Ian Kelly

Department of State Spokesman
Daily Press Briefing

Washington, DC

June 29, 2009
www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2009/125481.htm

TRANSCRIPT:

1:15 p.m. EDT

QUESTION: I have a couple questions on Israel.

MR. KELLY: Uh-huh.

QUESTION: It's been reported that Ehud Barak is going to present some sort
of compromise to your Mideast peace envoy tomorrow at their meeting that
reportedly would have some sort of three-, six-month freeze on new
constructions. Is that acceptable? Is that dead in the water? Does it go far
enough or too --

MR. KELLY: Well, as you probably know, Defense Minister Ehud Barak is going
to meet with Special Envoy Mitchell in New York tomorrow morning. Of course,
we've been working with all the parties to try and come up with an
environment conducive to the resumption of negotiations. And we look forward
to sitting down and talking about what we can do to move this process
forward. But let's see what - I'm not going to prejudge what happens
tomorrow. Let's see - this is tomorrow morning they're going to meet.

QUESTION: In the past, the Secretary and others, including the President,
have said that they would accept no settlement growth and they put a full
stop at the end of that. It doesn't sound like you're saying that now.

MR. KELLY: What I'm saying is that in order to create this environment that
I talked about that would be conducive to the resumption of negotiations,
both Israel and the Palestinians need to comply with their obligations under
the Roadmap. And both sides know exactly what that means. For the
Palestinians, it means ending incitements to violence against Israel and
demonstrating an ability to provide security. For Israel, it means: stop the
settlements, which is laid out very specifically in the Roadmap. A freeze on
all activity relating to settlements, including natural growth, is what it
says in the Roadmap.

QUESTION: So no compromise is really acceptable then?

MR. KELLY: Well, inherent in the word "negotiation" is, of course, sitting
down and finding what one side - what the other side wants and then working
out a way to come to a resolution that leads to our goal of a lasting peace
in the Middle East. I'm not going to say we're not willing to compromise
or - I mean, let's just see what happens.

QUESTION: And then one other question on Israel. The Human Rights Watch has
put out a report faulting Israel for using precision drone attacks that
resulted in civilian casualties in Gaza earlier this year. Do you have any
reaction to that?

MR. KELLY: I haven't seen that actually, that report. I think, in general,
of course, we've been calling on all sides to avoid actions that would lead
to more tension. But beyond that, I don't really have any comment.

...

(The briefing was concluded at 1:40 p.m.)

DPB # 108

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