FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Samantha Power
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
New York, NY
November 25, 2014
AS DELIVERED
Like everyone in this assembly hall, we are deeply concerned about the volatile situation in the Middle East. The United States has made an enormous effort, especially over the last year and a half, to work with the parties in trying to pave the road towards achieving a negotiated final-status agreement allowing two states to live side-by-side in peace and security.
In this context, the United States remains profoundly troubled by the repetitive and disproportionate number of one-sided General Assembly resolutions condemning Israel – a total of 18 this year. This grossly one-sided approach damages the prospects for peace by undermining trust between parties and damaging the kind of international support critical to achieving peace. All parties to the conflict have direct responsibilities for ending it, and we are disappointed that UN Members continually single out Israel without acknowledging the responsibilities and difficult steps that must be taken on all sides. These unbalanced, one-sided resolutions set back our collective efforts to advance a peaceful resolution to the conflict in the Middle East, and they damage the institutional credibility of the United Nations.
Of these annual resolutions, which unfairly single out one country and consistently lack balance, three are particularly troubling to the United States: the “Division for Palestinian Rights of the Secretariat;” the “Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People;” and the “Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories.” These resolutions renew mandates for UN bodies established decades ago, wasting valuable resources and reinforcing the perception of systematic UN bias against Israel. All member states should evaluate the effectiveness of supporting and funding these bodies.
I do want to add that our continued opposition to the resolution on “Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including Jerusalem, and the Occupied Golan,” which will come up for a vote in this Assembly next month, should not be understood to mean that we support settlement activity. On the contrary, we reject in the strongest terms Israeli settlements in territories occupied in 1967. Settlements are illegitimate, and they damage Israel’s security and the hopes for peace.
Continued settlement activity is contrary to Israel’s stated goal of negotiating a permanent status agreement with the Palestinians and is inconsistent with Israel’s international commitments.
During the past year, we have been deeply concerned by Israel’s advancement of plans for thousands of additional housing units in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. We have made clear that such action only draws condemnation from the international community, poisons the atmosphere not only with the Palestinians but also with the very Arab governments with which the Israeli government says it wants to build relations, and undermines the prospect for a peaceful negotiated agreement with the Palestinians.
Both sides took unhelpful steps that undercut the most recent round of final status negotiations. The scale and timing of Israel’s settlement activities contributed significantly to the erosion of trust between the parties.
The United States is in full agreement about the urgent need to resolve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, based on the two-state solution and an agreement that establishes a viable, independent, and contiguous state of Palestine, once and for all. We’ve invested a tremendous amount of effort and resources in pursuit of this shared goal, and we firmly believe that the parties need to resolve the conflict through direct negotiations. If the parties are willing and ready to take that step, we stand ready to support them and to continue our efforts to advance the cause of peace.
In closing, while the United States unequivocally rejects Israeli settlements in territories occupied in 1967, they do not justify the repetitive, disproportionate, and one-sided General Assembly resolutions condemning Israel, which do not advance our collective efforts to advance a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
Thank you.
Showing posts with label GAZA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GAZA. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Thursday, October 30, 2014
ANNE RICHARD MAKES REMARKS AT CONFERENCE ON PROTECTION OF REFUGEE CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Investing in the Future: Protecting Refugee Children in the Middle East and North Africa
Remarks
Anne C. Richard
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration
Remarks at the First Regional Conference Dedicated to the Protection of Refugee Children and Adolescents
Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
October 15, 2014
Children in the region confront horrors and hardships that almost defy belief. They have been blown apart by bombs at elementary schools, sold as sex slaves and forced to fight.
Millions of children have been driven from their homes in Syria. Recently hundreds of thousands have fled their homes in Iraq. I have met refugee children in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq, and heard their harrowing stories.
I have also seen hundreds of refugee children who were bound for North Africa. They had walked from Eritrea to a camp in Ethiopia. Many were utterly alone. They had fled ruthless repression, hopelessness, and military service without end. But were about to continue northward, where smugglers and traffickers could easily kidnap, rob, rape them or send them off aboard unseaworthy boats to drown.
By cooperating more effectively, I believe we can offer more and better protection to these vulnerable refugee children and adolescents. So I am very pleased that we have gathered for this conference.
Meeting refugees’ basic needs – providing shelter, health care, and nutrition – is not enough. Children and adolescents need targeted aid that is tailored to their ages and needs, recognizes how vulnerable they are and how resilient they can be. These programs can change the trajectory of their lives.
The U.S. government supports the goals outlined in UNHCR’s 2012 Framework for the Protection of Children. Today I will focus on one of these goals, safety, and on the related issues of protecting girls, providing quality, education and proper documentation for refugee children.
Children continue to face danger, long after they flee from the bullets and the bombs. Often refugee children and adolescents shoulder burdens that they should not, because families are fractured, or because years of exile have stripped them of their money, their dignity, and their patience.
More and more children are working, often in jobs that jeopardize their health or their futures because their families need the cash.
Refugee girls and adolescents face sexual exploitation and abuse. Some of those who wield power over refugees have reportedly extorted sexual favors. Land lords, camp leaders, and as in crises elsewhere, even some of those charged with delivering aid.
Many Syrian refugee girls are not allowed to attend school or even leave their homes because it’s considered too dangerous. Women and girls may be reluctant to seek help when they are harassed. Adolescent girls who are harassed may themselves be blamed and punished by relatives for shaming their families. In part, because sexual abuse is such a danger, and in part because families are running out of money, girls are being forced to marry.
Studies show that in two years, the rate of child marriages among Syrian refugees in Jordan has doubled, and nearly half of these marriages pair girls with men at least a decade older. Child brides are more likely to drop out of school, have risky early pregnancies, and face domestic abuse, which endangers both them and their children.
Donors, aid agencies, and host governments can work together to help children be and feel safer. Specialized training can help aid workers care for and counsel children. Most aid groups know that we should not create redundant structures that run parallel to existing government institutions, but instead, improve government services to protect all children.
As humanitarians and donors, we must hold ourselves to the highest possible standard. Aid workers and others who are supposed to be helping refugees should NEVER – not ever – get away with sexually exploiting or abusing them. This is why codes of conduct and respect for the core principles of Preventing Sexual Exploitation and Abuse are so important. We can improve safeguards and mechanisms for reporting abuse and work together to bring perpetrators to justice.
Countries hosting refugee children can also consider tightening certain laws or stepping up enforcement of existing laws to prevent forced early marriage and the worst forms of child labor. Governments could ease the financial pressures on families that put children at risk. For instance, granting temporary work permits to adults – can make an enormous difference to children.
Access to good schools can insulate refugee children from all sorts of hazards. Parents who believe their children are learning something useful are less likely to urge them to drop out and go to work or get married. Being in school lowers the risk that children will be recruited to fight.
In addition, school can offer something precious to uprooted children: normalcy and social cohesion. Yet, after more than three years of warfare, three million children in Syria are no longer in school. More than half a million Syrian refugee children in neighboring countries face the same predicament. This includes half of all registered Syrian refugee children in Jordan and 80 percent of those in Lebanon.
Because schools are severely overcrowded, some communities have resorted to double-and even triple-shifts. Syrian children in Turkey and northern Iraq also struggle because they do not understand Turkish or Kurdish. The majority, who do not live in camps, have a much harder time enrolling in school. Some have missed too much school to go back. Some are too traumatized to concentrate and learn.
Education is also under siege in Iraq and Gaza. In parts of Iraq, more than 2,000 schools now house families forced to flee the mayhem unleashed by ISIL extremists. After the recent fighting, many schools in Gaza are either damaged or destroyed or continue to shelter displaced civilians.
Many of your governments are pouring enormous effort and resources into accommodating the huge influx of refugee children. The No Lost Generation initiative has helped to nearly triple the number of Syrian children receiving education in neighboring countries. The United States is committing millions of dollars for education programs through organizations like UNICEF, UNHCR, UNRWA, and international non-governmental organizations.
The international community supports steps to broaden access further by making it easier to register for school or earn certificates or other credentials. Innovative solutions including non-traditional education can fill gaps. For example, UNRWA is broadcasting school lessons on satellite television and YouTube to reach its students in Syria who are unable to attend school.
We can help children feel safer in school and on the way there. Children too emotionally distraught to pay attention may benefit from counseling. Additional training can help teachers to recognize and assist them. Our projects should not only help refugees but also build social cohesion between refugee and host communities by meeting both groups’ needs.
Finally, I would like to talk about my third topic: the legal documents every child needs to be recognized as a person. We are at risk of creating a generation of stateless children. This is because many refugee children are not registered at birth and because nationality laws in several countries in the region bar women from conferring their nationality to their children.
Every year, thousands of Syrian refugee children are born without documentation, and without fathers on hand to help secure their nationality. Without birth registration, these children may not be able to enroll in school or gain access to vital services. Worse still, they become particularly vulnerable to the type of exploitation we’ve already discussed today: to child labor, child marriage, and other forms of gender-based violence. This lack of birth registration can haunt refugee children for the rest of their lives.
In 2011, the U.S. Department of State launched an initiative to promote women’s equal right to nationality. It seeks legal reforms in the 27 countries where women lack this right, and pushes for registration of all children at birth.
