Marie Harf
Deputy Spokesperson
Daily Press Briefing
Washington, DC
January 13, 2015
INDEX FOR TODAY'S BRIEFING
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TRANSCRIPT:
1:27 p.m. EST
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QUESTION: I’ve been wanting to ask about the ICC.
MS. HARF: Okay. Go on.
QUESTION: Yesterday, President Obama spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu, and he told him that they disagree that – with the Palestinian effort at the ICC, of course.
MS. HARF: Yes.
QUESTION: But he also said that they are not eligible for that. But —
MS. HARF: They’re not what? I’m sorry.
QUESTION: They’re not eligible. The Palestinians are not —
MS. HARF: Eligible, yes. Sorry.
QUESTION: Eligible, excuse me. Not eligible, okay.
MS. HARF: Not eligible, yes.
QUESTION: Not – that’s what I said. Okay. I’m not being legible, I guess. All right, so – he say that they are not. So —
MS. HARF: And that’s our position.
QUESTION: And that’s your position. But the United Nations seems to disagree. They say that they do have a right to —
MS. HARF: Well, the view of the United States is the Palestinians have not yet established a state.
QUESTION: Right.
MS. HARF: So neither the steps they have taken, nor the actions the UN Secretariat has taken that we’ve talked about a lot in this room, warrant the conclusion the Palestinians have established a state or have the legal competencies necessary to fulfill the requirements of the Rome statute. That is our legal position here.
QUESTION: Mm-hmm. But they can, actually, through the avenue of the (inaudible) Geneva Convention they can actually pursue that.
MS. HARF: Well, we do not believe that they have taken the steps necessary.
QUESTION: Because conquering a country cannot change the demographics and the geography of the conquered territory —
MS. HARF: Our position is what it is.
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Document Type: Briefing, Press briefing, Transcript
Country: United States of America
Subject: Legal issues, Statehood-related
Publication Date: 13/01/2015