JOE Biden dispatched his top diplomat to the Middle East on Monday to show America’s “commitment” to Israel’s security after a Palestinian was shot dead after he reportedly attacked two people in East Jerusalem.
Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, will meet separately with Israeli and Palestinian officials as part of Washington’s ongoing efforts to maintain a fragile ceasefire that brought an end to the worst violence between Israel and the militant group Hamas in several years.
Announcing the four-day visit, Mr Biden said: “Secretary Blinken will meet with Israeli leaders about our ironclad commitment to Israel’s security”.
The US president added that the trip would also continue his administration’s efforts to support the Palestinian people “after years of neglect”.
Mr Biden, who faced criticism from fellow Democrats for not publicly pressing Israel to call a ceasefire, also stressed his administration’s “quiet, relentless diplomacy” in bringing a halt in the fighting.
The Secretary of State defended the behind-the-scenes diplomacy effort during an interview on Sunday.
“President Biden leading this effort made the judgment that we could be most effective in doing that. And ultimately… we got to where everyone wanted to be, which was to end the violence,” he told CNN.
Mr Blinken added that working towards a “two-state solution” was some way off. “We have to start building back in concrete ways and offering some genuine hope, prospects, and opportunity in the lives of people,” he said.
The four-day trip includes stops in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Cairo, and Amman. Mr Blinken’s primary goals will be to ensure the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will hold and discussing an urgent infusion of humanitarian assistance into the Gaza Strip, according to a senior State Department official.
It came as a Palestinian was shot dead after stabbing two Israelis, one of them a soldier, near a flashpoint area of east Jerusalem that has been the focus of Palestinian protests.
The attack came in the tense aftermath of the 11-day conflict between Israel and Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers which has left more than 250 people dead.
The stabbing took place near the Sheik Jarrah neighborhood in east Jerusalem, where dozens of Palestinian families face the threat of eviction by Jewish settlers, one of the underlying triggers of the recent violence.
Israel’s emergency service, the Magen David Adom, said it treated two men in their early 20s with stab wounds to their upper bodies.
Israeli police did not provide any details about the attacker but referred to him as a “terrorist,” a term usually reserved for Palestinian assailants.
The Telegraph
