Palestinian statehood was anticipated following the Oslo Accords of the 1990s, but talks have been moribund for years.
Blinken urges Israel to engage with region on post-war Gaza
Blinken urges Israel to engage with region on post-war Gaza
Abbas told Blinken that Gaza is integral to Palestinian statehood hopes and should not be cut off as a result of Israel’s war with Hamas, an official statement said.
“It is not possible to accept or deal with the plans of the occupation authorities to separate it, or cut off any part of it,” the Palestinian leader told Blinken.
The statement, published by the Palestinian news agency WAFA, further quoted Abbas as saying that Palestinians must not be displaced from Gaza or the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where he wields limited governance following a 2007 schism with Hamas.
Abbas further called for the “convening an international peace conference to end the Israeli occupation of the land of the State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, which achieves peace and security for all,” according to WAFA.
The Israeli government has shown no interest in reviving negotiations and the Palestinian leadership remains split between the Palestinian Authority (PA), headed by Abbas, and Hamas which rules Gaza.
In talks with Abbas in the occupied West Bank, Blinken mentioned “increased volatility” in the territory, where hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in raids by the Israeli military or attacks by Jewish settlers in recent months.
As part of efforts to stabilise the territory, Blinken called on Israel to hand over revenues owed to the Palestinians in full.
Blinken “underscored the United States’ position that all Palestinian tax revenues collected by Israel should be consistently conveyed to the Palestinian Authority in accordance with prior agreements,” Miller said.
Israel has for years withheld part of the funds, over issues including payments to Palestinian prisoners and more recently the Gaza war.
Blinkin’s visit came a day after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet over Israel’s war with Hamas, regional tensions and the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The United Nations estimates 1.9 million Gazans have been displaced inside the territory that had already endured years of blockade and poverty before the war.
Global concern has flared over Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, and Blinken – while voicing continued US support for top regional ally Israel – has urged steps to reduce the suffering.
Dire shortages brought by an Israeli siege mean the “daily toll on civilians in Gaza, particularly children, is far too high,” Blinken said on Tuesday after his talks with Netanyahu.
Blinken called for “more food, more water, more medicine” for Gaza, where only limited relief supplies have been arriving from Egypt.
The PA, which exercises limited self-rule in some areas of the occupied West Bank, remains the best hope for a unified Palestinian government of both Gaza and the West Bank.
Blinken came to Israel after visiting Washington’s Arab allies, who he said want closer relations with Israel, but only if that included a “practical pathway” to a Palestinian state.
Are Israel, US and Iran’s allies inching closer to all-out war?
Are Israel, US and Iran’s allies inching closer to all-out war?
US-brokered talks on a Palestinian state in territory now occupied by Israel collapsed almost a decade ago. Right-wing leaders in Israel’s current ruling coalition oppose Palestinian statehood.
At his news conference, Blinken declined to characterise how Netanyahu and his cabinet responded to his appeal on a Palestinian state. He said Israel would have to make “hard decisions, hard choices” to take advantage of the opportunity offered by regional integration.
“Extremist settler violence carried out with impunity, settlement expansion, demolitions, evictions, all make it harder, not easier for Israel to achieve lasting peace and security,” he said, alluding to conflict in the West Bank.