Some countries have taken important steps to remove barriers to registration.
Jordan, for example, is establishing satellite offices of its Civil Service Department in major refugee camps, and waiving certain deadlines and fees for birth registration.
We know that children are resilient. If someone stands up for them, protects them, teaches them, while they are still young they can heal, and learn. The demands are so great and the stakes so high that we must not falter, or waste precious resources or miss opportunities to cooperate. I am grateful to be here, to share our perspectives and to hear yours as we work together to help the region’s children.
Thank you very much.
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS AT GAZA DONORS CONFERENCE
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks at the Gaza Donors Conference
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Cairo, Egypt
October 12, 2014
Thank you very much, Foreign Minister Shoukry. Thank you Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; Vice Prime Minister Mustafa; our co-host, Foreign Minister Brende; and our colleague Cathy Ashton, the EU High Representative. I want to particularly thank President Sisi and Foreign Minister Shoukry for their leadership and for their partnership in their efforts for the Palestinian Authority and to help bring all of us here today for their work with Israel on the ceasefire. And we respect and thank them also for their partnership with the United States, not just in working towards a durable ceasefire, but also in helping to pull together, and helping to pull together this massive reconstruction effort.
But President Sisi’s efforts, I think it’s fair to say, have really helped to reaffirm the pivotal role that Egypt has played in this region for so long. The same can also be said of Foreign Minister Brende and Norway, whose historic connection and commitment to these issues go back more than two decades to the Oslo Accords, and I’m personally always impressed by the deep engagement of Norway in efforts to make peace, not just here but elsewhere in the world. And of course, President Abbas, thank you for your perseverance and your partnership.
This has been a difficult few months on a difficult issue in a difficult neighborhood, and no one feels that more than the people of Gaza. This summer, as we’ve heard in some of the statistics that Secretary-General shared with us, more than half a million Gazans had to flee their homes and seek safety. Twenty thousand homes were destroyed or severely damaged, and more than a hundred thousand people remain displaced. And winter is fast approaching.
I have been to Gaza at a time like this, and I will never forget traveling to Izbet Abed Rabo in Gaza in 2009 and watching children playing in the rubble, seeing little Palestinian girls playing where just months earlier, homes and buildings had stood. The humanitarian challenge then was enormous, and shockingly, amazingly – and every speaker has mentioned we area back yet again – the humanitarian challenge is no less enormous in 2014. So the people of Gaza do need our help desperately – not tomorrow, not next week, but they need it now. And that’s why we are all gathered here.
I am proud, personally, that the people of the United States have been working to do their part. We provided $118 million in immediate humanitarian assistance at the time of the crisis, at its height, and the 84 million that we also provided to UNRWA for operations.
Today, I’m pleased to announce an additional immediate 212 million in assistance to the Palestinian people, and obviously we will have to see how things develop in the days ahead. But this immediate money will mean immediate relief and reconstruction, and this money will help meet the Palestinian Authority’s budget needs. This money will, we hope, help promote security and stability, and economic development, and it will provide for immediate distribution of food, medicine, and shelter materials for hundreds of thousands for the coming winter. And it is money that is going to help reconstruct Gaza’s damaged water and sanitation system, so that Palestinians in Gaza will have access to water that they can drink and homes that they can actually start rebuilding.
Taken together, the United States has provided more than 400 million in assistance to the Palestinians over this last year, 330 million just since this summer’s conflict began. But I will say to all of you, and I think everybody knows it: We come here with a sense of awesome responsibility and even resignation about the challenge that we face because we all know that so much more needs to be done, even though there have been encouraging steps.
I’m particularly grateful to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Special Coordinator Robert Serry for helping to broker an important agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority for an end-use monitoring mechanism. And we appreciate Israel’s cooperation in continuing to provide humanitarian access to Gaza through its crossing, which is essential if all of this is going to work.
We welcome that Israel has recently announced new measures that should allow increased trade in agricultural goods between Gaza and the West Bank, and more permits for Palestinian business leaders to enter Israel. We hope to see many more positive steps announced and implemented in the coming weeks and months. And we need to get back to the difficult work not just of reconstruction and recovery in Gaza, but of actually building Gaza’s economy for the long term and developing its institutions under the Palestinian Authority.
The Palestinian Authority and President Abbas must be empowered in all that we do in order to define and determine Gaza’s future. There is, simply, no other way forward, and all of us here need to help the ability of the Palestinian Authority to be able to deliver. There are many steps that we can take. We can and should see Palestinian Authority customs officials at Gaza’s borders. We can and should help the PA to expand its control in Gaza, streamline Gaza’s workforce, and continue to play a key role in the end-use monitoring mechanism for Gaza. And this is absolutely essential, because as long as there is a possibility that Hamas could fire rockets on Israeli civilians at any time, the people of Gaza will remain at risk of future conflict. And even as we work to reconstruct Gaza, we cannot lose sight of the importance of the long-term economic investment for the Palestinian economy that can create a vibrant private sector.
Shortly after I became Secretary of State, working with the Quartet and international local business leaders, we launched the Initiative for the Palestinian Economy. The IPE is a comprehensive plan for Palestinian economic growth in the billions of dollars. And this effort is not about donor projects or corporate social responsibility; we’re talking about real investment. We had McKinsey & Company come in and make analysis of every sector of the Palestinian economy and make a determination about those areas where you could actually reduce unemployment from 21 percent to 8 percent in a period of three years. We’re talking about real investment that produces real jobs and opportunities for thousands of Palestinians, and that is what is going to make the difference over the long term.
Now, we were making real progress, laying down specific projects, creating new opportunities for goods and peoples to move in and out, when tragically conflict once again replaced dialogue. But what I really want to underscore to everyone is what all of us know, but not everyone perhaps wants to confront. This is the third time in less than six years that together with the people of Gaza, we have been forced to confront a reconstruction effort. This is the third time in less than six years that we’ve seen war break out and Gaza left in rubble. This is the third time in less than six years that we’ve had to rely on a ceasefire, a temporary measure, to halt the violence.
Now, I don’t think there’s any person here who wants to come yet again to rebuild Gaza only to think that two years from now or less we’re going to be back at the same table talking about rebuilding Gaza again because the fundamental issues have not been dealt with. A ceasefire is not peace, and we’ve got to find a way to get back to the table and help people make tough choices, real choices. Choices that everybody in this room and outside of it understands have been on the table for too long. Choices about more than just a ceasefire. Because even the most durable of ceasefires is not a substitute for peace. Even the most durable of ceasefires is not a substitute of security for Israel and a state and dignity for the Palestinians.
As everyone here knows, last year the United States joined Israel and the Palestinian Authority in renewed peace negotiations towards a final status settlement. The truth that has not been talked about very much, and there are still legitimate reasons for maintaining that respect for the process, but the truth is that real and significant process was made on substantive issues. Longtime gaps were narrowed and creative ideas were actively being deployed to solve remaining differences.
So I say clearly and with deep conviction here today: The United States remains fully, totally committed to returning to the negotiations not for the sake of it, but because the goal of this conference and the future of this region demand it. There is nothing sustainable about the status quo. In the end, the underlying causes of discontent and suspicion and anger that exist in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza can only be eliminated by resolving the conflict itself. There is no way to fully satisfy the parties’ various demands, no way to bring the full measure of recovery to Gaza, without a long-term prospect for peace that builds confidence about the future. And everything else will be a Band-Aid fix, not a long-term resolution. Everything else will still regrettably fail to address the underlying discontent and suspicion in both Israel and Gaza and the West Bank. Everything else will be the prisoner of impatience that has brought us to this unacceptable and unsustainable status quo.
Make no mistake: What was compelling about a two-state solution a year ago is even more compelling today. Now, I know that in Israel as well as in Gaza and the West Bank, most people would quickly tell you today that as much as they want peace, they think it is a distant dream, something that’s just not possible now. The problem is, having said that, no one then offers an alternative that makes sense. I say it is unacceptable to want peace but then buy into an attitude that makes it inevitable that you cannot have peace. It is unacceptable to simply shrug one’s shoulders, say peace isn’t possible now, and then by doing nothing to make it possible, actually add to the greater likelihood of a downward spiral.
So I say to you clearly and with great conviction: The United States will continue to work with our partners to find a way forward. We are convinced that the needs to both parties on even the most critical issues can be met, and that with common sense, goodwill, and courage we can not only address the long-term needs of Gaza, but we can actually achieve a lasting peace between Israel, the Palestinians, and all their neighbors. We have been clear from day one about the difficulty of the challenge ahead, and we knew there would be tough times. But in the end, we all want the same things: security for the Israelis; freedom, dignity, and a state for the Palestinians; peace and prosperity for both peoples.
So this is a time for leadership. It’s a time for leaders to lead. And at a time when extremism, which offers no constructive vision for the future, is capitalizing on the vacuum, it is imperative for all of us to fill that vacuum with a prospect of peace. That’s what the people of our countries expect from us, and that’s what we must offer them – no less. So out of this conference must come not just money, but a renewed commitment from everybody to work for a peace that meets the aspirations of all – for Israelis, for Palestinians, and for all the peoples of this region. And I promise you the full commitment of President Obama, myself, and the United States of America to try to achieve that. Thank you. (Applause.)
