RAMALLAH, West Bank – On Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to the occupied West Bank to reassure Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that the Biden administration was stepping up efforts to alleviate the plight of Gaza’s civilians and insisting that Palestinians must have a say in what happens to the territory after the conflict.
Blinken then flew to Baghdad for discussions with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, as American forces in the region risk an increase in attacks by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and elsewhere. A US official stated that US forces shot down another one-way attack drone targeting American and coalition troops near their base in neighboring Syria on Sunday. Blinken traveled to Turkey from Baghdad.
President Joe Biden’s senior diplomat traveled through Ramallah, West Bank, in an armored motorcade with tight protection. It was his third day of shuttle diplomacy aimed at limiting the war’s destabilizing regional fallout and overturning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to consider a US proposal for intermittent pauses in its attack on Hamas long enough to deliver vital aid to Gaza’s civilians.
Netanyahu rebuffed US demands on Friday to begin implementing cease-fires, saying there would be no interim cease-fire until Hamas released the 240 foreign prisoners it is holding.
Blinken Shuttles From The West Bank To Iraq Trying To Contain The Fallout From The Israel-Hamas War
“This is a process,” Blinken said to reporters on the subject on Sunday. “Israel has raised serious concerns about how humanitarian pauses would be implemented. We must answer such questions, particularly how pauses will affect Hamas detainees. “We’re working on it right now.”
While the Biden administration remains a staunch supporter of Israel’s military response to Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, it is increasingly seeking to use its clout with Israel to mitigate the impact of Israel’s weeks-long siege and near-round-the-clock air, ground, and sea assaults on Gaza, which is home to 2.3 million civilians.
Blinken’s meeting with Abbas in the West Bank occurred on the same day that Israeli planes bombarded two Gaza refugee camps, killing at least 53 people, according to Gaza health officials. After one of the strikes, an Associated Press reporter witnessed the lifeless bodies of eight children being transported to a neighboring Gaza hospital. Before an expected intensified attack on Hamas sites in the north, Israel’s military stated that its forces had virtually split the Gaza Strip in two.
As word of Blinken’s arrival in Ramallah circulated, Palestinians gathered to protest the United States’ support for Israel’s conflict. Demonstrators brandished signs depicting flowing blood and inscriptions such as “Blinken blood is on your hands.”
Blinken and Abbas exchanged no words as they greeted each other in front of cameras, and their encounter ended without any public comment.
The Palestinian Authority governs semi-autonomous regions of Israel’s occupied West Bank. It has not been a factor in Gaza since 2007 when Hamas seized authority after winning elections there the previous year. Abbas is unpopular with Palestinians.
In Baghdad, Blinken stated that the Palestinian Authority “plays a very important role right now in the West Bank in trying to maintain stability.” That’s critical because no one wants another front in the West Bank or elsewhere, and they’re stepping up to do the essential work under extremely tough conditions.”
He stated that “what we all agree on” is that “Palestinian voices have to be at the centre of that” in crafting a future for Gaza, the West Bank, and “ultimately” for a Palestinian state. Because the Palestinian Authority represents those views, it must take the lead.”
According to the Palestinians’ official WAFA news agency, Abbas stated that the Palestinian Authority would only seize authority in Gaza as part of a “comprehensive political solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He also called Israel’s shelling of Gaza a “genocidal war,” and urged Blinken to “immediately stop them from committing such crimes,” according to the news agency.
On his second journey to the Middle East since the war began, Blinken met with Netanyahu on Friday before meeting with Arab ministers in Jordan on Saturday. So far, Netanyahu has rejected humanitarian pauses. Arab rulers demanded an immediate cease-fire. According to Blinken, this would be unproductive and could embolden Hamas to escalate its violence.
US officials believe that if Netanyahu is convinced that it is in Israel’s strategic interests to alleviate the misery of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, he may reconsider his objection to the pause plan. The rising death toll among Palestinians – more than 9,700, according to officials from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry — has provoked growing worldwide outrage, with tens of thousands flocking to the streets from Washington to Berlin over the weekend to demand an immediate cease-fire.
Blinken Shuttles From The West Bank To Iraq Trying To Contain The Fallout From The Israel-Hamas War
Arab states are rejecting American recommendations that they take a larger role in crisis resolution, expressing outrage at the human toll of Israeli military operations but seeing Gaza as entirely Israel’s fault.
Blinken stated that among Arab leaders, “everyone would welcome the humanitarian pause.” He stated that it “could advance things that we’re all trying to accomplish,” such as liberating hostages, bringing in aid, and allowing foreign citizens to leave. On that latter point, he stated, “We’ve made significant progress there in recent days, but there are real complications that come with it.” We’re still working on them.”
The negotiations in Baghdad focused on the protection of US personnel.
“I made very clear that the attacks, the threats coming from the militia that are aligned with Iran, are totally unacceptable and we will take every necessary step to protect” the personnel of the United States, Blinken added. He claimed that the prime minister emphasized his intention to end the militia strikes.
The United States is deeply concerned that Iran and its proxies, notably multiple armed groups in Iraq, may use the Gaza situation to further destabilize the Middle East. Already, Iranian-backed militias have increased rocket and other attacks on US military bases in Iraq and Syria, prompting at least one American retaliation strike.
The drone attack on a US location in Syria on Sunday was at least the 32nd targeting US and coalition military sites in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 17. There have been at least 17 assaults in Iraq and 15 in Syria to date. At least 21 service members were hurt in the strikes, but all have returned to duty, according to the Pentagon.
The same US official who confirmed the drone strike said the drone strike was strikingly similar to other recent strikes on US personnel at facilities in Iraq and Syria and is believed to be related to Iranian-backed militia at this time. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the situation and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
SOURCE – (AP)
