Reporter Asks State Department Official: ‘What Measures’ Is The U.S. Taking In The West Bank?

During Thursday’s State Department press briefing, Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott answered questions about the West Bank.

Transcript

00:00Yes, sir.

00:01Yes, sir.

00:02Yes, sir.

00:03Yes.

00:05Yes.

00:06Thank you, Tommy.

00:07Change topic.

00:08I'm going to talk about the West Bank.

00:10Today marks the 58th anniversary of the occupation of the West Bank in East Jerusalem.

00:16And is the West Bank on your radar?

00:19Because there has been a spike, a huge spike, as a matter of fact, in settler violence against

00:24the Palestinians and Israeli army violence against Palestinian villages and so on.

00:28And being locked at night, they're not allowed into their farms or to tend their animals

00:33and so on, or even go to school and all these things.

00:36My question to you, is there someone or an office within the embassy in Jerusalem or anywhere

00:42or in this building that follows up on what happened in the West Bank and what measures

00:47are you taking?

00:48Well, look, what I can say, as we've said here before, is that certain functions have

00:50been put underneath the embassy in Jerusalem under Ambassador Huckabee.

00:54That's the most I can say on that here.

00:56So where do Palestinians go if they have a grievance that they can raise with the Americans?

01:02You know, some Palestinians have U.S. citizens and so on.

01:06Do they go to a certain office, say, you know, there's been an attack on my land, there's

01:11been an attack on my kids, whatever?

01:13Do they go to a place where these grievances can be aired and expressed?

01:18Well, I don't necessarily want to give a hypothetical depending on the exact circumstances you may

01:23be raising.

01:25But again, there have been functions that have been consolidated underneath the embassy

01:29in Jerusalem under Ambassador Huckabee, and I have to leave it at that.