Sunday, October 12, 2014
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS WITH EGYPTIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SHOUKRY
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Secretary's Remarks: Remarks With Egyptian Foreign Minister Shoukry After Their Meeting
10/12/2014 06:48 PM EDT
Remarks With Egyptian Foreign Minister Shoukry After Their Meeting
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Cairo, Egypt
October 12, 2014
FOREIGN MINISTER SHOUKRY: (In Arabic.)
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, thank you very much, Sameh. It’s a great pleasure for me to be back in Cairo, and I want to thank President Sisi and Foreign Minister Shoukry for not just the warm welcome that they've issued today to all of us who took part here, but also the tremendous amount of work that they have put into organizing this conference, and frankly, helping to show leadership with respect to one of the most vexing challenges that we face on a global basis. I think all of us are grateful for the effort to convene everybody here. And I want to thank Foreign Minister Brende of Norway also. Norway, as we all know, has had a long, abiding passion for the subject of peace in the Middle East, and going back two decades to Oslo, Norway has really been very much engaged in this effort.
It’s good to be at an event where the results are positive and so many people have come together to contribute significant amounts of money over the next several years. More than 50 countries and organizations came here from near and far, united in our determination not only to rebuild Gaza, but to chart a different course for the future. This is the third time in less than six years that together with the people of Gaza, we've been forced to confront a reconstruction effort. And this is the third time in less than six years that we've seen war break out and Gaza left in rubble. So now is the time to break this cycle, once and for all, and that means addressing both the immediate concerns on the ground as well as the underlying causes of the discontent and anger, frustration, that has fueled this conflict in the first place.
Israel clearly has a right to be deeply concerned about rockets and tunnels and security of its citizens. And Palestinians also have a right to be concerned about day-to-day life and their rights and their future aspirations to have a state. It is possible, in our judgment – President Obama’s, mine, the American people – to bring these parties ultimately together, but you have to believe in that possibility as a starting point. And we do. I’m proud that the people of the United States have provided already $118 million in the last months for immediate humanitarian assistance, and on top of that, some $84 million to the United Nations efforts for the Gaza operations.
Today, I announced an additional $212 million in assistance to the Palestinian people as part of this effort today to create reconstruction funding. This money will mean relief and reconstruction, and it will provide for the distribution of food and medicine, shelter materials, for hundreds of thousands of people in the coming winter. And it will help reconstruct Gaza’s damaged water and sanitation system so that the Palestinians in access – can have access to water on a daily basis that they can drink, and homes that they can return to or start rebuilding.
Now, obviously, it goes without saying that there’s much more to be done. We all understand that. Today is a beginning, not an end. Maybe, to paraphrase an old saying, it’s the beginning of the end with respect to the conflict components, but that remains yet to be seen. In order for the construction to succeed, there has to be real change on the ground. Even the most durable of ceasefires is not a substitute for real security for Israel or a state and dignity for the Palestinians. There is no way to fully satisfy each party’s demands – the full measure of disarmament or security for Israel, or the full measure of rights for Palestinians in Gaza. There’s no way to fully satisfy that without, in the end, building a long-term prospect for peace that builds confidence about the future.
So this is a time to remember what both sides stand to gain by moving forward, and candidly, what will be lost if we do not. Egypt has long played a pivotal role on this issue, from the peace treaty with Israel to its continuous efforts this summer to broker a ceasefire in Gaza. And Egypt remains a key partner for the United States and a leader in the region, and I look forward to conversations further tomorrow with both President al-Sisi and Foreign Minister Shoukry.
During my recent visits to Cairo, I've had candid conversations with President Sisi about the challenges that both of our countries face, and he has underscored that the central issue to Egypt’s future is economic. You got to put people back to work; you've got to build the dignity of day-to-day life; you have to open up opportunity; you have to attract capital; you have to prove to the world that the country is stable and open for business. And that’s what the current government is working hard to do.
And in our meetings today, I reiterated to Foreign Minister Shoukry our strong support for Egypt as it undertakes significant reforms and works towards economic transformation for all Egyptians. Even today, we talked about the possibility of General Electric bringing emergency and immediate power to Egypt and helping to be able to build out the power grid, which is essential to tourism, it’s essential to business, it’s essential to day-to-day life. And we believe there are ways for us to be able to work together and cooperate in these endeavors. And I talked just yesterday with the CEO of the company, who is prepared to work with this government in order to try to help make this kind of a difference.
The foreign minister and I also discussed, as we almost always have, the essential role of a vibrant civil society, a free press, due process under law. And there’s no question that Egyptian society always has been stronger – and is stronger – when all of its citizens have a say and a stake in its success. And Egypt has long been a country with a strong civil society. We look forward, in the days ahead, to Egypt’s announcement for its parliamentary elections in the near term.
And we also continued our conversations to help define the specific role that Egypt will play in the coalition against ISIL. We’re very grateful for President Sisi’s and the foreign minister’s engagement on that. From the word “go,” they have been in discussions and involved. And as President Obama made clear, the United States is committed to degrading and ultimately defeating ISIL. And I’m very pleased to say that more than 60 partners have now committed to joining us in this effort in a variety of ways. Not everybody will play a military role or a direct kinetic role. Some will help with respect to the delegitimization of Daesh’s claims with respect to religion. Some will work to prevent the flow of foreign fighters. Some will work to prevent the flow of funding. Some will work to train and assist and equip. And others will take part in military activity.
But all told, there is a broad-based coalition throughout this region that understands the evil represented by Daesh and that will stand against it, and stand for something – for the people’s rights to have a future that they can determine, not be dictated to, and certainly without fear of being beheaded or raped, children killed, grown people with their hands tied behind their back and shot en masse. This is a grotesque series of atrocities that have no place in the 21st century, and we are not going to go back to Medieval times.
So the coalition required to eliminate ISIL is not only or even primarily military in nature, and we welcome everybody’s contribution to that effort. Particularly, the effort to counter ISIL’s false claims about Islam, a peaceful religion. There is nothing about ISIL, as the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia said, or the council that issues fatwas said, nothing whatsoever about ISIL that is related to Islam.
So all of these components have to work together in lockstep. And General John Allen, who is coordinating this – not commanding the military, but coordinating the overall coalition effort – just visited Egypt and other partner countries to make certain that all of the pieces are coming together. As an intellectual and cultural capital of the Muslim world, Egypt has a critical role to continue to play, as it has been, in publicly renouncing the ideology of hatred and violence that ISIL spreads, and we are very appreciative for the work that Egypt is already doing.
This was all a central topic of our discussion in Jeddah just last month, and again today in my conversations with Foreign Minister Shoukry, and it is really important that the religious establishments at al-Azhar and Dar al-Ifta are both fully supportive and understanding of the need to draw these distinctions with respect to religion.
So that’s where we are right now, but we know with absolutely clarity where we need to be in the months ahead, and we are determined to get there. I hope that over the course of the next days and weeks, more partners will come forward and more contributions will be announced, because, as I said a moment ago, ISIL has absolutely no place in the modern world, and it’s up to the world to enforce that truth. So we are committed to working with Egypt and with every nation of conscience and of conviction to degrade and ultimately defeat it wherever it exists.
And Mr. Foreign Minister, I thank you again for the warm hospitality today, for a well-organized conference, for a terrific result. We greatly appreciate your leadership and commitment on so many issues on which we are working together, and I look forward to continuing to work with you. Thank you.
FOREIGN MINISTER SHOUKRY: Thank you.
MODERATOR: (In Arabic.)
QUESTION: (In Arabic.)
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, first of all, let me say that the United States, President Obama and myself, our whole country, are deeply committed to the possibility, to the need, the urgency, of having two states that live side by side, two peoples living in peace – Palestinian and Israeli. And we are as passionate and committed to achieving that goal today as we were on the day that President Obama began his term six years ago, and when I became Secretary of State and began the talks that reconvened. Regrettably, those talks fell apart, frankly, over more of an issue of process – the delivery of prisoners and timing and methodology – than over the fundamental divisive issues, even though there were still some differences. I haven’t talked a great deal about those talks and I don’t intend to begin now because we do want to get back to them, but I will summarize it by simply saying that progress was made – significant progress in certain areas – and we have a very clear vision of what each party needs in order to achieve two states. But it is up to the leaders; both leaders must make the decision that they’re prepared to come back and negotiate in order to achieve the peace that everybody in this region hopes for.
There wasn't one foreign minister that I met today, whether in the region or outside of the region, that didn't raise the issue of, “When can we get back to negotiations? How do we get back to negotiations? I hope you’re going to continue to push to get back to negotiations.” A continued refrain, because everybody understands – or almost everybody – the benefits that could come from peace for this region. Imagine the possibilities of the Arab Peace Initiative finally being, in one form or another – not exactly as it’s written today, but through the negotiations, using it as a foundation and a basis, then coming together and negotiating – imagine if all of the countries of the region were free to be able to make peace because Israel and the Palestinians have made peace. Imagine what would happen for travel, for education, for development, for business, for the flow of capital, for travel, for tourism. This would be the tourism center of the world. The possibilities are absolutely – fortunately, not beyond imagination, but really rather amazing.
