I'm not going to pronounce on investment decisions that are not contrary to
U.S. law that are made by private American citizens.

U.S. Department of State
Ian Kelly
Department Spokesman
Daily Press Briefing
Washington, DC
September 9, 2009

TRANSCRIPT:
1:10 p.m. EDT

...
QUESTION: Middle East. Is there anything set yet on Mitchell's trip, and
what is your reaction to the new - the announcement by the Israelis of these
new housing units in East Jerusalem?

MR. KELLY: Yeah. First of all, on Mitchell's trip, no, we have no itinerary
to announce. We still expect him to leave probably - I think we said the end
of the week, so I think it's probably Friday. I think there will be several
stops, but we don't have any specific information on the trip itself.

...
QUESTION: But about the new housing units that have been announced for East
Jerusalem.

MR. KELLY: Oh, the new housing, I don't have anything to add to what the
White House said on Friday.

QUESTION: Well, that was - that was about the West Bank. This is new housing
units in East Jerusalem.

MR. KELLY: We - our position is clear. We do not - we believe that Israel
has an obligation to cease all settlement activity in East Jerusalem or the
West Bank or wherever it may be over the 1967 border.

Yes.

QUESTION: I have a question on the settlements. There are reports that
Americans who hold dual Israeli citizenship have been helping to finance
certain settlements in East Jerusalem in areas that are heavily populated
with Muslim communities, which would be in contradiction to your policy. Is
it concerning that there are American citizens who are doing this, and is it
counter-productive to your objectives?

MR. KELLY: Yeah. Well, first of all, these are private American citizens. I'm
not going to pronounce on investment decisions that are not contrary to U.S.
law that are made by private American citizens. Again, you know what our
policy is, that we need to get to the point where we have the proper
atmosphere for the two sides to sit down and come up with a solution to this
longstanding conflict. We need to remove all the obstacles in the way of
getting to that point of being able to start talks.

QUESTION: Would that be one of the obstacles?

MR. KELLY: And this would - we see the settlements as one of the obstacles
to these talks.

QUESTION: And if I could just --

...Can we go back to Mitchell?

MR. KELLY: Sure.

QUESTION: You said there were going to be several stops. Are there going to
be stops other than in Israel and the Palestinian territories?

MR. KELLY: I believe so. He'll go to other places in the region, but we just
haven't - we haven't nailed down all the details. So we want to refrain from
announcing the trip till we have the whole thing put together.

QUESTION: Will he be meeting Prime Minister Netanyahu?

MR. KELLY: That - I don't know. It's quite possible.
....