For the Record: Hot Fire Interferes with Construction Freeze

At Assistant Secretary of State Philip J. Crowley's Daily Press Briefing on
December 7, 2010, we read:

QUESTION: ...Ehud Barak today quoted as saying that the talks between the U.S. and Israel on getting the Israel-Palestinian talks resumed have been put on hold, and that the reasons include distractions like WikiLeaks. Is it true that the talks are suspended and are in some way on hold, and does WikiLeaks have anything to do with that?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, our talk – our efforts are not suspended. We are having conversations, even as we speak today, with both Israeli officials, with Palestinian officials. I mean, the Israeli Government itself has been fully occupied, understandably, in recent days with the challenge of the fires. We remain determined to work with the parties on a path forward and try to determine how best to advance the process back to direct negotiations and to, ultimately, a framework agreement.

I would just say that we’ll be meeting today with both sides. We may have more to say later in the day.

QUESTION: Why would he – do you have any idea why he would say flat out that the matter has been stopped entirely? That’s his words?

MR. CROWLEY: I will say that the process has not stopped. We obviously recognize that we face a difficult obstacle, and we will continue to engage the parties on the way forward.

QUESTION: Who’s speaking today? Who’s meeting today? You mentioned a meeting today.

MR. CROWLEY: I think Daniel Rubenstein will be meeting sometime today with President Abbas. We – a number of officials have been on the phone throughout the morning with the Israelis as well.

QUESTION: So, P.J., what is your assessment of, let’s say, Argentina and Brazil saying that they’re willing to recognize a Palestinian state?

MR. CROWLEY: We don’t think that we should be distracted from the fact that the only way to resolve the core issues within the process is through direct negotiations. That remains our focus. And we do not favor that course of action. As we’ve said many, many times, any unilateral action, we believe, is counterproductive.

...QUESTION: Okay. Both Mr. Barak and Mr. Fayyad will be in town and they will also participate in the same event with Secretary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton on Friday. What will they discuss before that, prior to that? Will there be any kind of discussion?

MR. CROWLEY: I – let me take the question. Obviously, there is the Saban event coming up on Friday. The Secretary will have a speech Friday evening. I’m just not able to forecast at this point whether there’ll be any meetings prior to that...