So we are going to continue to push, but we can’t want to make peace, the United States or Egypt or any other country, more than the people in those two places want to make peace. And we certainly can’t want to do it more than the leaders want to make peace. But we’re going to continue. We are not stopping. We are committed to continuing to put ideas on the table, to continue to talk. As President Obama, however, has said, we have a lot of things on the table and we hope the leaders will make it clear quickly that they’re serious and they want to get back to the business of doing this because, if not, we've obviously going to put focus into those places and things where there’s a prospect of making a difference in the near term because of the urgency of other issues.
But this is urgent at this moment. That’s why I’m here. It’s why the President asked me to come here. And we have deep hopes that we can see the leaders of both the Palestinian Authority and of Israel make the decision that there are reasons they can see in the current construct of events in the region, the current leadership of the region – President Sisi, King Abdullah of Jordan, others – all of whom want to move in this direction and are ready to contribute to it. And hopefully, those leaders will see that this is a moment to actually take advantage of, not to run away from.
FOREIGN MINISTER SHOUKRY: (In Arabic.)
MODERATOR: Our last question comes from Brad Klapper of The Associated Press. I think the microphone’s right behind you. Yes, thank you.
QUESTION: Thank you. Mr. Secretary, I’d like to pick up on your discussions you had today about the effort against the Islamic State. In Iraq, Anbar province could possibly fall, and already hundreds of thousands of Iraqis in Baghdad and its environs are living in fear. In Kobani, on the Syrian-Turkish border, the United Nations and others are warning of a massacre. And in both places, the ground – local ground troops that we’re hoping can turn the tide are clearly not up to the task yet. What is – what will the United States and its allies do to change the dynamic, and urgently, because it looks as if, on the one hand, there’s the threat of a major strategic defeat, and on the other, possible genocidal acts?
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, thank you. A very important question. First of all, obviously we are all very concerned about the reports of gains in Kobani, and we’re closely monitoring the situation. In fact, we’re doing much more than just monitoring it; we’ve been deeply engaged with strikes in the last days. Even today, there were more strikes. And there was news today that they are continuing to hold the town. It has not been taken in completion, parts of it have. But we are in discussions with – I talked with President Barzani the other day. I've talked with Prime Minister Davutoglu a couple of times. And we’re in conversations with our partners in this coalition.
But I want to make it clear that as they make decisions about what the options are, Kobani does not define the strategy of the coalition with respect to Daesh. Kobani is one community, and it’s a tragedy what is happening there, and we don’t diminish that, but we have said from day one it is going to take a period of time to bring the coalition thoroughly to the table to rebuild some of the morale and capacity of the Iraqi army and to begin to focus where we ought to be focusing first, which is in Iraq, while we are degrading and eliminating some of the command and control centers and supply centers and fuel centers and training centers for ISIL within Syria.
Now, that’s the current strategy. And we expect, as we have said, there will be ups and there will be downs over the next days, as there are in any kind of conflict. But we are confident about our ability to pull this strategy together, given the fact that every country in the region is opposed to Daesh, without exception. And whether it’s Iran or Lebanon or Syria itself or Turkey or Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states, they’re all opposed, and five Arab nations are involved in conducting attacks in Syria. So over time, we believe that the strategy will build, the capacity will build, Daesh will become more isolated. But ultimately, it is Iraqis who will have to take back Iraq. It is Iraqis in Anbar who will have to fight for Anbar. And we’re confident that just as that happened before, that can and will happen again, though it will take some time to build that capacity in order for it to be able to be effective.
So no one should anticipate – as President Obama said from day one, no one has been guilty of any exaggerated expectation here, certainly not from the Administration. The military leaders, the civilian leaders, from day one, have said this will be difficult, this will take time, we have to rebuild, we have to constitute the coalition, responsibilities have to be divided up, people have to get to their place of responsibility, and that is taking place now.
Meanwhile, ISIL has the opportunity to take advantage of that particular build-up, as they are doing. But I’d rather have our hand than theirs for the long run. And I think there are a lot of people in the region who know that.
FOREIGN MINISTER SHOUKRY: Thank you.
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
READOUTS: PRESIDENT OBAMA'S CALLS WITH PRIME MINISTER ERDOGAN OF TURKEY AND PRIME MINISTER HARPER OF CANADA
FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE
Readout of the President's Call with Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey
Readout of the President’s Call to Prime Minister Harper of Canada
President Obama spoke by phone with Prime Minister Stephen Harper regarding the situation in Iraq. The two leaders agreed to work with other partners in the international community to provide additional, immediate humanitarian assistance, and to continue developing options to secure the safety of the civilians on Mount Sinjar. They discussed efforts to counter the threat posed by ISIL against all Iraqis and agreed on the need for Iraqi political leaders from all factions to put aside their differences and to form an inclusive government capable of pulling the country together.
Friday, August 8, 2014
READOUT: PRESIDENT OBAMA'S CALL WITH KING ABDULLAH II OF JORDAN
FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE
Readout of the President’s Call with His Majesty King Abdullah II of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
President Obama spoke with His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan today. They discussed the urgency of providing humanitarian assistance to the people of Iraq, the risks to the region from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and other extremist groups, and the importance of supporting an inclusive Iraqi political process. The two leaders discussed the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a durable cease-fire in Gaza, as well as increased support to civilians in Gaza who have suffered tremendously during the conflict. The President and King Abdullah II reaffirmed the strong friendship and strategic partnership between the United States and Jordan.
Friday, August 1, 2014
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS WITH INDIAN MINISTER FOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS SWARAJ
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks With Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj After Their Meeting
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Jawaharlal Nehru Bhawan
New Delhi, India
July 31, 2014
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER SWARAJ: Thanks. We have just completed an excellent discussion on the main areas of our partnership: security; energy; trade and investment; science and technology; regional and border issues. The extent to which our cooperation is an impact on the wellbeing of our people, our economies, and our respective regional and global interests, makes us a truly defining partnership. And the extent to which revitalized India-U.S. ties contribute to peace, security, and prosperity of our neighborhood, the Asian region and beyond, makes our relationship truly strategic.
We recognized that today, both sides stand at an important turning point. Today, we can once again realize the latent potential of our partnership, which is based on common fundamental values and converging long-term strategic interests.
Secretary Kerry and Secretary Pritzker were generous in their assessment of what our new government will be able to do to realize the expectations of our people. They recognize that there’s much hard work ahead to realize the people’s mandate in an election of hope. My colleagues and I underlined that, for our part, we see great potential for the United States as a global partner. We underlined our interest in seeing a much more robust American presence in the Indian economy – as investors, as trade partners, in skill development, in defense, and in science and technology.
We also recognized that the regional and global aspect of our strategic partnership has great value for both sides, especially in the current situation of global and regional flux. We are delighted that there is a growing global dimension in our partnership. We agreed that the visit of Defense Secretary Hagel next Friday is an important opportunity to energize our defense partnership and begin the process of giving it a new strategic content.
We also recognized that the majority of our strategic relationship has given both sides the capacity to treat issues where we diverge as an opportunity for further conversation and dialogue. Towards this end, we discussed scheduling our long-pending commercial dialogue, our ministerial trade policy forum, and other bilateral dialogue mechanisms to address outstanding trade and economic issues that arise as a natural result of different perceptions.
Today, at the conclusion of this Fifth Strategic Dialogue, we can take satisfaction in the fact that within the few years since we raised our relationship to a strategic plane, our bilateral dialogue, as in all of the (inaudible), a new energy that our meeting today has imparted to partner departments and ministries should lead to determined efforts to ensure that the summit meeting in September between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Obama raises our partnership to a new level.
I want to thank our distinguished guests for their presence here in India. We appreciate the commitment to this partnership and the substantive contributions made on both sides today. While I’m pleased at the current effort to build on the momentum of our elections, we can be truly satisfied if we sustain this effort to ensure the best possible outcomes from the summit this September and through the rest of the year.
I now request Secretary Kerry to address you, after which we’ll take a few questions. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, thank you very much, Minister Swaraj. I want to thank you, first of all, for your leadership and I particularly want to thank you for the important perspective you brought to the discussions here today, as well as your very, very generous welcome. Thank you very much.
And in fact, the minister was extremely generous in permitting me to make a number of must-do phone calls during our session, and I’m very grateful to her for her indulgence.
I also want to acknowledge and thank the many members of the United States delegation joining me here today. Secretary Penny Pritzker is as good a Commerce Secretary as you could ever find, and I’m blessed to have her not only as a friend but as a colleague in this endeavor. And I saw firsthand today how important her leadership is in all that we are trying to undertake – science and technology, trade, all of our commercial activity and our economic issues.
