US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel on Tuesday morning, the first stop on his first visit to the Middle East, during which he hopes to bolster the recent ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the terrorist group controlling the Gaza Strip, in the wake of recent hostilities, and help speed humanitarian aid to the devastated Palestinian enclave.
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In tandem with Blinken's mission, Israeli authorities said they were allowing fuel, medicine and food earmarked for Gaza's private sector to enter the territory for the first time since the ceasefire was called, on May 21.
A senior State Department official said the US was harboring "every hope and expectation" the ceasefire would continue to hold.
"Our primary focus is on maintaining the ceasefire, getting the assistance to the people who need it," he said.
Welcome to 🇮🇱 @SecBlinken
It's an honor to host you on your first official visit to #Israel.
Every visit by Sec of State is a special occasion, let alone when it is his first.
Looking forward to our discussions on strengthening the US-IL relations & on regional developments. pic.twitter.com/5NcP8QqAg5— גבי אשכנזי - Gabi Ashkenazi (@Gabi_Ashkenazi) May 25, 2021
But he also suggested it was too early for wider peace talks between Israel, in political flux after four inconclusive elections in two years, and the Palestinians, divided by enmity between Hamas and Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas.
US President Joe Biden has said a two-state solution was the only answer to resolving the Israel-Palestinian conflict and pledged a major package with other countries to help rebuild Gaza. Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations collapsed in 2014.
Blinken will travel to Jerusalem, Ramallah, Cairo, and Amman between May 24 and 27, 2021. During his visit to Israel, he is slated to meet with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, and other senior Israeli officials.
In a joint press conference with Blinken, Netanyahu thanked President Joe Biden and Blinken for "firmly supporting Israel's right of self-defense.
"I have to say that Secretary Blinken, in a previous capacity, in 2014 when we had another round of engagement against Hamas aggression, supported us by having Iron Dome replacements of a quarter of a billion dollars, which you personally shepherded through the system very quickly. And we remember it and we are very grateful.
"Now you're doing that again, giving replenishments of our Iron Dome interceptors, which saved civilian lives on both sides. We, too, will give meaning to our self-defense if Hamas breaks the calm and attacks Israel. Our response will be very powerful," the PM said.
Netanyahu noted that he discussed with the secretary of state the Iranian threat, expressing Israel's hope that the US will not go back to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, "because we believe that that deal paves the way for Iran to have an arsenal of nuclear weapons with international legitimacy."
"We also reiterated that no matter what happens, Israel will always reserve the right to defend itself from a regime committed to our destruction, committed to getting the weapons of mass destruction to that end," he said.
Netanyahu also called on more Arab and Muslim countries to normalized ties to Israel: "We discussed, also, how to improve the lives and conditions of the Palestinians, the humanitarian conditions in Gaza, including the question of our return of our MIAs and two civilians who are there, as well as building economic growth for Judea and Samaria – the West Bank – with international cooperation and participation.
"As for a formal peace with the Palestinians, I think President Biden was absolutely correct when he said that 'You're not going to get peace until Israel is recognized as an independent Jewish state.' I couldn't agree more."
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken shake hands with PM Benjamin Netanyahu during a joint press conference in Jerusalem, May 25, 2021 (AP/Menahem Kahana/Pool)
"President Biden asked me to come here today really for four reasons," Blinken said as he began delivering his statement.
"First, to demonstrate America's commitment to Israel's security; to start to work towards greater stability and reduce tensions in the West Bank and Jerusalem; to support urgent humanitarian assistance for Gaza to benefit the Palestinian people; and to continue to rebuild our relationship with the Palestinian people and the Palestinian Authority."
He noted that "intense behind-the-scenes diplomacy by President Biden, working very closely with the prime minister, led to the ceasefire. Now we must build on it. That starts with the recognition that losses on both sides were profound. Causalities are often reduced to numbers, but every number is an individual human being – a son, a daughter, a father, a mother, a grandparent, a best friend. As the Talmud teaches, to lose a life is to lose the whole world, whether that life is Palestinian or Israeli.
"The United States fully supports Israel's right to defend itself against attacks such as the thousands of rockets fired by Hamas indiscriminately against civilians," America's top diplomat asserted.
Blinken said one of the key matters he discussed with Netanyahu is "tackling the grave humanitarian situation in Gaza and starting to rebuild. The United States will rally international support around that effort, while also making our own significant contributions.
"We will work with our partners to work to ensure that Hamas does not benefit from the reconstruction assistance," he stressed. At the same time, we need to work to expand opportunity for Palestinians in Gaza and the in the West Bank, including by expanding the private sector and trade and investment and other means."
In Ramallah, Blinken is set to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, PM Mohammad Shtayyeh, and other senior officials from the Palestinian Authority.
When hateful ideology rises, violence is never far behind. I join @POTUS in condemning anti-Semitic attacks at home and around the world. We have a responsibility to do everything we can to stop hate in all its forms. https://t.co/sazClGJv6R
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) May 24, 2021
Blinken will then travel to Cairo to meet with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. The secretary will conclude his trip with a stop in Amman to meet with His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi.
US President Joe Biden issued a statement on Tuesday saying that "during his trip, Secretary Blinken will meet with Israeli leaders about our ironclad commitment to Israel's security. He will continue our administration's efforts to rebuild ties to, and support for, the Palestinian people and leaders, after years of neglect, and he will engage other key partners in the region, including on the coordinated international effort to ensure immediate assistance reaches Gaza in a way that benefits the people there and not Hamas, and on reducing the risk of further conflict in the coming months."
In an interview with ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos over the weekend, Blinken spoke of the recent conflict and stressed, "The fact of the matter is Hamas has brought nothing but ruin to the Palestinian people: its gross mismanagement of Gaza while it's been in charge, and of course, these indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, which have elicited the response that they did because Israel has a right to defend itself.
"I think what's the real challenge here is to help the Palestinians, and particularly to help moderate Palestinians and the Palestinian Authority deliver better results for their people. And of course, Israel has a profound role to play in that too," he said.
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