The US Secretary of state, Antony Blinken has landed in Israel to hold talks with officials, amid an intensified exchange of fire between the Israeli army and Lebanon’s Hezbollah group.
It is his 11th visit to the region since the Hamas attack in October 2023.
Blinken, launching his regional tour exactly two weeks before the US elections, will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with US officials hopeful of progress but downplaying chances of an immediate breakthrough during his trip.
Blinken will be in Israel until Friday, October 25, 2024, but the State Department has not yet said which other countries he will visit.
State Department Spokesman, Matthew Miller said in a statement that Blinken will discuss the importance of bringing the war in Gaza to an end, securing the release of all hostages, and alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people.
Blinken will participate in talks to design a post-conflict plan for Gazans once they are freed from “Hamas tyranny” and will insist that Israel must allow more food and medicine into the Gaza Strip.
Also, he will address the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah on the border with Lebanon and call for the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 of 2006.
This established the cessation of hostilities, the deployment of the Lebanese army in the south of the country, and the disarmament of Hezbollah.
Furthermore, Blinken will try to moderate Israel’s imminent attack on Iran, in retaliation for the launch of some 180 ballistic missiles from the Islamic republic against its territory on October 1, 2024.
The US has been involved in mediation for the past year, with Qatar and Egypt, to get Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement to declare a ceasefire in the offensive on Gaza and release the hostages.
The U.S. has also tried to broker a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, but those efforts fell apart as tensions spiked last month with a series of Israeli strikes that killed the militant group’s top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and most of his senior commanders.
The expectations are really low when it comes to the prospect of diplomacy winning out in the Israel trip by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Blinken’s previous trips have yielded little in the way of ending hostilities.There has only been one weeklong ceasefire implemented and that was in November, 2023.
With the death of Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar in an Israeli operation, Washington says the greatest obstacle to an agreement between the parties has been removed and believes that an opportunity has opened to end the war.
However, the rhetoric from Prime Minister Netanyahu and many others in his government as well as the Israeli opposition is in a tone of defiance.
They insist Israel will continue to stay in Gaza for years to come and they will continue to wage this war until their aims are achieved.
Former Israeli Minister Hopes Trip Would Aid Ceasefire
Former Israeli Justice Minister, Yossi Beilin noted that he hopes Antony Blinken’s trip to Israel will at least “contribute to the option of a ceasefire.”
“It really is time to end this war. We are all paying a very high price. We are all suffering. We are all victims … we are competing with each other who is the bigger victim.”
Yossi Beilin
On the fighting with Hezbollah, Beilin said that he did not believe that the so-called “destruction of Hezbollah” was realistic.
“Our original demand, which is more than reasonable, that Hezbollah fulfil UN resolution 1701 and go to the north of the [ Litani] river – so that Israelis who left their homes [in the north can return].”
Yossi Beilin
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