The head of American diplomacy, Anthony Blinkenmet this Wednesday with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbasthe day after urging Israel to avoid the death of civilians in its war against the Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
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Blinken told the Palestinian leader in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, that Washington supports “tangible measures” in the creation of a Palestinian State, alongside Israel, so that both countries can live “in peace and security”according to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
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The American official also insisted that “all Palestinian taxes collected by Israel (should) be systematically transferred to the Palestinian Authority, in accordance with the agreements.” Israel currently blocks these funds.
At the meeting, Blinken mentioned the need to introduce “administrative reforms” that can “benefit the Palestinian people”.
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In Ramallah, dozens of protesters carried banners reading “Stop Genocide” and “Free Palestine.”
As part of his regional tour, the fifth since the start of the conflict, Blinken met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday.
EFE/EPA/GOVERNMENT PRESS OFFICE
The “daily toll of civilians (dead) in Gaza, especially children, is too high,” Blinken, whose country is Israel's main ally, said in Tel Aviv.
The unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7 left some 1,140 dead in Israeli territory, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
In response, Israel promised to “annihilate” Hamas, in power in the Gaza Strip since 2007, and is bombing this Palestinian enclave without ceasing.
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On the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, there were “more than 70 deaths” from the bombings in different sectors of the Strip, the Gaza ministry said. The Hamas Ministry of Health reported this Wednesday a new balance of at least 23,357 dead in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war between the Palestinian Islamist movement and Israel, on October 7.
Hamas also reported 59,410 injuries. The deceased are mostly women, adolescents and children, according to the authorities of the Islamist movement in the enclave.
For his part, the Palestinian president alerted the US Secretary of State of the risk that the Palestinian people will be displaced from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and assured that they will not allow it.
The Gaza Strip has priority and the Palestinian people, who fall under the responsibility of the State of Palestine and its administration, will not be abandoned.
“President Abbas warned of the danger of measures taken by the Israeli occupation authorities aimed at displacing the Palestinian people from the Gaza Strip or West Bank, including Jerusalem, which were revealed by statements issued by Israeli ministers and officials, calling for the expulsion of the Palestinian people from their land,” indicated the official Palestinian agency Wafa.
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“We will not allow this to happen,” Abbas stressed in his meeting with Blinken.
The US Secretary of State visited Greece, Turkey, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates before arriving in Israel and the West Bank.
He is scheduled to visit Egypt, a mediating country between Israel and Hamas; and Bahrain, while some media talk that he could also go to Beirut, in his attempts to prevent the war from expanding to a second front on the border between Lebanon and Israel, which is experiencing its largest exchange of fire since 2006 and where they have More than 200 people died in three months of hostilities.
“The President (Abbas) reiterated that The Gaza Strip is an integral part of the Palestinian State, which cannot accept or confront the plans of the occupation authorities to separate it or cut off any part of it.“, reports Wafa.
Abbas, leader of the Fatah party that controls the Palestinian National Authority, which governs small parts of the occupied West Bank, insisted on the need to “accelerate the entry of humanitarian aid” into the Strip and facilitate the operation of hospitals and evacuation centers. , collapsed and affected by the lack of medicine, food and drinking water.
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“The Gaza Strip has priority and the Palestinian people, who fall under the responsibility of the State of Palestine and its administration, will not be abandoned,” Abbas stressed, although The ANP has no control over the enclave, de facto governed by Hamas since 2007.
However, the United States and part of the international community advocate the return of the ANP to the Strip, when the war ends, to avoid the return of Hamas or other extremist groups to power, but also colonization and occupation by Israel. .
More than 360,000 reserve soldiers were mobilized after the war broke out on October 7.
Israeli Army/AFP
However, Netanyahu does not appear willing to cede control to the ANP and has insisted that Israel must maintain control of security in the Strip.
At a press conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday night, Blinken affirmed that the Palestinian Authority “has a responsibility to reform itself and improve its governance,” but he maintained the United States' commitment that a “renewed and revitalized” ANP take control of the Strip.
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Parallel to the meeting between Abbas and Blinken, hundreds of Palestinians marched through the streets of Ramallah in protest of the American's visit with signs that said “you are not welcome here”, although Palestinian security forces dispersed the protest.
INTERNATIONAL EDITORIAL
*With information from AFP and EFE
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