Antony Blinken arrives in Israel to shore up the ceasefire

In his first visit to the region as head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken met on Tuesday with the main Israeli and Palestinian leaders carrying out an agenda with four major objectives: to underpin the truce between Israel and the Islamist group Hamas reached last Friday after eleven days of intense escalation, promote the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip without aid reaching the faction that controls the impoverished Palestinian enclave, throw an existential cable to the president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Abu Mazen to rescue him from his isolation and dialogue – basically discuss – with Israel about the Iranian nuclear plan as a result of President Joe Biden's intention to return to the agreement abandoned by Donald Trump.

After showing support for Israel “to defend itself against the thousands of Hamas projectiles launched indiscriminately against its civilian population”, Blinken expressed the need for “urgent aid at the humanitarian and reconstruction level in Gaza” – around 2,000 houses were destroyed. destroyed in the massive Israeli offensive – announcing that his country will make “significant contributions” in assistance that, he clarified, must be carried out without “Hamas benefiting”. He also highlighted as goals of his mission “to reduce tensions in the West Bank and Jerusalem and to continue rebuilding our relations with the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Authority.”

The US wants the PNA to assume a fundamental role in the reconstruction of Gaza. To date, the economic aid from Qatar and encouraged by Benjamin Netanyahu (around 30 million dollars) was managed by Hamas and reached both the hands of the most needy Gazans and the armed wing of the Islamist group (salaries of officials and high command , tunnels, projectiles, etc).

Hamas sources, quoted by the Lebanese daily Al Akhbar, showed their opposition to the PNA being part of the reconstruction of Gaza and recall that Abu Mazen ceased aid in the past in another example of the deep Palestinian split.. They also oppose Israel's demand to condition large civilian projects in Gaza on the handover of two Israeli citizens and the bodies of two soldiers in the hands of the Islamist group.. Relatives of the two soldiers, killed in the 2014 war, denounced the opening of the Israeli border crossing for the introduction of humanitarian aid, pointing out that their case is also humanitarian.

In their joint speech, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked him for “the firm support for Israel's right to self-defense.”. “If Hamas breaks the calm and attacks Israel, our response will be very powerful.”

iranian nuclear pact

Blinken asked for measures to “strengthen” the ANP. The only point of contention in public came when Netanyahu expressed his open opposition to the US returning to the Iran nuclear deal.. “No matter what happens, Israel will maintain its right to defend itself against the regime that is committed to destroying us and to obtain weapons of mass destruction for that purpose,” he warned.

Before traveling to Cairo and Amman, Blinken moved from Jerusalem to the administrative capital of the PNA. Three years and five months after breaking off dialogue with the White House in protest of Trump's announcement to move his embassy to disputed Jerusalem, Abu Mazen welcomed the Secretary of State with open arms in Ramallah in contrast to a protest demonstration in the West Bank city.

Blinken told him that he will reopen his consulate in Jerusalem in charge of Palestinian affairs and that his predecessor Mike Pompeo had closed by integrating his services into the embassy.. He also announced that he will ask Congress for $75 million in assistance to the Palestinians and will now provide $5.5 million for Gaza and $32 million for UNRWA.

“We are prepared to act directly in the rehabilitation of Gaza,” said the Palestinian president who, relieved by the change of tenant in the White House, thanked the American help and added: “We hope that the future will be full of diplomatic activities led by by the US and the Quartet, to reach a just and comprehensive solution based on international law”.

The outbreak of the large-scale confrontation that began on May 10 – with a toll of 248 Palestinians and 12 Israelis dead – forced Biden to throw himself into the Israeli-Palestinian arena that someone with as much experience as he knows that in the last two decades has only caused headache for an American president. His initial plans focused on “managing” the conflict, showing greater neutrality than in the Trump era, and keeping the small flame of the two-state solution alive.

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