Before I begin to discuss what we’ve accomplished in the past few days – and it has been a few days, because a number of members of our delegation arrived here several days ago and began meetings in Mumbai and here in Delhi. So there have been a lot of conversations taking place leading up to today. But I particularly wanted to share on behalf of President Obama and the United States our condolences with the families and the loved ones of the dozens of men and women who lost their lives in the Pune mudslide. There are many who remain missing. I know the Indian Government is investing enormous resources and effort in order to engage in the recovery effort, and the United States certainly is prepared to do anything that we might be able to if indeed help is needed.
I have been coming to India for many years. I’ve come here many times. In fact, I remember traveling here at the end of the Cold War, and it was a moment when nerves were still raw and suspicions still lingered. But as a Senator, I began to see how the relationship could quickly change, and in fact did. When I began to travel to Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, with the executives from companies and high-tech industries or in aerospace, it was very clear to me the breadth of the potential of the relationship between India and the United States, the potential of a real partnership. And I feel today, particularly after these two days of in-depth discussions, that the moment has never been more ripe to deliver on the incredible possibilities of the relationship between our nations.
Now that India’s new government has won an historic mandate to deliver change and reform, together we have a singular opportunity: to help India to meet its challenge; to boost two-way trade; to support South Asia’s connectivity; to develop cleaner energy; to deepen our security partnership in the Asia Pacific and beyond.
The United States and India can and should be indispensable partners in the 21st century. Of course, delivering on the potential of this moment is the key. The words are easy; it’s the actions we need to take that will really define the relationship in the days ahead. And I think it’s safe to say that I said to the foreign minister that we all have a lot of homework to do coming out of this meeting, many bilateral initiatives that will continue, but clearly, an importance to put specifics on the table for the trip of Prime Minister Modi to Washington in September to meet with President Obama.
I think we share a clear understanding of where we can begin. The new – in the new government’s plan for (in Hindi) – “together with all, development for all,” is a concept and a vision that is not unlike that expressed by President Obama and is one that we support wholeheartedly. Our private sector is very eager to be a catalyst for India’s development, and our government will enthusiastically support those kinds of development efforts. The opportunities are really clear, and they’re quite dramatic. American companies lead in key sectors that India wants to grow in: high-end manufacturing in infrastructure, in healthcare, and in information technology.
Still, we know we have a lot of work yet to do in breaking down barriers to trade and in encouraging the talent that we both have to be able to go to work. By limiting those obstacles, which we talked about over the course of these two days, whether they’re tariffs or price controls or preferential treatment for certain products in large, influential markets, we can build a more competitive market as well as build the bridges of opportunity that our young people in both of our countries want so much. When 10 million Indians enter the workforce each year, the Indian Government clearly understands this imperative.
Another topic that we spent a great deal of time discussing today was climate change. In past months, we have begun to find more common ground on this important global issue. There is no place where the challenges posed by climate change and the economic opportunities of renewable energy converge like they do in India today. We want to help India to be able to meet this challenge, to make the connections, and to be able to help supply clean electricity to the 400 million Indians who today live without power. I know this is a priority for the prime minister, and it’s a priority that we’re prepared to try to share.
This morning, I had the privilege of visiting IIT, the Indian Institute of Technology. And I met with some of the young doctorate candidates – doctoral candidates and master’s candidates who are doing fascinating research and development. This is one of India’s and the world’s premier institutions where students and researchers are – and their professors obviously are experimenting and working with the use of biomass and algae as sources of green energy, also new means of water treatment and cleaning water. It was really encouraging to see what is happening there, and I hope that we’ll be able to see Indian and American institutions coming together in a more formalized and productive way in order to be able to encourage that kind of joint research and innovation.
We also want to be clear: Climate change and energy shortages are not something that might happen way off in the future; it’s here with us now. Extreme weather, blackouts, scarce resources, all of these things endanger human health, prosperity, and they ultimately endanger security for all of us. Prime Minister Modi has stated clearly that he understands the urgency of this issue. He’s called for a saffron revolution, because the saffron color represents energy. He said that this revolution should focus on renewable energy sources such as solar energy in order to meet India’s growing energy demand. He is absolutely right. The United States could not agree with him more, and together, we believe that we can at last begin a new and constructive chapter in the United States-India climate change relationship.
Lastly, in this century, one that will continue to be defined by competing models of governance, India and the United States have a common responsibility. It is to prove that democracies can deliver the full expectations of their citizens. Our two nations believe that when every citizen, no matter their background, no matter their beliefs, can make their full contribution, that is when a nation is strongest and most secure, and that certainly applies to India and the United States. We are two confident nations. We are connected by core values. And we are optimistic nations should never lose sight of how much we can and must achieve. From women’s rights to minority rights, there is room to go further for both of us. We must also speak with a common voice that violence against women in any shape or form is a violence against our deepest values.
The United States and India are two nations that begin our founding documents with the exact same three words: We The People, We The People. By working together so that all people in our nations can pursue their aspirations, we believe we can come closer to achieving our founding dreams.
For both India and the United States, investing in each other’s success is frankly one of our smartest long-term strategic bets. We have the capacity, we have the resources, we have the open and resilient societies that can help us compete and win in an interconnected world, and we have remarkable and talented citizens in both of our countries waiting to do so. In the weeks to come, we will take a series of concrete steps to pave the way for Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Washington in September, and hopefully – hopefully – to pave the way for a new chapter in the ties between our two great democracies.
And I am also prepared to answer a few questions.
MODERATOR: The first question will be from Mr. Ashish Singh, ABP News.
QUESTION: Greetings, Secretary Kerry and greetings (inaudible). My question is for both ministers. (In Hindi.)
And Secretary, I would also request you respond to the same question about the concerns raised in India or the (inaudible) – on the Indian political parties, specifically parties (in Hindi). Thank you.
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER SWARAJ: (Via interpreter) Yes, I raised this issue with Secretary John Kerry when the matter was published in Indian newspapers. I have also conveyed to him that this act on the part of U.S. authorities is completely unacceptable to us, since our two countries are friendly nations and we happen to share dialogue with each other.
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, we have a policy in the United States that with respect to intelligence matters, we do not discuss intelligence matters in public. But let me just say, very clearly, we value our relationship with India, our bilateral relationship in all the ways that I’ve just described. And we also value the sharing of information between each other regarding counterterrorism and other threats to both of our countries. We’ve had conversations, as the minister has stated, with government officials about these reports, and usually we try to have our intelligence communities work to resolve any questions or any differences that may exist.
But let me say this: President Obama has undertaken a unique and unprecedented review that he ordered of all of our intelligence and intelligence gathering and activities, and unlike any prior president, he has put out a memorandum clearly articulating in a speech – excuse me – he gave a speech in which he clearly articulated America’s approach going forward and the standards that we will apply. We will continue to work actively with India wherever we see a threat to our shared interests, and we fully respect and understand the feelings expressed by the minister.
MS. PSAKI: The next question will be from Shaun Tandon of AFP.
QUESTION: Thank you. I wanted to ask for further elaboration. You mentioned a growing role of India and the United States in the Asia- Pacific region. Can you be more specific about what you meant by that? Could you, for example, see Indian activity more in the South China Sea disputes?
And if I could touch on another global issue, Secretary Kerry, Gaza. The United States has authorized further ammunition for the Israeli forces. You’ve also called for an immediate ceasefire. I was wondering if you thought that this was consistent and whether you thought that a ceasefire is still possible at this point, particularly with all the personal attacks that have been leveled against you.
And if I could ask the external affairs minister on this same issue: When the BJP was last in power, India moved a little bit more closely – a little bit closer to Israel. I was wondering if you see that same momentum now between India and Israel, or whether the Gaza conflict affects that. Thanks.
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER SWARAJ: Your first question – strategic partnership has definite definition. If you have partnership in the area of trade, defense, and space, then that partnership is called strategic partnership. So is there no ambiguity about that.
As regards Gaza, India’s policy is very specific: We fully support the cause of Palestinians, but we have good relations with Israel.
SECRETARY KERRY: I just reaffirm what the minister just said. We have a very strong strategic partnership. It is evidenced by the fact that the United States supports India’s hopes to be able to be a permanent member of the UN Security Council. That’s something we support, and we wouldn’t support that if we didn’t believe in the breadth of India’s capacity and reach, and in its values. And I talked about those values. We cooperate significantly on many different issues in the region: counterterrorism, Afghanistan, nonproliferation. India has been a significant, responsible steward of nuclear power, and those are things which we respect and, obviously, work with very closely.
So there are a great deal of interests that tie us together, and we all acknowledge that there have been ups and downs in the relationship for some period of years. But much more ups and much more involvement over the past 10 to 15 years. And that’s why I said we see this as such a ripe moment.
Prime Minister Modi has clearly made it a prime objective to deal with the question of jobs, the question of reform, providing efficiency to decisions and other kinds of things. He wants the market to be more accessible. They’re considering different things that they need to share with you, but we’re impressed by the breadth of their thoughts about the economic changes that are possible, and we certainly want to see those implemented. And we’ll wait to see. The proof is always in the pudding, obviously.
With respect to Gaza, we’ve never stopped working towards the notion that a ceasefire at some point is essential. And even today, I’ve been on the telephone on the plane flying over here. We’ve been continuing discussions. And yes, the United States remains hopeful that it is achievable. And sooner is better because of the needs to get to the table and begin the negotiation that could ultimately, hopefully, resolve issues. There’s no promise in that, I want to make that clear. No promise in that. But I think everybody would feel better if there was a bona fide effort to try to see that happen.
