Blinken visits the Middle East as tensions rise

An alarming rise in Israeli-Palestinian violence and sharp responses from both sides are testing US President Joe Biden’s administration as Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits Israel and the West Bank this week.

What was already expected to be a tension-filled trip over differences between the administration and the far-right new government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has become significantly more complicated in the past four days following a series of deadly incidents. .

Blinken arrives Monday after completing a brief visit to Egypt that has been almost completely overshadowed by the deteriorating security situation in Israel and the West Bank.

US officials say the main topic of Blinken’s talks with Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas will be “de-escalation.”

However, Blinken will arrive in Israel a day after the Netanyahu government announced a series of punitive measures against Palestinians in response to a weekend of deadly shootings in which Palestinian attackers killed seven Israelis and wounded five others in Jerusalem. Those shootings followed a deadly Israeli raid on the West Bank on Thursday that killed 10 Palestinians, most of them militants.

This January has been one of the bloodiest months in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in years. While Blinken’s trip was planned weeks ago and will follow visits by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and CIA Director Willian Burns, it will be the highest-level US outreach with Netanyahu since he returned to power last month. past and the first since the rise in violence.

For their part, US officials have criticized Abbas’s decision to suspend Palestinian security cooperation with Israel in the wake of the West Bank raid.

Before his meeting with Blinken, Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel’s response was not intended to exacerbate tensions.

“We are not looking for an escalation, but we are prepared for any scenario,” Netanyahu told a cabinet meeting. “Our response to terrorism is heavy-handed and a strong, fast and precise response.”

Palestinians and some human rights groups believe that Israeli reprisals, including the demolition of the homes of the attackers’ families, amount to collective punishment and are illegal under international law.

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