Blinken meets with Abbas to discuss the future of Gaza

Antony J. Blinken, the US Secretary of State, met with Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, on Wednesday to discuss Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and the role the authority could play there if the conflict fades away.

Mr Blinken traveled in a convoy from Tel Aviv in Israel to Ramallah, the seat of the authority, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The two men shook hands outside the authority’s headquarters and sat down for talks with their aides.

The Biden administration has said it envisions a role for the Palestinian Authority in governing both the West Bank and Gaza. Hamas has ruled Gaza since it won elections in the small coastal strip in 2006 and violently ousted Fatah, the group that now controls the West Bank authority.

President Biden has also said Israel should allow the formation of a Palestinian state, arguing that a political solution is the only way out of the decades-long conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Mr. Blinken reiterated that position Tuesday at a news conference in Tel Aviv after meetings with Israeli officials. He also said that Saudi Arabia – whose ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, he met on Monday – is still willing to establish normal diplomatic relations with Israel, but only if Israel agrees to concrete steps toward establishing a free and independent Palestine. .

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, and his right-wing government have rejected the idea of ​​a Palestinian state, and Mr. Netanyahu said years ago that Israeli officials should support a strong Hamas in Gaza to undermine the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Authority. idea of ​​a united Palestine. He has also rejected any substantive role for the Gaza authority.

After meeting with Mr. Abbas, Mr. Blinken planned to fly to Bahrain for more talks about the war. The stop in Bahrain was a last-minute addition to his multi-day diplomatic mission in the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East that began last Friday. Mr. Blinken plans to meet Egypt’s president, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, later during the trip in Cairo.

Mr el-Sisi and Mr Abbas are expected to be in Aqaba, Jordan, later on Wednesday for a crisis leadership summit convened by King Abdullah II.