Reporter Grills State Dept Spox On Biden’s Gaza Peace Plan: What If Israel Says No?

3 months ago

During a press briefing on Monday, State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller answered reporter questions on President Biden's proposed Gaza Peace Plan.

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Transcript

00:00All right. Thank you, Matt. If the president said that this was an Israeli proposal, in essence,

00:08why would there be the need to implore the Israelis to accept it? Could you explain that to us?

00:13We are not – we are imploring others in the Israeli government to accept this proposal,

00:18but this is a proposal that was put forward by the Government of Israel. I think we were

00:25– went into this with eyes wide open that there are certain people in the Israeli cabinet,

00:28in the Israeli government, who would probably not look too kindly on this. And of course,

00:31we've seen their statements in the days since. But ultimately, this is an Israeli government

00:36proposal. But, Said, to the point, it's a proposal the Government of Israel made,

00:40and we expected that there would be intense debate about it in Israel. There has been.

00:45We saw demonstrators out on Saturday night urging that the proposal move forward. And of course,

00:49you saw several members of the cabinet urging its rejection. And so what the president's

00:55message was is that Israel should reject those voices at the ends of the spectrum who have said,

01:00don't take a deal to bring the hostages home. Don't take a deal to advance Israel's long-term

01:05security interests.

01:06So knowing that there is the war cabinet and there is a larger cabinet and so on,

01:10where there is a great deal of veto power among certain people in the larger cabinet and so on.

01:16So conceivably, they could turn it down. What would be your second plan in this case? Because

01:22we heard the president, we heard the president say, this war must come to an end. And using

01:29the most authoritative podium on earth, which is the White House, to say this. I mean,

01:34there seems to be some sort of commitment that this war has to end.

01:37So the reason I was smiling at the question is I'm interested that the question is about

01:45what Israel might do about a proposal that they put forward that is pending with Hamas.

01:50And the real question right now is to Hamas, right? It is Hamas that has this proposal in

01:54front of them and Hamas that is the decision maker right now about whether it can go forward or not.

01:59Now, that said, we have been quite clear that we will continue to speak to the Israeli public,

02:07speak to the Israeli government about why this deal is in their interest, and why should we

02:12get a deal moving from phase one to phase two is in their interest, and why further integration

02:17with their neighbors is in their interest. But to be clear, the roadblock right now to a ceasefire

02:22is not Israel. The roadblock to a ceasefire is Hamas. Fair point. But, you know, we know that

02:29communication with Hamas, especially in Gaza, is very tenuous. It's very difficult. It's not that

02:34easy. So that may take time. So it could be just an issue of time. They may agree and so on. So

02:42if they do, that's it. There's no backing down. Israel will have to sort of abide by this.

02:48If Hamas agrees to this proposal, we fully expect it to be implemented.

02:50One – a couple of last points, if you'll allow me, on the West Bank, I really want to ask,

02:54because what we have seen is a situation that is really deteriorating in the West Bank. We see

03:02towns like Taqqua, for instance, were being – it's being almost besieged. The land is taken.

03:09They erect steel doors and so on and all these things. And I wonder, what is your position on

03:14all this? Can – is this reversible? Is this something that you could sort of pressure the

03:19Israelis to sort of pull back from? So the violence that we have seen in the West

03:23Bank is unacceptable. It must stop. Civilians are never legitimate targets of violence. They must

03:29be protected. We urge Israel to do everything in its power to prevent these attacks in the

03:35first place. And when they're not prevented, to hold those responsible accountable. We urge them

03:39to work with the Palestinian Authority to that end. And we have also made clear that we are

03:44willing to take our own actions to hold people accountable. You've seen us impose visa restrictions

03:50and economic sanctions on individuals and entities who perpetrate or support violence in the West

03:55Bank, and we will not hesitate to continue to do so. And finally, Samantha Power, the Israeli – I

04:01mean – I'm sorry. The – Samantha Power said that Israel is the chief impediment to Gaza aid.

04:07How do you assess what she said? So I won't speak to her comments. I'll let my USAID colleagues

04:13speak to them. I think if you look at her – the full substance, she was speaking to the conflict

04:17ongoing being the chief impediment to getting aid in, and that is manifestly the case. You can get

04:22aid – even when you get – can get aid to Kerem Shalom, it's often difficult to get it distributed

04:27inside Gaza because people are moving to new places and there's ongoing conflict. That's been

04:31a challenge throughout that we will continue to work through. But two things with – in that regard.

04:38Number one, so there were just officials from the U.S. Government who met in Cairo yesterday

04:43with officials from Egypt and from Israel to try to work on a solution to reopen

04:51Rafah Gate. There were constructive discussions, professional – and we'll continue to pursue

04:56them in the coming days because we want to see Rafah open because that would be another gate

05:00to allow humanitarian assistance in. And then second, back to the bigger point,

05:05if we could get a ceasefire, if Hamas would agree to this ceasefire proposal, we could

05:09get 600 trucks a day coming in. And not just coming in, but it would be much,

05:14much easier for them to move safely around Gaza and get humanitarian aid in the hands of the

05:19people that we – who need it. Nadia.

05:20MODERATOR Thank you, Matt. Prime Minister Netanyahu has

Reporter Grills State Dept Spox On Biden’s Gaza Peace Plan: What If Israel Says No?

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