIDDLEEASTPEACE\" style=\"color:#0000ff;text-align:left;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\"><u>MIDDLE EAST PEACE<\/u><\/a><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\" style=\"margin-left:40px;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">\n<li style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">Parties Remain in Intensive Negotiations <\/li>\n<li style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">Ambassador Indyk Travels <\/li>\n<li style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">Range of Issues <\/li>\n<li style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">Jonathon Pollard <\/li>\n<li style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">Final Status Agreement <\/li>\n<li style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">Move toward Joining UN Conventions \/ Technical Step <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">\/&#8230;<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;Let me start with the Middle East because there are reports just coming out within the last hour &#8211; erroneous reports, I understand, but I just want to check to make sure &#8211; that the Israelis and Palestinians have come to some kind of an agreement to extend the talks. If &#8211; can you say whether that&#8217;s true or not, and also tell us if there &#8211; is there any kind of a readout from this meeting that Ambassador Indyk apparently had today?<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Sure, let me give you a couple of updates. Our teams on the ground, the negotiating &#8211; our negotiating team and both parties remain in intensive negotiations. They had another meeting today. The gaps are narrowing, but any speculation about an agreement are premature at this time.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">A couple of other just quick updates on this particular topic. Ambassador Indyk will be returning to Washington in the coming days for consultations. He plans to return to the region again next week. As all of you know, there are a range of holidays, whether it&#8217;s Passover or upcoming Easter, so this is a natural time for him to return. And those are the updates I have for all of you.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;Can I just ask you what you mean by speculation would be premature? Can you just say that these reports are wrong?<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Sure, the reports are inaccurate, so speculation that&#8217;s been out there and reports that there is a deal is inaccurate.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;All right. So &#8211; but that is what you&#8217;re trying to do, right?<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Of course it is. And our teams remain in intensive negotiation &#8212;<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;So that&#8217;s the goal &#8212;<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;&#8212; and the gaps are narrowing.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;That&#8217;s the goal, but you&#8217;re not there yet. Is that it?<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Correct. That&#8217;s right.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;All right. Thank you.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;That&#8217;s right.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;Just a quick &#8211; go ahead, Jo.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;What is it you&#8217;re actually trying to do? I mean, Matt said that is what you&#8217;re trying to do, but what is it you&#8217;re trying to do? When you say you&#8217;re narrowing the gaps, what gaps? What are you actually physically trying to do?<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Well, we&#8217;re working, Jo, as you know, to determine what the path forward is for these negotiations. And that is up to the parties. It&#8217;s always been up to the parties. It remains up to the parties to make that determination. There are issues that were, of course, raised last week, and we want to determine what the path forward is.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;So do these include the prisoners, the prisoner issue?<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;There are a range of issues that are being discussed. Certainly, that&#8217;s one of them. There are other topics I&#8217;m not going to go into greater detail on that have been out there.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;And is the release of Jonathan Pollard among those other topics?<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;There are a range of topics. I&#8217;m not going to detail it further.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;Jen &#8212;<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Said.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align:left;padding-top:8px;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">&nbsp;&#8212; their sources or their reports insist that the deal includes the swap of prisoners, the 30 prisoners that were supposed to be released on the 23<\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:5pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\"><sup>rd<\/sup><\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">&nbsp;of &#8211; on the 29<\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:5pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\"><sup>th<\/sup><\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">&nbsp;of March, another 400 prisoners, but also they insist that Jonathan Pollard is part of the deal. Could you say or could you tell us or could you deny flatly that he is not part of the deal?<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Well, nothing has changed. No decision has been made about Jonathan Pollard. That&#8217;s the same as it was last week. And I just made very clear that these reports are premature.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;Okay. Now, would the Palestinians have to, let&#8217;s say, resend their applications or cancel their applications or call them back with the UN agencies for the talks to continue, or no?<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;I&#8217;m not going to go into that level of detail, Said.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;Okay. But would you say that the Israelis now are either reconciled to this fact that this is done and there is no backtracking by the Palestinians or backpedaling in this case?<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;I&#8217;m not going to speak on behalf of the Israelis of what they would or wouldn&#8217;t feel comfortable with. Obviously, there are a range of issues being discussed, including the Palestinians&#8217; recent steps, including their desire for prisoners to be released, including a range of issues. But I&#8217;m not going to go into further detail.