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©US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, January 10, 2024. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein, AFP)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated on Wednesday that Mahmoud Abbas is dedicated to overhauling the Palestinian Authority with the aim of potentially reuniting the conflict-affected Gaza and the occupied West Bank under its governance.
US top diplomat Antony Blinken on Wednesday said that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is committed to reforming the Palestinian Authority to potentially reunite war-torn Gaza and the occupied West Bank under its leadership.
Blinken laid out Gaza's possible future after meeting Abbas in Ramallah and Bahrain's King Hamad, in his fourth Middle East tour aimed at preventing the Israel-Hamas war from escalating.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas spoke with Blinken of the need to stop the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The Gaza Strip has been torn by deadly unrest, said the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Blinken told Abbas that Washington supports "tangible steps" towards the creation of a Palestinian state—a long-term goal which the hard-right Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has opposed.
Abbas was later set to discuss a "push for an immediate ceasefire" in Gaza in talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the Red Sea port city of Aqaba.
Blinken later arrived in the Gulf state of Bahrain, home base of the US Fifth Fleet, for talks with King Hamad on preventing a regional escalation of the war, the State Department said.
Commenting on the recent Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea, Blinken warned that "there will be significant repercussions" for the threat they are posing to their navigation.
He also accused Iran of being behind the spate of attacks, stating that the Islamic Republic had supported Houthis using "technology, equipment, intelligence and information."
Yemen's Houthi rebels have carried out numerous attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea, and the United States has set up a multinational naval task force to protect the vital commercial artery.
On Tuesday, the rebels "launched a complex" attack, US Central Command said, adding that US and British forces had shot down 18 drones and three missiles, with no casualties or damage reported.
[readmore url="https://thisisbeirut.com.lb/world/215013"]
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
US top diplomat Antony Blinken on Wednesday said that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is committed to reforming the Palestinian Authority to potentially reunite war-torn Gaza and the occupied West Bank under its leadership.
Blinken laid out Gaza's possible future after meeting Abbas in Ramallah and Bahrain's King Hamad, in his fourth Middle East tour aimed at preventing the Israel-Hamas war from escalating.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas spoke with Blinken of the need to stop the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The Gaza Strip has been torn by deadly unrest, said the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Blinken told Abbas that Washington supports "tangible steps" towards the creation of a Palestinian state—a long-term goal which the hard-right Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has opposed.
Abbas was later set to discuss a "push for an immediate ceasefire" in Gaza in talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the Red Sea port city of Aqaba.
Blinken later arrived in the Gulf state of Bahrain, home base of the US Fifth Fleet, for talks with King Hamad on preventing a regional escalation of the war, the State Department said.
Red Sea Clashes Spike
Commenting on the recent Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea, Blinken warned that "there will be significant repercussions" for the threat they are posing to their navigation.
He also accused Iran of being behind the spate of attacks, stating that the Islamic Republic had supported Houthis using "technology, equipment, intelligence and information."
Yemen's Houthi rebels have carried out numerous attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea, and the United States has set up a multinational naval task force to protect the vital commercial artery.
On Tuesday, the rebels "launched a complex" attack, US Central Command said, adding that US and British forces had shot down 18 drones and three missiles, with no casualties or damage reported.
[readmore url="https://thisisbeirut.com.lb/world/215013"]
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
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