'Are They Not Stalled?': Reporter Presses State Department Spokesperson For Update On Ceasefire Deal

4 months ago

During a State Department press briefing, Spokesperson Matthew Miller was asked to provide an update on ceasefire negotiations.

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00:00And on prospects for a ceasefire deal, which this department and others – other agencies

00:04in the U.S.

00:05Government have been stressing is a crucial, key step – I mean, it appears notable that

00:08the talks over the weekend in Cairo were hours long, the CIA director was not there.

00:13Not to say that an absence of U.S. – an altogether absence of the U.S. presence, but

00:17isn't that an indication that there's nowhere to go on ceasefire talks right now?

00:22I mean, how would you characterize them?

00:23Are they not stalled?

00:25So I wouldn't characterize them as stalled.

00:26I would characterize them the way we have said before, which is we have reached an agreement

00:30on the framework.

00:31That agreement still stands.

00:32Nothing that's happened over the course of the past week has done anything to erode

00:35the fundamental agreement on the framework to this ceasefire.

00:39That stands.

00:40But where we – also what's true is that we continue to have other areas where we need

00:44to bridge the differences between the two parties.

00:47And so, look, ultimately, it's not a decision the United States can make.

00:52It requires the parties to take these choices, and it requires the parties to get to yes

00:58and not look for reasons to delay and not look for reasons to say no.

01:01And so the message that we have consistently communicated to everyone in the region is

01:06we want to see a ceasefire, we think a ceasefire is in the interest of Israel, it's in the

01:10interest of the Israeli people, it's in the interest of the Palestinian people, it

01:13is in the interest of the broader region.

01:15So we are going to continue to use all of the diplomatic muscle, all of the influence

01:20that we can bring to bear to push to get this ceasefire over the line.

01:23And since this is the first time we're hearing from you specifically, I mean, would you say

01:26that the assassination of Henea, who was, of course, a lead negotiator in these talks,

01:31was at least not conducive to seeing them get over the finish line?

01:36The President spoke to this over the weekend, and I think I'll let his word stand.

01:39We've said it certainly didn't help.

'Are They Not Stalled?': Reporter Presses State Department Spokesperson For Update On Ceasefire Deal

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