BLINKEN CALLS FOR CALM AS WEST BANK TENSIONS GROW
▶ US Secretary of State visits region and emphasises need to combat Iranian ‘threat to peace’
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday called on Palestine and Israel to “take steps to calm tensions rather than inflame them”, at what he described as a “pivotal moment” in decades of conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a “strong and swift response” after seven people were killed and 10 injured in an attack on Friday outside a synagogue on the outskirts of East Jerusalem, an area annexed by Israel.
The attack happened after Israeli troops killed 10, including an elderly woman, in a raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
“To take an innocent life in an act of terrorism is always a heinous crime, but to target people outside their place of worship is especially shocking,” said Mr Blinken, who arrived in Tel Aviv yesterday as part of a tour of the Middle East.
Mr Netanyahu leads an Israeli government that has been open about its desire to annex the West Bank, a move that would break international law and effectively end hopes for a two-state solution between the Palestinians and Israel.
US President Joe Biden’s administration is reluctant to become too drawn into the crisis. As tension in the region continues to increase, Mr Blinken called on both sides to avoid further escalations.
“Calls for vengeance against more innocent victims are not the answer, and acts of retaliatory violence against civilians are never justified,” he said.
Mr Blinken’s trip, which is to include a visit to Ramallah, came a day after Iran said there was a drone attack on the city of Isfahan. There has been no claim of responsibility for the strikes, but Israeli attacks inside Iran are not uncommon.
Mr Blinken said he would not comment on the situation, saying only that “it is very important we continue to deal with and work against as necessary the various actions that Iran is engaged in the region and beyond that threaten peace and security and human life”.
Washington and Cairo have said they will work together to defuse Palestinian-Israeli tensions, following talks between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Mr Blinken arrived in Egypt on Sunday at the start of a Middle East tour overshadowed by an outbreak of deadly Palestinian-Israeli violence.
He left Egypt late yesterday en route to Jerusalem and the West Bank in an effort to end the violence.
“There is no question that this is a very difficult moment,” Mr Blinken said after talks with Egypt counterpart Sameh Shoukry. “We’ve seen the horrific terrorist attacks in recent days. We’ve seen over many months rising violence that is affecting so many.
“We’ll be … encouraging the parties to take steps to calm things down, to de-escalate tensions. We, like Egypt, continue to stand behind the importance of working towards a two-state solution. Throughout all of this, Egypt has played a very important role.
“Cairo’s efforts last year and the year before to help defuse two crises was instrumental.”
Egypt, which shares a border with both Israel and the Gaza Strip, has in the past mediated truces to halt hostilities between Israel and the militant Palestinian Hamas group that controls Gaza.
That role is aided by Egypt’s close links to Palestinian factions, its security and counterterrorism co-operation with Israel, with which it signed a peace treaty in 1979, and its ties to the US.
Mr El Sisi and Mr Blinken reviewed Egyptian efforts to contain the “rising tensions”, the Egyptian presidency said. “The President emphasised that the latest events point to the importance of acting immediately on the security and political tracks to bring about calm and limit unilateral actions,” it said.
Mr El Sisi and Mr Blinken also discussed the dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia over a hydroelectric dam the Horn of Africa nation is almost finished building on the Blue Nile. Egypt says the project could reduce its vital share of the Nile waters.
Cairo has asked the US to mediate in the decade-long dispute after talks with Ethiopia broke down in 2021.
Yesterday, Mr El Sisi told Mr Blinken that Cairo wanted a legally binding deal on the operation of the dam, the Egyptian presidency said.
Ethiopia maintains that recommendations should suffice and insists that Egypt and fellow downstream Sudan would not be harmed.
Mr Blinken, addressing a joint news conference with Mr Shoukry, said Washington wanted to see a quick end to the dam dispute, saying his government will support any resolution that safeguards the livelihoods of people in Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.
Egyptian officials said Washington had been conducting behind-the-scenes consultations to bridge the gap between Egypt and fellow downstream nation Sudan on one side and the Ethiopians on the other.
They said the talks included countries that had either directly aided the construction of the dam or are major investors in Ethiopia.
Mr Blinken’s visit comes after CIA director William Burns paid a short visit to Egypt last week for talks with Mr El Sisi.
The US has unsuccessfully sought for years to mediate a settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel are stalled, and violence is frequent.
Mr Blinken will visit Jerusalem and Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
In Jerusalem, he is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen to discuss enduring US support for Israel’s security, particularly against threats from Iran, the State Department said.
“The secretary will also discuss Israel’s deepening integration into the region, Israeli-Palestinian relations and the importance of a two-state solution,” it said.
In Ramallah, he is expected to repeat US support for a Palestinian state to President Mahmoud Abbas, a prospect that few expect to advance under the new Israeli government.
Mr Blinken’s visit takes on a new urgency after some of the worst violence in years.
A Palestinian gunman killed seven people outside a synagogue in East Jerusalem on Friday. It was followed by another attack on Saturday.
On Thursday, 10 people were killed when Israeli troops raided the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.
Israel said it was seeking militants from Palestinian terrorist group Islamic Jihad. The Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip was hit by air strikes in response to rocket fire.