BLINKEN TO HELP SOLIDIFY ISRAEL-HAMAS CEASEFIRE
▶ US secretary of state begins visit to region in Palestine and Israel before heading to Cairo and Amman
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken left for the Middle East yesterday to consolidate the ceasefire that brought 11 days of deadly violence between Israel and Hamas to a halt.
“Secretary Blinken will meet Israeli leaders about our ironclad commitment to Israel’s security,” US President Joe Biden said.
“He will continue our administration’s efforts to rebuild ties to, and support for, the Palestinian people and leaders after years of neglect.”
Mr Biden, criticised by many within his own party for not pressuring Israel more publicly to call a ceasefire, has touted his administration’s “quiet, relentless diplomacy” in bringing about a halt in the fighting.
In addition to meetings with Palestinian and Israeli leaders, Mr Blinken’s trip will take him to Cairo and Amman.
He said the trip would support “efforts to solidify a ceasefire”.
“The United States has engaged in intensive diplomacy to bring an end to the hostilities and reduce tensions,” he wrote on Twitter.
His visit takes place amid regional diplomacy focused on maintaining the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II met Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry at Amman’s Al Husseiniya Palace yesterday.
King Abdullah stressed the need “to activate a political pathway that fulfils the just and legitimate rights of the Palestinian people”.
“There is no alternative to a two-state solution to achieve just and comprehensive peace,” he said, according to Petra, Jordan’s state news agency.
Israeli strikes on Gaza this month killed 248 Palestinians, including 66 children, and wounded more than 1,900 people, the Gaza Health Ministry said. Rockets from Gaza killed 10 people in Israel, including a child. At least 357 people in Israel were wounded.
A senior US official yesterday said that the most immediate goal of Mr Blinken’s trip “is to make sure the ceasefire holds”.
“We will be working in partnership with the UN and the PA [Palestinian Authority],” he said. The official also said that the US hopes “for reintegration of the PA in Gaza”.
“We don’t see Hamas as having a veto power” on aid, he said. Washington, the official said, is in close communication with Gulf partners on the matter.
The US leader’s statement on such a trip is rare, and indicates support for the talks and involvement in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict from the president himself.
Mr Biden said Mr Blinken’s Middle East trip would include co-ordinating “an international effort to ensure immediate assistance reaches Gaza in a way that benefits the people there and not Hamas, and on reducing the risk of further conflict in the coming months”.