MS. PSAKI: The next question is from Lara Jakes of AP.
QUESTION: Thank you very much. Mr. Secretary, a moment ago you spoke about barriers to trade. I’m wondering if you can update us on whether there was an agreement with India for keeping food subsidies as part of the WTO trade deal.
I also wanted to ask you whether the U.S. has asked India to follow the spirit of the sanctions against Russia, given India’s years of purchasing Russian arms.
And Madam Minister, has there been any shift in that long-time Indian policy, especially now with the shoot-down of Malaysian Airlines flight 17? Thank you.
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER SWARAJ: You asked three questions in a row. To your first question, consultations are underway in Geneva. Let us wait for the final outcome.
To your second question, there is no change in our policy because we think that the foreign policy is in continuity. Foreign policy does not change with a change in government.
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, we obviously – I think there’s a meeting – I’m not sure when. Have they already met in Geneva?
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER SWARAJ: They’ve met. They’ve already --
SECRETARY KERRY: They already did.
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER SWARAJ: They’re meeting.
SECRETARY KERRY: They already did. They already met. They’re meeting now. I thought so. Right around now.
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER SWARAJ: That’s what (inaudible).
SECRETARY KERRY: Our feeling is obviously that the agreement that was reached in Bali is an agreement that importantly can provide for food security for India. We do not dismiss the concerns India has about large numbers of poor people who require some sort of food assurance and subsistence level, but we believe there’s a way to provide for that that keeps faith with the WTO Bali agreement. And so we are obviously encouraging our friends in India to try to find a path here where there is a compromise that meets both needs. And we think that’s achievable and we hope it’s achievable.
With respect to the issue of the sanctions, the focus of our meetings here today is bilateral fundamentally, and the ways the U.S. and India can grow the relationship with respect to trade, clean energy cooperation, counterterrorism, science, technology and so forth. Now, we would obviously welcome India joining in with us with respect to that, but it’s up to them. It’s India’s choice. India has its relationships. We’d support and welcome them in dealing with the challenge that Russia is presenting, but it’s really up to India. It’s not something that entered into the bilateral relationship in the context of today’s discussion.
MODERATOR: Last question. Rajeev Sharma from the Firstpost.
QUESTION: Thank you. My question is to both Minister Swaraj and Mr. Kerry. (Inaudible), what is India’s view on Senate bill 744, whether this issue was discussed with Mr. Kerry by you? And what is his assurance, if any?
And question to Mr. Kerry is: Don’t you think that this 744 is a rather protectionist measure? And even American companies are seeing it as a protectionist measure. Is there a mood to amend it or dilute it? Thank you.
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER SWARAJ: Let me first answer. Yes, I raised the issue with Secretary Kerry about the bill number 744. And our minister of commerce, Shrimati Nirmala Sitharaman, also raised this issue in the plenary session. I told Secretary Kerry that we are not against the bill per se. Immigration is your internal matter. But we are certainly concerned with the provisions which will affect the Indian IT industry if the bill is passed in the present form. And I also told Secretary Kerry that it will give a very negative signal, and that too at a time when India is opening up its economy for the foreign players. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: So I’m going to confess something to you that I probably shouldn’t confess to you, but when I was in the United States Senate for 29 years, I never identified a bill by its number. (Laughter.) It was the immigration bill or it was the something bill. So thank God the minister knew that that was the number to that. (Laughter.)
EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER SWARAJ: Yes, that was the number.
SECRETARY KERRY: We did talk about the immigration bill, and it’s a critical priority for President Obama. And we are very aware of the need to make sure that there are more people able to travel, more people able to become part of the commerce that we just talked about – all of these areas, including education and so forth.
But the way it left the Senate leaves that in need of some amending. The House has not taken it up yet, and it really appears as if they won’t, certainly, before the election, which is in three months. The Administration – President Obama – would support some changes that will deal with some of the issues that you’ve just raised and other issues, but at the moment, it does not appear as if this bill – not “appear” – it will not move in the next several months. One has to hope that after the election is over, there may be the possibility of rebuilding support for it.
It’s a critical bill for us in many, many ways, way beyond those that you just articulated. And President Obama would really like to see it done as a matter of fairness, as a matter of morality, as a matter of commercial and business interests, as a matter of family interests. There are many compelling reasons for why this needs to pass, and I’m confident that at some point in time, we will get appropriate immigration reform.
MODERATOR: Thank you very much. With that, we come to the end of this event.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
REMARKS BY SECRETARY, TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER DAVUTOGLU AND QATARI FOREIGN MINISTER AL-ATTIYAH
FROM: THE STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks With Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid al-Attiyah After Their Meeting
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
U.S. Ambassador's Residence
Paris, France
July 26, 2014
SECRETARY KERRY: I’m delighted to have a chance to be able to welcome my colleagues, the Foreign Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu and Foreign Minister of Qatar Khalid Attiyah, here to the American Embassy in Paris. And I’m going to say a couple of words about what we’ve been working on with respect to the situation in Gaza in a moment.
But first, I want to try to clarify something and announce, to some degree, for people who haven’t heard, news regarding our situation in Libya. The United States, together with other countries – one of them Turkey – have decided that because of the free-wheeling militia violence that is taking place in Tripoli, and particularly in our case around – a lot of the violence is around our embassy but not on the embassy. But nevertheless is presents a very real risk to our personnel. So we are suspending our current diplomatic activities at the embassy – not closing the embassy, but suspending the activities. And we have moved people on ground to Tunisia where they will then disperse to other places where we will continue our diplomatic activities in Libya.
We are deeply committed and remain committed to the diplomatic process in Libya. Our envoy will continue to be engaged with the British envoy and other envoys. And we will continue to try to build out of the election the legitimacy of the government formation and the efforts to end the violence. We call on all Libyans to engage in the political process and to come together in order to avoid the violence.
So many people died and gave so much effort to the birth of the new Libya, and we’re very, very hopeful that together all those people will recognize that the current course of violence will only bring chaos and possibly longer term difficulties. We will return the moment the security situation permits us to do so, but given the situation, as with Turkey – I think they moved some 700 people or so out – we want to take every precaution to protect our folks.
Now I want to express my appreciation for the enormous amount of work that both Foreign Minister Attiyah, Foreign Minister Davutolgu engaged in the last days to help bring about the short-term cease-fire that we all hope is going to be extended into a longer term cease-fire where people can get together and work on the way forward for a sustainable cease-fire, a longer-term effort to work out the difficult issues between the state of Israel and the Palestinian factions.
We’re very hopeful that that can happen, but I will tell you the progress that we’ve made was significantly contributed to by many people, and we’re grateful obviously for the Egyptian initiative, for the Israeli efforts initially, but also this particular effort now has been significantly assisted by the input of Qatar, the input of Turkey, and the willingness of these foreign ministers to work hard even though they were at a distance, and to engage directly with some of the Palestinian factions in order to try to help get us where we are today. They’re both committed to trying to work to continue further, and we very much appreciate that.
If you want to say something, Ahmet.
FOREIGN MINISTER DAVUTOGLU: Thank you, John. It’s a great pleasure to meet again, but this time we are meeting for a very tragic development in Gaza. The humanitarian situation in Gaza is terrible. I want to extend condolences to all those who lost their lives in this crisis and especially in these holidays approaching – Ramadan, Eid. We intensified our efforts to agree on a cease-fire; in less than 10 days all of our teams have working last two – three days. We worked in close contact with the – with Secretary Kerry and my dear colleague, Minister Attiyah. As a team, we worked together. Yesterday we had several telephone conversations, consultations, and today we are continuing here.
We wish to have a sustainable cease-fire, which we approached very closely until last month. Unfortunately, it was rejected by Israeli side – but still we are working very hard to reach the (inaudible), hopefully with the great effort – we all appreciate Secretary Kerry’s effort.
Now we have a short-term cease-fire, which is really a success of his effort, and supported by all of us. And I want to assure all the parties and, of course, both of our colleagues, allies, that Turkey will be working very hard to stop this bloodshed on the ground, to reach a sustainable cease-fire, and at the end of these efforts, to have two-state solution, which is the real solution for all these disasters and bloodshed.
Again, I want to express my thanks to my dear colleagues, Secretary Kerry and Minister Attiyah, for this joint cooperation and all those who contributed to this process, to this short-term cease-fire. And as a team, we will continue to work – Egyptian – Egypt, Turkey, Qatar, United States, and Israel and Palestinian groups – (inaudible) and Hamas, all of us split – Palestinian Administration – at the end of the day, our goal is to achieve sustainable cease-fire as early as possible.
Thank you. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you. You have any --
FOREIGN MINISTER AL-ATTIYAH: Yes.
SECRETARY KERRY: Okay.
