US Defense Secretary to Head to Tel Aviv, Ramallah to Help Ease Tensions

Arab World

February 11th, 6:52am

Tel Aviv - Asharq Al-Awsat

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speaks during a meeting with Canada's Minister of National Defense Anita Anand, at the Pentagon in Washington, Friday, Feb. 10, 2023. (AP)

The Pentagon announced that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is set to visit Tel Aviv and Ramallah in February to continue efforts to ease tensions between the Palestinians and Israelis. He will meet with Palestinian and Israeli officials to discuss joint security challenges and tensions, sources said. Sources in Tel Aviv said Washington's concerns over a security flareup in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank are growing with every passing day. It is sensing that a greater danger may be in store in the region, they added A security official said that the recent tensions are a cause for concern and the Israeli security agencies are so far failing in containing the situation. On the one hand, they are coming under pressure from the right-wing government to exercise firm measures against the Palestinians, and on the other, such extreme measures are stoking protests against Israel and only fueling the tensions, explained the source. West Bank violence, which surged last year as Israel intensified raids following a series of lethal Palestinian street attacks in Israeli cities, has picked up pace since a hard-right Israeli government was sworn in on Dec. 29. Austin will be fourth senior US official to visit Israel in recent weeks. In three weeks alone, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and CIA chief William Burns had all visited Israel. Delegations from Congress and Jewish groups had also visited. American forces also took part in the largest military drills with the Israeli army. Israeli forces have carried out hundreds of arrests over recent months during near-daily raids in the occupied West Bank that have seen bloody gunbattles with Palestinian gunmen. At least 42 Palestinians, including gunmen and civilians, have been killed this year. Nearly 150 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem in 2022, making it the deadliest year in those territories since 2004, according to leading Israeli rights group B’Tselem. Israel’s formation of its most right-wing government in its history has only compounded the situation.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/4151456/us-defense-secretary-head-tel-aviv-ramallah-help-ease-tensions