Breifing Skipper: Peace talks, Pakistan, North Korea, hikers, Castro

In which we scour the transcript of the State Department’sdaily presser so you don’t have to. These are the highlights of Monday’sbriefing by spokesman P.J. Crowley:

• Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Sharm el-Sheikh for the next round of direct talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians. She’ll also this week have meetings in Jerusalem, Ramallah and Amman before returning to the United States late Thursday night, Crowley said. "She’ll have a variety of trilateral and bilateral meetings as we continue to encourage the parties to make progress towards an agreement on Middle East peace."
• No word on whether there is a compromise in the works regarding the Israeli settlement freeze, which is slated to expire at the end of the month. "We understand that we face some immediate obstacles that we hope to resolve in the next couple of weeks," Crowley said. He said the U.S. wants both sides to think "creatively" about solutions. "We also understand that we have some immediate challenges to overcome that will require both parties to work constructively, that will require both parties to create the appropriate climate, that will require both parties to perhaps adapt positions that they have taken publicly on these critical issues."
• Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke is traveling to Pakistan this week to tour the flood ravaged areas, but the flood won’t be the only thing on his agenda. "Knowing Richard, you know, whenever he’s in Pakistan he has the opportunity to interact with a wide range of Pakistani officials," Crowley said.. Undersecretary of State Bob Hormats delivered remarks Monday at the Khalsa College in India.
• Ambassador Stephen Bosworth, Special Envoy Sung Kim, and NSC Asia Director Danny Russel were in Seoul Monday for discussions on North Korea, and will continue on to Tokyo and Beijing later this week.  They met with Minister of Unification Hyun In-taek, acting Foreign Minister Shin Kak-soo, Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Wi Sung-lac, and National Security Advisor Kim Sung-hwan. State’s Bob Einhorn was supposed to travel to Beijing this week, but that trip has been put on hold at the request of the Chinese.
• The U.S. government did not fund the $500,000 bail it apparently took to secure the release of Sarah Shourd, one of the three hikers who has been imprisoned in Iran. She has been handed over to the Swiss Embassy in Tehran. No information from Crowley on the fate of the other two hikers, Shane Bauer and Joshua Fatta, who have been imprisoned for over 13 months. "We do not believe that they are guilty of any crime. Iran has had more than enough time to investigate and satisfy its questions about why these three individuals crossed an unmarked border," Crowley said. "We want to see this resolved."
• Four U.S. aid workers in Zimbabwe have been released on bail after being arrested for treating aids patients without proper licenses. "We will continue to make sure that they have all of the rights that are accorded to them under Zimbabwean law," Crowley said."I have no indication that they were guilty of any wrongdoing. But that’s what the court proceeding will determine."
• Crowley wouldn’t comment on the pending $60 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia, which is apparently headed to Congress for their scrutiny. But he did say Israel would not suffer relatively from the deal. "Suffice it to say that at the core of our policy is making sure that there is stability in the region, and part of that stability is making sure that Israel has what it needs to be able to provide for its own security. So the United States would do nothing that would upset the current balance in the region."
• Crowley seized on the alleged comments by Cuban dictator Fidel Castro to the Atlantic‘s Jeffrey Goldberg that the Cuban economic model isn’t working for Cuba anymore, comments that Castro has since said Goldberg misinterpreted. (Goldberg says he quoted Fidel accurately, and has the recording to prove it.) "I think we take note of what Fidel Castro said last week, that the model is no longer working for Cuba," Crowley said. "I think we’ve been trying to tell him that for some time."