Blinken off to Mideast to push peace talks after Gaza truce [View all]

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By MATTHEW LEE

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to the Middle East to press the Israelis, Palestinians and regional players to build on last week’s Gaza cease-fire by laying the groundwork for an eventual resumption in long-stalled peace talks.

President Joe Biden announced Blinken would depart on Monday for a short visit to Israel, the West Bank, Jordan and Egypt for what will be the Biden administration’s highest-level in-person meetings on the crisis that erupted earlier this month.

Blinken’s primary goal will be to shore up the cease-fire in the hope that it will hold, discuss an urgent infusion of humanitarian assistance into Gaza, stress the need for an end to intra-communal violence within Israeli cities and lay the preliminary groundwork for a return to peace talks, according to a senior State Department official.

In a statement, Biden said Blinken will work with regional partners to ensure “the coordinated international effort to ensure immediate assistance reaches Gaza.”



In this May 18, 2021 photo, Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a joint press conference following meetings with the Icelandic Foreign Minister Gudlaugur Thor Thordarson, at the Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik, Iceland. Blinken is heading to the Middle East to press the Israelis, Palestinians and regional players to build on last week’s Gaza cease-fire by laying the groundwork for a resumption in long-stalled peace talks. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-government-and-politics-71754fe56ab7a0bdca8b7b19c75901c3