FOREIGN MINISTER AL-ATTIYAH: And I’d like again also to thank John and Dr. Ahmet for the effort of the past days to come to such agreement on humanitarian cease-fire. As from now, I won’t add more of what John and Dr. Ahmet says. For now, we will be working hardly to come to a point where we have cease-fire and the lift of blockade. The tragic situation of – was I think deserve now to have a free movement of goods, a free movement of trade, that they deserve now to have their own port – their sea port, so they can trade in and out, even though if it’s under the international supervision. But I think the time now comes that we have to have long-term solution for the people of Gaza. They’ve been suffering for a long time, and with the help of Secretary Kerry and Brother Ahmet and all the other international player who their input will be positive on this. I’m sure you will come to a stage where we can get a cease-fire and a lift of blockade in Gaza. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: So before we end, I want to just pick up on a couple of themes expressed by both the foreign ministers and on what I said last night. And I want anybody who cares about the Palestinian side of these issues to listen, and I want everybody in Israel to understand: we clearly understand – I understand that Palestinians need to live with dignity, with some – freedom, with goods that can come in and out, and they need a life that is free from the current restraints that they feel on a daily basis, and obviously free from violence. But at the same time, Israelis need to live free from rockets and from tunnels that threaten them, and every conversation we’ve had embraces a discussion about these competing interests that are real for both. And so we need to have a solution that works at this.
I understand that Israel can’t have a cease-fire in which they are not able to – that somehow the tunnels are never going to be dealt with. The tunnels have to be dealt with. We understand that; we’re working at that. By the same token, the Palestinians can’t have a cease-fire in which they think the status quo is going to stay and they’re not going to have the ability to be able to begin to live and breathe more freely and move within the crossings and begin to have goods and services that come in from outside. These are important considerations. Each side has powerful feelings about the history and why they are where they are. And what we’re going to work at is how do we break through that so that the needs are met and we have an ability to provide security for Israel and a future – economic and social and otherwise development for the Palestinians. That’s what this is about.
Thank you all very much.
QUESTION: (Inaudible.) Secretary Kerry, are you going back to (inaudible)?
SECRETARY KERRY: No.
But first, I want to try to clarify something and announce, to some degree, for people who haven’t heard, news regarding our situation in Libya. The United States, together with other countries – one of them Turkey – have decided that because of the free-wheeling militia violence that is taking place in Tripoli, and particularly in our case around – a lot of the violence is around our embassy but not on the embassy. But nevertheless is presents a very real risk to our personnel. So we are suspending our current diplomatic activities at the embassy – not closing the embassy, but suspending the activities. And we have moved people on ground to Tunisia where they will then disperse to other places where we will continue our diplomatic activities in Libya.
We are deeply committed and remain committed to the diplomatic process in Libya. Our envoy will continue to be engaged with the British envoy and other envoys. And we will continue to try to build out of the election the legitimacy of the government formation and the efforts to end the violence. We call on all Libyans to engage in the political process and to come together in order to avoid the violence.
So many people died and gave so much effort to the birth of the new Libya, and we’re very, very hopeful that together all those people will recognize that the current course of violence will only bring chaos and possibly longer term difficulties. We will return the moment the security situation permits us to do so, but given the situation, as with Turkey – I think they moved some 700 people or so out – we want to take every precaution to protect our folks.
Now I want to express my appreciation for the enormous amount of work that both Foreign Minister Attiyah, Foreign Minister Davutolgu engaged in the last days to help bring about the short-term cease-fire that we all hope is going to be extended into a longer term cease-fire where people can get together and work on the way forward for a sustainable cease-fire, a longer-term effort to work out the difficult issues between the state of Israel and the Palestinian factions.
We’re very hopeful that that can happen, but I will tell you the progress that we’ve made was significantly contributed to by many people, and we’re grateful obviously for the Egyptian initiative, for the Israeli efforts initially, but also this particular effort now has been significantly assisted by the input of Qatar, the input of Turkey, and the willingness of these foreign ministers to work hard even though they were at a distance, and to engage directly with some of the Palestinian factions in order to try to help get us where we are today. They’re both committed to trying to work to continue further, and we very much appreciate that.
If you want to say something, Ahmet.
FOREIGN MINISTER DAVUTOGLU: Thank you, John. It’s a great pleasure to meet again, but this time we are meeting for a very tragic development in Gaza. The humanitarian situation in Gaza is terrible. I want to extend condolences to all those who lost their lives in this crisis and especially in these holidays approaching – Ramadan, Eid. We intensified our efforts to agree on a cease-fire; in less than 10 days all of our teams have working last two – three days. We worked in close contact with the – with Secretary Kerry and my dear colleague, Minister Attiyah. As a team, we worked together. Yesterday we had several telephone conversations, consultations, and today we are continuing here.
We wish to have a sustainable cease-fire, which we approached very closely until last month. Unfortunately, it was rejected by Israeli side – but still we are working very hard to reach the (inaudible), hopefully with the great effort – we all appreciate Secretary Kerry’s effort.
Now we have a short-term cease-fire, which is really a success of his effort, and supported by all of us. And I want to assure all the parties and, of course, both of our colleagues, allies, that Turkey will be working very hard to stop this bloodshed on the ground, to reach a sustainable cease-fire, and at the end of these efforts, to have two-state solution, which is the real solution for all these disasters and bloodshed.
Again, I want to express my thanks to my dear colleagues, Secretary Kerry and Minister Attiyah, for this joint cooperation and all those who contributed to this process, to this short-term cease-fire. And as a team, we will continue to work – Egyptian – Egypt, Turkey, Qatar, United States, and Israel and Palestinian groups – (inaudible) and Hamas, all of us split – Palestinian Administration – at the end of the day, our goal is to achieve sustainable cease-fire as early as possible.
Thank you. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you. You have any --
FOREIGN MINISTER AL-ATTIYAH: Yes.
SECRETARY KERRY: Okay.
FOREIGN MINISTER AL-ATTIYAH: And I’d like again also to thank John and Dr. Ahmet for the effort of the past days to come to such agreement on humanitarian cease-fire. As from now, I won’t add more of what John and Dr. Ahmet says. For now, we will be working hardly to come to a point where we have cease-fire and the lift of blockade. The tragic situation of – was I think deserve now to have a free movement of goods, a free movement of trade, that they deserve now to have their own port – their sea port, so they can trade in and out, even though if it’s under the international supervision. But I think the time now comes that we have to have long-term solution for the people of Gaza. They’ve been suffering for a long time, and with the help of Secretary Kerry and Brother Ahmet and all the other international player who their input will be positive on this. I’m sure you will come to a stage where we can get a cease-fire and a lift of blockade in Gaza. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: So before we end, I want to just pick up on a couple of themes expressed by both the foreign ministers and on what I said last night. And I want anybody who cares about the Palestinian side of these issues to listen, and I want everybody in Israel to understand: we clearly understand – I understand that Palestinians need to live with dignity, with some – freedom, with goods that can come in and out, and they need a life that is free from the current restraints that they feel on a daily basis, and obviously free from violence. But at the same time, Israelis need to live free from rockets and from tunnels that threaten them, and every conversation we’ve had embraces a discussion about these competing interests that are real for both. And so we need to have a solution that works at this.
I understand that Israel can’t have a cease-fire in which they are not able to – that somehow the tunnels are never going to be dealt with. The tunnels have to be dealt with. We understand that; we’re working at that. By the same token, the Palestinians can’t have a cease-fire in which they think the status quo is going to stay and they’re not going to have the ability to be able to begin to live and breathe more freely and move within the crossings and begin to have goods and services that come in from outside. These are important considerations. Each side has powerful feelings about the history and why they are where they are. And what we’re going to work at is how do we break through that so that the needs are met and we have an ability to provide security for Israel and a future – economic and social and otherwise development for the Palestinians. That’s what this is about.
Thank you all very much.
QUESTION: (Inaudible.) Secretary Kerry, are you going back to (inaudible)?
SECRETARY KERRY: No.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS WITH UN SECRETARY GENERAL KI-MOON
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks With UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Cairo, Egypt
July 21, 2014
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, can you tell us about the new aid that you’re announcing for Gaza today?
SECRETARY KERRY: Let me just say to everybody that, first of all, President Obama and all of us are deeply appreciative for the secretary general’s significant efforts to try to help bring about a ceasefire in the conflict in Gaza. And the secretary general has been meeting in the region, but he purposefully stayed over here a little extra time in order that we could meet and discuss ways in which we might be able to bring about or encourage the parties to embrace a ceasefire under the right circumstances.
We are deeply concerned about the consequences of Israel’s appropriate and legitimate effort to defend itself. No country can stand by while rockets are attacking it and tunnels are dug in order to come into your country and assault your people. But always, in any kind of conflict there is a concern about civilians, about children, women, communities that are caught in it. And we are particularly trying to focus on a way to respond to their very significant needs.
On behalf of President Obama and the United States, I’m privileged to announce tonight that the United States will immediately provide $47 million in order to provide direct humanitarian assistance of no other kind but humanitarian assistance to try to alleviate some of the immediate humanitarian crisis.
And meanwhile, we will work to see if there is some way to not only arrive at a ceasefire of some kind, but to get to a discussion about the underlying issues. Nothing will be resolved by any ceasefire, temporary or long, without really getting to those issues at some point. And that’s what we need to do.