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align:left;padding-top:8px;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">&nbsp;Only if you would indulge me for a second. Now, what does that do to the framework agreement or the 29<\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:5pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\"><sup>th<\/sup><\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">&nbsp;of April deadline? I mean, if they decide to go on beyond, so we continue doing the same thing, or is there going to be some sort of an announcement on the 29<\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:5pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\"><sup>th<\/sup><\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">&nbsp;that we have covered this period now, the nine-month period and we&#8217;re going to another six months or another nine months?<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;I can&#8217;t predict for you, Said. Obviously, if there&#8217;s a decision made because of steps by the parties that these talks will continue, then it would take longer than the next couple of weeks to come to a final status agreement. But we will cross that bridge when we come to it. We&#8217;re taking it one day at a time here.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;Now, would any agreement that is brokered or &#8211; by the Americans, in this case by the American side, include also sort of the cessation of settlement activities, as we have seen the announcement? Just, in fact, yesterday they announced 300 dunams, which is about 100 acres of land is being confiscated from an agricultural &#8212;<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Well, you&#8217;re familiar with our view on settlements. I&#8217;m not going to address that question further.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">Do we have more on Middle East peace, or should we move on?<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;I&#8217;ve got one very briefly.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Oh, go ahead.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;What&#8217;s your understanding of the status of the Palestinians&#8217; decisions to go ahead and move toward joining these UN conventions? I understand the Swiss have said that they received &#8212;<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. So to be clear, this is simply a technical step that Matt is referring to, I would caution you against reading too much into the significance of what is essentially a ministerial step in the processing of the Palestinians&#8217; letter. So the role &#8211; let me &#8212;<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;Yeah, but I just want to make sure &#8211; administerial?<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Administerial, administerial. The role of the depository, the UN or the Swiss, is simply to notify parties to the treaty what &#8211; which has &#8211; what has happened. And the depository does not determine the legal validity or effect of the communications. It actually remains in the hands of the treaty parties, states that are a party to each treaty, to decide for themselves questions of who they recognize and with whom they consider themselves in treaty relations. So this is a technical step in their process.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;So you do not believe that that step which was taken &#8212;<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Mm-hmm.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;&#8212; violates the terms of the agreement that they reached back last year?<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Well &#8212;<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;Is that correct? Because it&#8217;s just an administrative thing and it &#8212;<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;We strongly &#8211; continue to strongly oppose unilateral steps, which of course we consider this one, that seek to circumvent or prejudge outcomes that still need to be negotiated. So there&#8217;s no question this process of steps has been unhelpful. But again, we&#8217;re at a stage here &#8212;<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;Right. But nothing &#8212;<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;&#8212; where we&#8217;re determining what the path forward is. We&#8217;re not going to dwell on what was or was agreed to in previous months.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;But in terms of the way the United States looks, this doesn&#8217;t change anything in terms of the Palestinians and their &#8212;<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Our funding or &#8212;<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;No, in terms of &#8211; not in terms of your funding. But you don&#8217;t think that this changes anything &#8211; this one step changes anything on the ground or something that needs to be negotiated, or does it?<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Well, this is a technical step that follows on the unhelpful step taken last week. So in that degree it&#8217;s a continuation, but again, it&#8217;s not a different step. So I don&#8217;t think it changes necessarily what we&#8217;re negotiating now, no.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;And have you made that point to the Israelis, or do you know?<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Well, look, I mean, the focus we have that&#8217;s happening between the parties now is about what the path is forward. Yes, this is a technical step, but we&#8217;re determining what the path is forward.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;But just because the Palestinians have &#8211; their whatever-it-is has been accepted by the Swiss does not mean that they are suddenly members of the Geneva Convention.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;That&#8217;s right. That&#8217;s right. It&#8217;s a technical step. It&#8217;s still &#8211; again, unilateral steps are still unhelpful, and we&#8217;ve made that clear to both parties.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">Go ahead.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;Jen, just to clarify, when you say that gaps are narrowing, are we now at the point where we&#8217;re just talking about the length of time for an extension, or are we still on the substance of the ins and outs of negotiation?<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;I&#8217;m not going to get into that level of detail, but it&#8217;s fair to say that there need to be more negotiations. Those will continue. And Ambassador Indyk will be returning to the region next week for that.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;One thing on that.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Mm-hmm.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;I mean, the Secretary said the other day in his congressional testimony that the bitter irony &#8211; the irony, the bitter irony was that you were really just talking about process and how to keep the process going, not about the fundamental issues of a final settlement. Has that changed? Has anything changed since Tuesday?<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;No. But again, without going into too much detail, there are also discussion of conditions that would create the best environment for a peace process, and that&#8217;s part of the discussions as well.