Marie Harf
Deputy Spokesperson
Daily Press Briefing
Washington, DC
March 24, 2014
Index for Today's Briefing
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- Arab League / Negotiations / Ambassador Indyk
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QUESTION: Can we go to the Palestinian-Israeli?
MS. HARF: Sure. And then we’re doing the row behind you.
QUESTION: Okay. Very quickly, in the last few days tensions have gone up a notch, with the Israelis announcing more settlement housing and then raiding the refugee camp in Jenin and killing three Palestinians. And I know that the special envoy, Ambassador Indyk, met with both Abbas and Erekat. Could you update us on what is going on?
MS. HARF: Well, there’s really nothing new to update you on. We are in dialogue with both parties. We have said that we’re getting very close to the time when really tough decisions have to be made. And we know we’re up against time here, right? We’ve talked a lot about this since we restarted talks nine – almost nine months ago now. So we’re still working towards a framework, towards what that will look like in getting both parties at the table operating under that framework, but we’re not there yet.
QUESTION: Could you share with us if you have any information on the 29th of March deadline for the release of Palestinian prisoners? Because Palestinian Authority President Abbas is making this a big issue, and he’s saying we are not even going to go the full nine months if these Palestinian prisoners are not released, while on the other hand we heard the minister of justice saying that if the Palestinians don’t agree to going further in the talks we may not release them. Do you have any comment on that?
MS. HARF: I don’t, Said. As we’ve said throughout this process, both parties have made courageous decisions throughout it to move the process forward. And I just don’t have anything on that specific for you.
QUESTION: Do you have any specifically to say about the incident in Jenin?
MS. HARF: I don’t. I’m happy to check with our folks. I don’t, though. Let me see if I have —
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Document Type: Briefing, Press briefing, Transcript
Country: Israel, United States of America
Subject: Armed conflict, Casualties, Incidents, Incursions, Peace process, Peace proposals and efforts, Refugee camps, Security issues, Settlements
Publication Date: 24/03/2014