Secretary of State Antony Blinken left for the Middle East on Monday, where he will visit Israel and other regional countries to discuss the Gaza ceasefire reached between Israel and Hamas.
A State Department official said the trip will be focused on ensuring the ceasefire is held. “The most important thing is that the ceasefire does hold. It’s extremely important that it does. We don’t want to see a return to the bloodshed that was heartbreaking during the 11-day conflict,” the official said.
Israel’s Gaza bombing campaign killed 248 Palestinians, including 66 children, and did significant damage to the besieged enclave’s civilian infrastructure. In Israel, 12 people were killed by rockets from Gaza, including two children.
On the three-day trip, Blinken will travel to Jerusalem, Ramallah, Cairo, and Amman. He is expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, and Jordan’s King Abdullah.
In an interview on Sunday, Blinken made it clear Gaza is the priority for now, and potential Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are on the back burner. “In the first instance, we’ve got to deal with the humanitarian situation, which is grave in Gaza,” he said.
The Biden administration is standing firmly behind its ally in the wake of the Gaza onslaught. When asked about opposition from progressives in Congress to a recently approved $735 million arms sale to Israel, Blinken defended his administration’s military support for the Israelis. “We are committed to giving Israel the means to defend itself, especially when it comes to these indiscriminate rocket attacks against civilians,” he said.
Blinken also said President Biden is committed to a two-state solution. But Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem have made a two-state solution no longer a realistic option, and until settlements are addressed, the crisis will continue.
“Israel’s Gaza bombing campaign killed 248 Palestinians, including 66 children, and did significant damage to the besieged enclave’s civilian infrastructure. In Israel, 12 people were killed by rockets from Gaza, including two children.”
Blinken: “We are committed to giving Israel the means to defend itself, especially when it comes to these indiscriminate rocket attacks against civilians”
Tony’s not very good at math.
Maybe Blinken can check this out. Doubtful.
https://theintercept.com/2021/05/24/israeli-police-round-palestinian-protesters-global-attention-fades/
It’s happening all over Israel and Palestine, so we need to know about it every day. Thank goodness for Antiwar.com and Twitter.
From a Fox story about the trip:
So I’m going to modify this pieces’s title:
Except to offer more free US bombs or planeloads of US money, what else is there for him to do?
Visit with key Israel’s neighbors. Very indicative of the situation. Egypt and Jordan are very vulnerable when it comes to Palestinian cause.
And while once it was possible for governments of both countries to placate public opinion, while harass or jail activists — situation has changed. Over time, it became clear that governments of countries with independent policies — are openly criticizing Israel for its treatment of Palestinians. Not just in times of crisis, but consistently. And in this interconnected world — people in Jordan and Egypt envy the freedoms in Turkey, where it is not dangerous to be a pro-Palestinian activist.
Egypt has prohibited mass demonstrations after the turbulent and violent events of 2011. But keeping such explosive issue under control has become harder and harder.
Biden does not want getting entangled into solving anything, He is for two state solution, even though he — or anybody else — cannot point to the proposed two states on the map. He does not want to know.
It would be a real blow to his presidency to get bogged down by Israel-Palestine problem.
What can he get from Jordan and Egypt.
I expect calming down of the explosive situation is the first order of business. Shoring up Jordan s probably on the agenda. I cannot imagine — but then nothing is beyond imagination of Israeli lobby — any pressure on Jordan. It may be that Jordan asks for asserting its role in religious sites dispute. Up until now, only protesting against the violations. With no results.
With Egypt, business agenda will be more robust.
Egypt’s role as a mediator must be flushed out, in fact, I suspect that Blinken would rather wrap things up, put a bow, call it a sucess — and not bother Israel any more.
And, now that US and Egypt are partners — Egypt will be asked to cut back on trade and military relations with Russia, To cut trade with China. To partner with US on some projects in Libya, to stir up problems with Turkey over gas pipeline from Israel to Greece. And to “diversify” grain purchase, less from Russia and increase purchase from US. The list with Egypt is long.
But not realistic. It will not get Egypt to undermine Saudi Arabia, and not even dispute with Ethiopia. And even less to undermine military equation of Sudan governance. Egypt can no longer be snagged by IMF.
But on the other side — Egypt can under existing mediation continue work with Hamas and Gaza. There is UN resolution supporting the adherence to cease fire.
US cannot get Abbas to become Egypt’s interlocutor in Gaza, as the UN resolution addresses combatants only — and in Gaza this means Hamas.
So, the moves to watch are Egypt’s involvement in Gaza, especially reconstruction. Because money will be coming for that purpose from all over the world.
“Two state solution” has become the words used to avoid the problem.
The problem is, what to do about the Palestinians? Every option is awful, at least to some major groups, so instead we indulge in avoidance.
We say something that is now meaningless, utterly impossible, just so that we don’t have to say anything else.
Biden and Blinken of course know that. Everybody knows that. Every time they say this, it is a thumb in the eye of anybody watching them.