U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has urged Israel and the Palestinians to exercise restraint and ease tensions amid a spike in violence in the region.
Speaking in Cairo, just hours ahead of a two-day visit to Jerusalem and the West Bank, Blinken iterated that it is imperative for both sides to work to de-escalate tensions that have soared since last week in what he called “a new and horrifying surge in violence” and prompted severe responses from each other.
Blinken informed reporters at a joint news conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, “We will be encouraging the parties to take steps to calm things down.”
“There is no question that this is a very difficult moment,” Blinken added.
Blinken reiterated U.S. condemnations of militant attacks against Israelis and noted that “we deplore overall the loss of innocent civilian life.”
The latest wave of violence erupted last week with an Israeli military raid on a militant stronghold in the West Bank city of Jenin last week that killed 10 people, most of them militants, and a Palestinian shooting attack in an east Jerusalem Jewish settlement that killed seven Israelis.
Israel has arrested 42 Palestinians, some relatives of the Jerusalem attacker, in its investigation into the attack.
Meanwhile, Israel’s radical National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, disclosed that he has ordered authorities to demolish illegally built Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem in response to the attack.
The Palestinians believe the Israeli retaliation, including the demolition of homes of attackers’ families, amounts to collective punishment and is illegal under international law.
Also on Monday, January 30, 2023, shortly before Blinken’s arrival, the Palestinian Health Ministry announced that Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man in the flashpoint city of Hebron, which brings the toll of Palestinians killed in January to thirty-five.
The violence comes after months of Israeli arrest raids in the West Bank, which were launched after a wave of Palestinians attacks against Israelis in the spring of 2022 that killed 19 people.
However, it has escalated this month during the first weeks of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu’s new far-right government, which has promised to take a tough stance against the Palestinians and increase settlement construction.
After the Jenin raid, the Palestinians said they would cancel security coordination with Israel and after attacks against Israelis intensified, Israel said it would reinforce Jewish settlements in the West Bank, among other steps.
Blinken’s trip follows visits to Israel by President Joe Biden’s National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director, Willian Burns.
Highest-Level U.S. Engagement With Netanyahu
Nonetheless, Blinken’s meetings will be the highest-level U.S. engagement with Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu since he retook power last month and the first since the surge in violence.
The current mayhem between Israel and Palestine has added yet another item to Blinken’s lengthy diplomatic agenda in Jerusalem that was already set to include Russia’s war on Ukraine, tensions with Iran and crises in Lebanon and Syria; all of which weigh heavily in the U.S.-Israel relationship.
Easing strains on those issues, or at least averting new ones, are central to Blinken’s mission despite Netanyahu’s opposition to two of Biden’s main Mideast priorities, which are, reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and restarting Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
However, with both of those matters stalled and little hope of any resumption in negotiations, the administration is attempting just to keep the concepts on life support.
Blinken is expected to head later on Monday to Jerusalem, where he will hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid concern at home and abroad over the policies of Netanyahu’s new right-wing government.
Blinken will then travel to Ramallah to meet Palestinian Authority President, Mahmoud Abbas.
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