WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel next week to Israel, the West Bank and Egypt where he will urge an end to violence after a deadly Israeli raid, the State Department said Thursday.
Blinken will hold his first in-person talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu since the veteran leader returned to power leading Israel’s most right-wing government in history.
He will also meet in Ramallah with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on his visit Monday and Tuesday.
Blinken “will underscore the urgent need for the parties to take steps to de-escalate tensions in order to put an end to the cycle of violence that has claimed too many innocent lives,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
Blinken will first on Sunday visit Egypt, a key intermediary between the Israelis and Palestinians which has succeeded in maintaining cordial ties with the administration of President Joe Biden despite his vows to get tougher due to human rights concerns.
Blinken will discuss regional issues including Libya and Sudan and meet President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the State Department said.
The trip, while long in the planning, comes after a major flare-up in violence. Nine Palestinians were killed Thursday in an Israeli raid on a crowded refugee camp in the West Bank city of Jenin, officials in the occupied territory said.
Netanyahu has a fraught relationship with Biden’s Democratic Party, openly campaigning against previous president Barack Obama’s Iran policy, and Biden has been determined to start off on a good foot with his latest government.
Blinken’s trip follows a visit by Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, which was largely focused on Iran — which remains a top concern for Netanyahu.
Blinken has repeatedly said that the Biden administration will judge Netanyahu’s government by “the policies they pursue, not the personalities” that are inside it.
Those personalities include Itamar Ben-Gvir, who once hung a portrait in his home of a gunman who massacred Palestinian worshippers and now holds a national security post.
Ben-Gvir in early January sparked international statements of concern as he visited the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, which is holy both to Jews and Muslims. The United States urged Israel to preserve the status quo at the ultra-sensitive religious site, which Jews call the Temple Mount.
But despite the public concern over the far-right figures, Netanyahu appears to be succeeding so far in preserving normalization efforts with the Arab world, which he sees as one of his key achievements.
Netanyahu flew Tuesday to Jordan, the second Arab nation after Egypt to recognize Israel, and held talks with King Abdullah II.
The trip will be Blinken’s fourth to Jerusalem since becoming the top US diplomat. He first went in May 2021, months into his tenure, after violence between Israel and the Palestinian militants Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Blinken to urge end to violence on Middle East trip
https://arab.news/p8jjq
Blinken to urge end to violence on Middle East trip
- Blinken will hold his first in-person talks with Netanyahu since the leader returned to power
- He will also meet in Ramallah with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on his visit Monday and Tuesday
Hoping for better year ahead, Gazans bid farewell to ‘nightmare’
- Humanitarian agencies have warned that shortages of food, clean water and medical supplies persist, while winter conditions are worsening life in overcrowded camps
GAZA CITY: As 2025 draws to a close, Palestinians in Gaza are marking the new year not with celebration, but with exhaustion, grief and a fragile hope that their “endless nightmare” might finally end.
For residents of the battered territory, daily life is a struggle for survival.
Much of Gaza’s infrastructure lies in ruins, electricity remains scarce and hundreds of thousands of people live in makeshift tents after being repeatedly displaced by the two years of fighting that began with Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023.
“We in the Gaza Strip are living in an endless nightmare,” said Hanaa Abu Amra, a displaced woman in her thirties living in Gaza City. “We hope that this nightmare will end in 2026 ... The least we can ask for is a normal life — to see electricity restored, the streets return to normal and to walk without tents lining the roads,” she said.
Across Gaza, a territory of more than 2 million people, scenes of hardship are commonplace.
The outgoing year brought relentless loss and fear, said Shireen Al-Kayali.
“We bid farewell to 2025 with deep sorrow and grief,” she said.
“We lost a lot of people and our possessions. We lived a difficult and harsh life, displaced from one city to another, under bombardment and in terror.”
Her experience reflects that of countless Gazans who have been forced to flee repeatedly, often with little warning, taking with them only what they could carry.
Entire families have been uprooted, livelihoods destroyed, and communities fragmented as the war dragged on for two years.
Despite the devastation, some residents cling to the belief that the new year might bring an end to the fighting and a chance to rebuild.
For many Gazans, hope has become an act of resilience, particularly after the truce that came into effect on October 10 and has largely halted the fighting.
“We still hope for a better life in the new year, and I call on the free world to help our oppressed people so we can regain our lives,” said Khaled Abdel Majid, 50, who lives in a tent in Jabalia camp.
Faten Al-Hindawi hoped the truce would finally end the war.
“We will bid farewell to 2025, leaving behind its pain, and we hope that 2026 will be a year of hope, prayer, determination and success stories.”
