U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) in the West Bank city of Ramallah, November 5, 2023.
Nov 5,
2023. Posted by Balkan Periscope - Hellas
U.S. top diplomat Antony Blinken said the Palestinian Authority (PA) should
play a central role in the future of the Gaza strip, a U.S. official said after
a visit to the occupied West Bank on Sunday, as Blinken tours the region amid
spiraling tensions over Israel's war with Hamas.
Blinken passed through Israeli checkpoints to meet PA President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah on his second visit to the region since Palestinian Hamas fighters launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,400 people and taking more than 240 others hostage.
Secretary of State Blinken rebuffed calls for a ceasefire from Arab officials on Saturday after appealing, unsuccessfully, to Israel for more limited pauses to the fighting a day earlier.
In addition to trying to ensure that the conflict does not spread to the region, Blinken is trying to start discussions on how to govern Gaza after the complete destruction of Hamas, which Israel says is its goal.
Blinken told Abbas that Washington believes the PA “should play a central role in what comes next in Gaza,” said a senior State Department official who briefed reporters traveling with Blinken.
The official said the future of Gaza was not the focus of the meeting, but that PA officials appeared willing to play a role.
Abbas told Blinken that Gaza is “an integral part” of the state Palestinians want, according to an account of the meeting from the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, which suggested any PA role in governing Gaza would have to be part of a wider settlement of the decades-old conflict.
“We will fully assume our responsibilities within the framework of a comprehensive political solution that includes all of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip,” Abbas was quoted by WAFA as saying.
The two met for about an hour but did not address the media.
Abbas told Blinken there should be an immediate ceasefire and that aid should be allowed into Gaza, according to spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh.
Blinken said the United States was committed to getting aid into Gaza and restoring essential services there, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a readout of the meeting.
“The Secretary also expressed the commitment of the United States to working toward the realization of the Palestinians’ legitimate aspirations for the establishment of a Palestinian state,” Miller said.
Troubled Authority
Blinken has suggested an “effective and revitalized Palestinian Authority” would make the most sense to ultimately run the strip, but admitted that other countries and international agencies would likely play a role in security and governance in the interim.
Abbas’ PA, which exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has seen its popularity shrivel amid allegations of graft, incompetence, and widely hated security cooperation arrangements with Israel. It is unclear who will succeed the aging and ailing Abbas, 87, a staunch opponent of Hamas.
After meeting with Blinken, the foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan said
on Saturday that it was premature to talk about the future of Gaza, as they
called for an immediate ceasefire to address the humanitarian crisis that has
engulfed the strip’s 2.3 million residents.
Blinken argued that a ceasefire would only allow Hamas to regroup, but is
trying to convince Israel to agree to location-specific pauses that would allow
much-needed aid to be distributed within Gaza.
While Hamas tightly controls the besieged Gaza, the West Bank is a complex
patchwork of hillside cities, Israeli settlements, and army checkpoints that
split Palestinian communities.
Violence was already at a more than 15-year high this year, but has surged
further since the war began.
Blinken credited Abbas for tamping down tension in the West Bank and told him
he had pressed Israeli officials for accountability, the senior State
Department official said.
Agencies
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