Palestinian-Israeli hostilities push US to send envoy to the region
SMA NEWS – WASHINGTON
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that a US envoy would travel to the Middle East to seek to calm tensions as he implored Israel to avoid civilian deaths.
Hady Amr, the deputy assistant secretary of state in charge of Israeli and Palestinian affairs, will travel “immediately” and meet both Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Blinken said.
“He will urge on my behalf and on behalf of President Biden a de-escalation of violence,” Blinken told reporters.
Blinken described scenes of dead Palestinian civilians, including children, as “harrowing” but defended Israel’s assault on Gaza in response to rocket fire by Hamas militants.
“I think Israel has an extra burden in trying to do everything they possibly can to avoid civilian casualties, even as it is rightfully responding in defence of its people,” Blinken said.
But Blinken said there was a “very clear and absolute distinction between a terrorist organisation, Hamas, that is indiscriminately raining down rockets, in fact, targeting civilians, and Israel’s response defending itself.”
By describing Hamas as a “terrorist” organisation, Blinken seems to rule out any direct US talks with the militant Palestinian group, contrary to speculations in the Palestinian territories.
The dispatching of a senior official to the conflict zone shows that the US administration no no longer finds the fence-sitting posture it has maintain till now on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to be a tenable option.
Washington has signalled a shift away from the staunchly pro-Israel policies of former President Donald Trump by endorsing a two-state solution to the conflict. Blinken himself renewed US support for the eventual creation of an independent Palestinian state.
“This violence takes us further away from that goal,” he said.
“We believe Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live with safety and security and will continue to engage with Israelis, Palestinians and other regional partners to urge de-escalation and to bring calm.”
But the US is yet to clearly define its approach to resolving the Palestinian issue.
President Joe Biden’s administration earlier appealed to ally Israel to reroute a flashpoint parade in Jerusalem and prevent evictions of Palestinians in the holy city, the immediate trigger for the new round of violence.
