Israel can still win acceptance from Arab neighbors: Blinken
Says he would share what he had heard in two days of talks with Jordan, Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia.
TEL AVIV: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Israeli leaders on Tuesday there was still a chance of winning acceptance from their Arab neighbours if they create a path to a viable Palestinian state.
On his fourth trip to the region since October, Blinken said he would share what he had heard in two days of talks with Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
His talks would include a meeting with the Israeli war cabinet formed in the wake of the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas that Israel says killed 1,200 people.
Since then, Israel has killed over 23,000 Palestinians, destroyed much of Gaza and displaced most of the population of 2.3 million.
Blinken had already said he would press Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on the “absolute imperative” to do more to protect Gaza’s civilians and allow humanitarian aid to reach them. President Joe Biden said overnight that Washington was quietly pushing Israel to begin withdrawing some of its forces.
Blinken’s meetings around the region have focused on trying to chart a longer-term approach to the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict, as part of a path toward ending the Gaza war. After his meetings with Arab allies, he said they wanted integration with Israel – a long-term Israeli aim – but only if that included a “practical pathway” to a Palestinian state.
“I know of your own efforts, over many years, to build much greater connectivity and integration in the Middle East, and I think there are actually real opportunities there,” he told his Israeli counterpart Israel Katz on Tuesday.
“But we have to get through this very challenging moment and ensure that October 7 can never happen again and work to build a much different and much better future.”
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