Blinken leaves Middle East with no progress on hostages or humanitarian pause

[Social Media]

 

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has ended his tour of the Middle East admitting that his efforts to secure a sustained humanitarian pause and greater constraint in Israel’s assault on Gaza was still “a work in progress”.

His comments on Monday followed a meeting with Hakan Fidan, the Turkish foreign minister, in Ankara. He will now head to a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Japan where he will brief colleagues on the US approach to the crisis, and its impact on western standing.

 

Over four days of talks, which started in Jerusalem, diplomatic progress appears if anything to have gone into reverse. Blinken was unable to persuade the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Neyanyahu, to adopt a humanitarian pause while talks on hostages stalled over the sequencing and length of the pause in hostilities required for their release.

In a further bombardment on Sunday night, Israel also imposed another temporary communication blackout in Gaza, despite US requests not to do so.

The number of aid trucks crossing the Egyptian border into Gaza at the Rafah crossing went down from 100 on Friday to closer to 30 in the following days.

The US said Hamas – the Islamist group that runs Gaza and carried out the 7 October attacks on Israel in which 1,400 people, mainly civilians, were killed – had broken the agreement on injured civilians crossing into Egypt. The US said Hamas was trying to reserve a third of the places for its injured fighters.

Blinken tried to strike an optimistic if cautious note, saying: “We know the deep concern here for the terrible toll on Palestinians – on men, women, and children in Gaza, innocent civilians – a concern that we share and that we’re working on every single day. We’ve engaged the Israelis on steps that they can take to minimise civilian casualties. We’re working very aggressively on getting more humanitarian assistance into Gaza.”

He added: “I think you’ll see in the days ahead that assistance can expand in significant ways so that more gets to people who need it as well as making sure that people can continue to come out of Gaza.”

 

FULL STORY

 

[thaibeachlovers]

Is every word that comes out of his mouth a lie?

Does he think anyone believes anything he says?

 

He even promotes the long dead and buried "two state solution", which is a nonsense, as there is nothing to build a Palestinian state on now.

 

https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-at-a-press-availability-40/

Finally, and importantly, even as we work towards progress on each of these urgent needs, we’re focused on setting the conditions for a durable and sustainable peace and security.  The United States continues to believe that the best viable path – indeed, the only path – is through a two-state solution. 

 

He just made the US seem weak as israel has ignored everything he said.

Got nothing from Jordan and Egypt but a telling off and humiliated in Turkey.

Way to go Blinken, you tell those israelis who's the boss!

[Morch]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Is every word that comes out of his mouth a lie?

Does he think anyone believes anything he says?

 

He even promotes the long dead and buried "two state solution", which is a nonsense, as there is nothing to build a Palestinian state on now.

 

https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-at-a-press-availability-40/

Finally, and importantly, even as we work towards progress on each of these urgent needs, we’re focused on setting the conditions for a durable and sustainable peace and security.  The United States continues to believe that the best viable path – indeed, the only path – is through a two-state solution. 

 

He just made the US seem weak as israel has ignored everything he said.

Got nothing from Jordan and Egypt but a telling off and humiliated in Turkey.

Way to go Blinken, you tell those israelis who's the boss!

 

What, exactly did he lie about?

Not what you claim or imagine, please - but facts.

 

That you somehow expect USA policy to be in line with your warped views is not very compelling, or remotely realistic.

 

Traditionally, the first round of ME hopping following a such a crisis ends without clear results.

Nothing new here.

[novacova]

“Two state solution” is never going to happen, the US, Israel and the PA knows it. The rest is propaganda. Israel and Palestinians are being played by the US. The US is being played by China Russia and Iran. The current geopolitical tactical situation is much broader than Israel Gaza and Iran.

[MrMojoRisin]

Gutless failure.

[thaibeachlovers]

13 hours ago, MrMojoRisin said:

Gutless failure.

I feel sorry for him. I can see in his face when he says the words given to him that he likely doesn't believe them, and he is looking like a fool. Nevertheless, he has to go out and say the words.

 

He reminds me of the unfortunate General Powell and his performance to the UN as to the rational for the invasion of Iraq. I suspect Blinken will suffer the same fate.