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;Got it. But the fundamental point which hasn&#8217;t changed then since his testimony is what you&#8217;re really just trying to do is keep the talks going now, rather than actually working on &#8211; though I get that the two are not entirely divorced from one another, but that the focus is just keeping them going, not on negotiating the final status issues.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Well, they&#8217;re talking about, of course, the important difficult issues. I&#8217;m not going to go into further detail than I have.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;Can I just have a follow-up very quickly? Does this narrowing of the gap &#8212;<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Mm-hmm.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;&#8212; was it influenced by what the Secretary said on Capitol Hill, by the meeting in Cairo of the Arab ministerial meeting in Cairo, and by the meeting yesterday between the Israeli foreign minister and Secretary Kerry?<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Said, I would encourage you to pose those questions to the Israelis and the Palestinians. It&#8217;s their decisions and their choices that are being made, so I&#8217;m not going to do an analysis on that.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;I promise, my last question.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Okay.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align:left;padding-top:8px;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">&nbsp;Are you hopeful that the talks will continue on past the 29<\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:5pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\"><sup>th<\/sup><\/span><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">? Do you see that it is happening?<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Well, Said, I don&#8217;t want to make a prediction, but certainly, our goal has always been to work with the parties in a role as a facilitator to achieve a final status agreement.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;Just on Indyk&#8217;s travel, do you expect him to come back &#8211; are there any more meetings that you&#8217;re aware of that are going to happen before he returns? Do you know when exactly he&#8217;s going to return?<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Not that I&#8217;m aware of. I&#8217;ll check and see if there&#8217;s more specificity. As I understand it, it&#8217;s in the coming day or so.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;Okay.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;Could you give dates for his return here and &#8212;<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Next week. He&#8217;ll be returning back to the region next week, and he&#8217;ll be returning in the next day or so to Washington.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;Okay. But you said about dates that, naturally, holidays that are coming up, but those holidays aren&#8217;t until next week.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Oh well, some of them start next week, as you know. So maybe &#8211; I don&#8217;t have anything specific. When we have anything specific to let you know, we&#8217;ll let you know.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;Is this for him to &#8211; and I&#8217;m sorry, I may have missed a word or two at the start. I this for him to consult with the Secretary and give briefings, or is it at the White House or elsewhere, or is he just getting a break?<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;Well, hopefully he&#8217;ll have a little bit of a break too. But certainly, it&#8217;s to have discussions and consult with the Secretary and the national security team here.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>QUESTION:<\/strong>&nbsp;Jen, the holiday begins on the 14th and ends on the 22nd. Is it safe to assume that Ambassador Indyk will be here during that time?<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>MS. PSAKI:<\/strong>&nbsp;No. We&#8217;ll let you know as soon as we know when he&#8217;ll be returning, but it&#8217;s at some point next week.<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:8px;font-size:8pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">\/&#8230;<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;font-size:6pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\">(The briefing was concluded at 2:01 p.m.)<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:6px;font-size:6pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><strong>DPB #63<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align:left;padding-top:5px;\">\n<p style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><span style=\"color:#000000;font-size:5pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\"><i>doclink: <\/i><\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.state.gov\/r\/pa\/prs\/dpb\/2014\/04\/224644.htm\" style=\"color:#000000;text-align:left;padding-top:5px;font-size:5pt;font-family:Verdana, san-serif;\"><i>http:\/\/www.state.gov\/r\/pa\/prs\/dpb\/2014\/04\/224644.htm<\/i><\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jen Psaki Spokesperson Daily Press Briefing Washington, DC April 10, 2014 \/&#8230; MIDDLE EAST PEACE&nbsp; Parties Remain in Intensive Negotiations Ambassador Indyk Travels Range of Issues Jonathon Pollard Final Status Agreement Move toward Joining UN Conventions \/ Technical Step \/&#8230; QUESTION:&nbsp;Let me start with the Middle East because there are reports just coming out within <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/auto-insert-201284\/\"> [&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[897,2553],"document-category":[2197,2565,1869],"document-source":[],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1945,2181,1797,1905,2285,2137,2741],"entity":[1985],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-201284","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","country-israel","country-united-states-of-america","document-category-briefing","document-category-press-briefing","document-category-transcript","document-subject-assistance","document-subject-negotiations-and-agreements","document-subject-peace-process","document-subject-peace-proposals-and-efforts","document-subject-prisoners-and-detainees","document-subject-settlements","document-subject-statehood-related","entity-state","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/201284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/201284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=201284"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=201284"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=201284"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=201284"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=201284"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=201284"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=201284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}