Mr. Secretary General.
SECRETARY GENERAL BAN: Secretary Kerry, ladies and gentlemen, it’s a great pleasure to see you, and I’m very pleased to be joined by you today. Our joint efforts will, I hope, make a great contribution to ongoing mediation efforts by the parties in the region to end the violence. I would like to thank Secretary Kerry for his active engagement and the tireless commitment for the peace and stability in the Middle East, and in particular these days in Gaza and Israel.
Our joint efforts are rooted on three mutually reinforcing efforts. First and foremost, we must find a way to stop the violence. So many people have died. As the Secretary just said, it’s mostly civilian population, women and children. It’s very sad, it’s tragic. We have to do all what we can do. That is why I am here in support of the Egyptian mediation proposal, and I’m coming from Qatar where I met Qatari emir. And also, I met President Abbas in Doha. And I went to Kuwait and I had the very good meeting with the Kuwaiti emir who is now a chair of the League of Arab State summit meeting. Tomorrow I am going to Israel and Palestine.
And second priority should be that we are urging the parties return to a dialogue. I believe that all the options should be on the table so that they can address these issues through dialogue in a peaceful means without resorting to violence.
Thirdly, we hope that they will also address root causes of this crisis. There have been many dialogues and there have been many crises, but we have not yet been able to address all these root causes. I deeply appreciate and highly commend Secretary Kerry’s diplomatic efforts to have Middle East peace process. I sincerely hope that when a ceasefire is realized that you will immediately resume the dialogue at this time.
I full understand, fully sympathize the sufferings of the Palestinian people, particularly in Gaza. These restrictions should be lifted as soon as possible so that people should not resort to this kind of violence as a way of expressing their grievances. At the same time, I fully appreciate the legitimate right to defend their country and citizens of Israel. Israel should also be able to live in peace and security without being endangered of their citizens.
I’m asking that Hamas should immediately stop firing rocket. While I understand all how, why Israelis has to respond militarily, but there is a proportionality. And most of the Palestinian people have been – most of the death toll are Palestinian people.
Therefore at this time our first and foremost effort should be focused on ending violence. I hope during Secretary Kerry’s and my visit in the region these days, we’ll be able to help the parties to agree to a ceasefire in a reasonable form and immediately return to dialogue and address the root causes.
And I really appreciate, again, your diplomatic efforts, and United Nations will spare no efforts. And I really appreciate your very generous humanitarian assistance for the Palestinian people. UN is trying to work to mobilize necessary humanitarian assistance as much as we can, as we have been doing in the past. Thank you.
SECRETARY KERRY: Let me just say in furtherance quickly – I would like to just say in furtherance of what the secretary general just said, we are both here in support of and in an effort to help get implemented the Egyptian initiative for the ceasefire. Israel and Egypt have encouraged that, and Israel has accepted that ceasefire proposal. So only Hamas now needs to make the decision to spare innocent civilians from this violence.
I know from talking to Prime Minister Netanyahu earlier tonight Israel is obviously going to defend itself, but he feels deeply, as does everybody, what – the pressures that this creates on civilians. But today, Israel lost more soldiers in defense of their country, and so Israel feels this as strongly as anybody. It is important for all of us to try to make certain that we do everything possible.
Hamas now has a decision. Only Hamas is out there awaiting the decision, and we hope they will make the right decision. The secretary general and I will both make certain that the issues that need to be discussed will be discussed if we go forward, but we must have an atmosphere within which people in all concerns and parties can come together to have those discussions.
Thank you.
Monday, July 21, 2014
PRESIDENT OBAMA MAKES STATEMENT ON UKRAINE AND GAZA
FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE
Statement by the President on the Situation in Ukraine and Gaza
South Lawn
11:16 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning, everybody. I want to make a brief statement about the tragedy in Ukraine. Before I do, though, I want to note that Secretary Kerry has departed for the Middle East. As I’ve said many times, Israel has a right to defend itself against rocket and tunnel attacks from Hamas. And as a result of its operations, Israel has already done significant damage to Hamas’s terrorist infrastructure in Gaza. I’ve also said, however, that we have serious concerns about the rising number of Palestinian civilian deaths and the loss of Israeli lives. And that is why it now has to be our focus and the focus of the international community to bring about a cease-fire that ends the fighting and that can stop the deaths of innocent civilians, both in Gaza and in Israel.
So Secretary Kerry will meet with allies and partners. I’ve instructed him to push for an immediate cessation of hostilities based on a return to the November 2012 cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The work will not be easy. Obviously, there are enormous passions involved in this and some very difficult strategic issues involved. Nevertheless, I’ve asked John to do everything he can to help facilitate a cessation to hostilities. We don’t want to see any more civilians getting killed.
With respect to Ukraine, it’s now been four days since Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over territory controlled by Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine. Over the last several days, our hearts have been absolutely broken as we’ve learned more about the extraordinary and beautiful lives that were lost -- men, women and children and infants who were killed so suddenly and so senselessly.
Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with their families around the world who are going through just unimaginable grief. I’ve had the opportunity to speak to a number of leaders around the world whose citizens were lost on this flight, and all of them remain in a state of shock but, frankly, also in a state of outrage.
Our immediate focus is on recovering those who were lost, investigating exactly what happened, and putting forward the facts. We have to make sure that the truth is out and that accountability exists.
Now, international investigators are on the ground. They have been organized. I’ve sent teams; other countries have sent teams. They are prepared, they are organized to conduct what should be the kinds of protocols and scouring and collecting of evidence that should follow any international incident like this. And what they need right now is immediate and full access to the crash site. They need to be able to conduct a prompt and full and unimpeded as well as transparent investigation. And recovery personnel have to do the solemn and sacred work on recovering the remains of those who were lost.
Ukrainian President Poroshenko has declared a demilitarized zone around the crash site. As I said before, you have international teams already in place prepared to conduct the investigation and recover the remains of those who have been lost. But, unfortunately, the Russian-backed separatists who control the area continue to block the investigation. They have repeatedly prevented international investigators from gaining full access to the wreckage. As investigators approached, they fired their weapons into the air. These separatists are removing evidence from the crash site, all of which begs the question -- what exactly are they trying to hide?
Moreover, these Russian-backed separatists are removing bodies from the crash site, oftentimes without the care that we would normally expect from a tragedy like this. And this is an insult to those who have lost loved ones. This is the kind of behavior that has no place in the community of nations.
Now, Russia has extraordinary influence over these separatists. No one denies that. Russia has urged them on. Russia has trained them. We know that Russia has armed them with military equipment and weapons, including anti-aircraft weapons. Key separatist leaders are Russian citizens. So given its direct influence over the separatists, Russia and President Putin, in particular, has direct responsibility to compel them to cooperate with the investigation. That is the least that they can do.
President Putin says that he supports a full and fair investigation. And I appreciate those words, but they have to be supported by actions. The burden now is on Russia to insist that the separatists stop tampering with the evidence, grant investigators who are already on the ground immediate, full and unimpeded access to the crash site. The separatists and the Russian sponsors are responsible for the safety of the investigators doing their work. And along with our allies and partners, we will be working this issue at the United Nations today.
More broadly, as I’ve said throughout this crisis and the crisis in Ukraine generally, and I’ve said this directly to President Putin, as well as publicly, my preference continues to be finding a diplomatic resolution within Ukraine. I believe that can still happen. That is my preference today, and it will continue to be my preference.
But if Russia continues to violate Ukraine’s sovereignty and to back these separatists, and these separatists become more and more dangerous and now are risks not simply to the people inside of Ukraine but the broader international community, then Russia will only further isolate itself from the international community, and the costs for Russia’s behavior will only continue to increase.
Now is the time for President Putin and Russia to pivot away from the strategy that they’ve been taking and get serious about trying to resolve hostilities within Ukraine in a way that respects Ukraine’s sovereignty and respects the right of the Ukrainian people to make their own decisions about their own lives.
And time is of the essence. Our friends and allies need to be able to recover those who were lost. That's the least we can do. That's the least that decency demands. Families deserve to be able to lay their loved ones to rest with dignity. The world deserves to know exactly what happened. And the people of Ukraine deserve to determine their own future.
Thanks.
END
11:25 A.M. EDT
11:25 A.M. EDT
Sunday, July 20, 2014
READOUT: PRESIDENT OBAMA'S CALL WITH PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU OF ISRAEL
FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE
Readout of the President’s Call with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel
President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke again this morning by phone, their second call in three days to discuss the situation in Gaza. The President discussed Israel’s ongoing military operation, reiterated the United States’ condemnation of attacks by Hamas against Israel, and reaffirmed Israel’s right to defend itself. The President also raised serious concern about the growing number of casualties, including increasing Palestinian civilian deaths in Gaza and the loss of Israeli soldiers.
President Obama informed the Prime Minister that Secretary of State John Kerry will soon travel to Cairo to seek an immediate cessation of hostilities based on a return to the November 2012 ceasefire agreement. The President underscored that the United States will work closely with Israel and regional partners on implementing an immediate ceasefire, and stressed the need to protect civilians—in Gaza and in Israel.
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