From a news briefing by Christine Shelly, the State Department's deputy spokesman, to a reporter who asked whether there had been a "clear statement of [the administration's] policy on settlements in the occupied territories." Shelly's response appeared in the Washington Post, March 14, 1994:

Well, I think our position on settlements is well known. It certainly comes up from time to time in the context of, you know, testimony and other things. We do—the briefers—also, from time to time, get those questions as well. As to—you know, nothing has changed on that in terms of our position and, you know, I think it's—you know, I can refer you to, you know, to probably previous statements by officials on that. But I don't have anything—you know, I mean, you know, our—I think—I don't have—you know, I—we—usually we try to have, you know, a little bit of something on that. I'm not sure that it's going to be, you know, specifically what you're looking for. You know, generally speaking, our position on the settlements is that it's the Palestinians and Israelis have agreed that the final status negotiations will cover these issues and, you know, that's—that's also our view.

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