US Secretary of State Antony Blinken brought his frenetic Mideast diplomatic push on the Israel-Hamas war to the occupied West Bank on Sunday, meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in his latest bid to ease civilian suffering in the Gaza Strip and begin to sketch out a post-conflict scenario for the territory.
Blinken traveled to Ramallah for his previously unannounced visit in an armored motorcade and under tight security just hours after Israeli warplanes struck a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 40 people and wounding dozens, health officials said. Despite the secrecy and the State Department refusing to confirm the trip until after Blinken had physically left the West Bank, protests erupted against his visit and U.S. support for Israel as word of his arrival leaked.
Aside from pleasantries, neither man spoke as they greeted each other in front of cameras and the meeting ended without any public comment. It was not immediately clear if the lack of words indicated the meeting had gone poorly.
Husam Zomlot, Palestinian ambassador to the U.K, told “Face the Nation” on Sunday that the meeting was tense “because there are differences.”
“Our president demanded an immediate ceasefire to the atrocious, murderous assault by Israel on our civilians, on our people,” Zomlot said. “This is not a war against Hamas. It’s clear since it started, it’s a war against our people, not only in Gaza, by the way, but also in the West Bank.”
Zomlot said the U.S. has an opportunity to be a peacemaker and that the Palestinians and Israelis need “a grown up in the room and that is the U.S.” US Secretary of State
Blinken then made an unannounced visit to Cyprus, where he was greeted by Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides and Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos, who he invited back into the plane for a meeting.