Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to reporters on his unannounced visit to Iraq to speak to Iraq PM Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani.
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00:00 The Press: Yes, Secretary, thanks for your questions.
00:02 Yesterday, President Joe Biden went past whether he was
00:07 optimistic he felt progress was being made towards getting
00:11 Israel to agree to humanitarian policies and strikes.
00:14 He gave a thumbs up and said yes.
00:17 Based on your conversations with Israel on Friday,
00:19 with Arab leaders yesterday and today,
00:22 do you share the President's optimism?
00:24 Why hasn't a deal been agreed to yet?
00:27 And how do you get around Israel's apparent categorical
00:31 rejection of any kind of a deal like this,
00:34 a deal that people -- many people seem to think is a modest step?
00:38 Secretary Blinken: Well, first, as we said,
00:40 following my conversations with the Prime Minister and with the
00:43 Israeli government, this is a process.
00:46 Israel has raised important questions about how
00:49 humanitarian pauses would work.
00:52 We've got to answer those questions.
00:54 We're working on exactly that.
00:55 In fact, we agreed that our teams would get together,
00:58 and they're doing just that, including today,
01:00 to work through the specifics, the practicalities
01:04 of these pauses.
01:06 Second, it's important that the pause advance a number of
01:13 things, one of them is hostages.
01:16 We are intensely focused -- the United States, Israel,
01:20 every other country that has one of its citizens being held
01:23 hostage by Hamas -- to bring them home.
01:27 Now, it's important that as we're engaged in pursuing
01:31 humanitarian pause, this can be something that advances the
01:35 prospect of getting the hostages back.
01:36 It can also advance other things that we're committed to doing,
01:39 as is the government of Israel and other partners in the
01:43 region, especially getting more humanitarian assistance to
01:46 people who need it in Gaza.
01:49 I'll remind you, when we had conversations three weeks ago
01:53 about starting humanitarian assistance,
01:56 it was a process to actually get that moving.
01:58 But we had a commitment to do that.
02:01 It took some days to get the process in place.
02:03 Since then, we've had trucks moving.
02:05 We have about 100 trucks a day going in.
02:07 That's good, but it's grossly insufficient.
02:09 So now we're working on raising that significantly so that more
02:13 aid in a sustained way gets into Palestinians who need it.
02:18 There again, humanitarian pause can also help advance that and
02:22 create an environment in which we can do as much as possible
02:25 for people who so desperately need the assistance.
02:28 The Press: Yesterday, the Arab leaders said nothing short of a total
02:31 ceasefire would be acceptable.
02:33 Did you make any progress in convincing them that a
02:36 humanitarian pause would be a reasonable compromise?
02:39 Secretary Blinken: I think everyone would welcome
02:40 humanitarian pauses.
02:41 There's no doubt about that.
02:42 There are obviously different views,
02:44 including on the question of the ceasefire.
02:47 But there's no doubt from my conversations with all of our
02:50 colleagues who were in Amman yesterday that everyone would
02:53 welcome the humanitarian pause, because, again,
02:54 it can advance things that we're all trying to accomplish,
02:57 including getting hostages back, including getting a lot more
03:00 assistance into Gaza, including getting people out of Gaza,
03:05 citizens from other countries who seek to leave.
03:08 We've had important progress there in recent days.
03:12 There are also real complications that
03:14 come along with it.
03:15 We continue to work through them.
03:16 But in each of these areas, a humanitarian pause or pauses
03:19 could make a positive difference.
03:22 Mr. Carney: Michael.
03:24 The Press: Thanks very much for taking my question.
03:26 Michael Burnham from The Washington Post.
03:28 Question about each of your visits today.
03:30 Here in Iraq, what kind of steps did you talk about with the
03:34 Iraqi Prime Minister, specific steps that they can take as a
03:37 government to try to reduce the militia attacks and attempted
03:41 attacks on U.S. forces here?
03:44 And looking back at Ramallah, you've said that you have a view
03:50 for the Palestinian Authority to have a potential
03:54 governance role in Gaza.
03:56 I wanted to ask what President Abbas' view was of that today.
04:02 And if he's in favor, why do you think that's a great idea,
04:06 given the generally low view of the Palestinian Authority
04:10 among Palestinians?
04:12 Mr. Blinken.
04:14 Well, first, with regard to Iraq,
04:16 Prime Minister Soudani has spoken out clearly.
04:18 In fact, he made an important statement about a week ago,
04:21 October 23rd, condemning these attacks and making clear the
04:26 imperative that they stop.
04:28 And in addition, he is working with his own security forces and
04:34 others to take necessary action to deal with these attacks and
04:40 to seek to prevent them.
04:41 So we talked about that.
04:42 I can't get into specifics.
04:44 But this is a matter of Iraqi sovereignty.
04:48 No country wants to have militia groups engaged in violent
04:53 activity that's clearly against the interests of Iraq and its
04:57 own sovereignty, as well as against our interests.
05:00 So I think we have a shared purpose and commitment in trying
05:06 to make sure that these attacks don't happen.
05:08 And we also share the interest and an interest that's shared
05:11 with virtually everyone in the region to make sure that the
05:14 conflict in Gaza doesn't spread to other places,
05:16 whether it's here or elsewhere in the region.
05:18 So everyone is looking to take the necessary steps,
05:25 use their authority, use their influence to try to make sure
05:28 that this stops, doesn't happen.
05:31 With regard to the visit to Ramallah and the Palestinian
05:34 Authority, look, they and we are very focused on the day of.
05:41 Even as we need to be thinking about the day after.
05:44 And I think what's clear is that with regard to the day after,
05:48 with regard to future Gaza, the West Bank,
05:52 Palestinian views, Palestinian voices,
05:55 Palestinian aspirations need to be at the center of that.
05:59 And that's what we focused on.
06:03 The PA is playing a very important role right now in the
06:07 West Bank in trying to keep stability there.
06:10 That's usually important because no one wants another front in
06:13 the West Bank or anywhere else.
06:15 And they're really stepping up under very difficult conditions
06:18 to do the necessary work.
06:19 But if you project forward to the future,
06:22 what we all agree is that in defining that future,
06:26 in shaping that future for Gaza, for the West Bank,
06:30 and ultimately for a Palestinian state,
06:33 Palestinian voices have to be at the center of that.
06:35 The Palestinian Authority is the representative of those voices.
06:41 So it's important that it play a leading role.
06:44 The Press: Thank you.
06:46 Mr. Lew: Thanks.