Blinken Heads Home after Mideast Tour
Arab World
Asharq Al-Awsat
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed home from Jordan Thursday after a Middle East tour on which he called for regional cooperation to consolidate a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza militants. Blinken met both Israeli and Palestinian leaders during two days of talks, throwing Washington's support behind the Egyptian-brokered truce that ended 11 days of heavy Israeli bombing of Gaza and rocket fire from the impoverished coastal enclave into Israel. "Securing the ceasefire was important, particularly because of the devastating toll violence took on families on both sides," Blinken told reporters after Wednesday talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman, his final stop. "We see the ceasefire not as an end, but as a beginning of something to build on." Following talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Blinken vowed to rebuild US relations with the Palestinians by reopening a consulate in Jerusalem, as well as give millions in aid for Gaza. The announcements signaled a break with US policy under former president Donald Trump, who had shuttered the diplomatic mission for Palestinians in 2019 and slashed aid to the Palestinian Authority. After meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Blinken reiterated support for Israel's right to defend itself against rocket attacks by Gaza's Hamas rulers, adding that they must not benefit from reconstruction aid. Hamas political chief Yahya Sinwar vowed not to take "a single cent" of the aid, insisting that "we have never taken a cent in the past". Blinken also met Wednesday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo, whom he praised for helping bring an end to the intense violence "relatively quickly".
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2994586/blinken-heads-home-after-mideast-tour
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