The US Secretary of State on Tuesday (January 31st) expressed his “sadness” after the deaths of “innocent Palestinians” in Israeli-Palestinian violence, during a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied West Bank. Antony Blinken called for “de-escalation”.
“Allow me to begin by conveying my condolences and expressing my sadness for the deaths of innocent Palestinian civilians who have lost their lives in the escalation of violence over the past year,” he told the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
Israeli-Palestinian violence claimed 235 lives in 2022, nearly 90% Palestinians, according to an AFP count compiled from official Israeli and Palestinian sources. According to the UN, the past year has been the deadliest since 2005 in the West Bank.
Israel has in some cases acknowledged that its forces mistakenly killed civilians in raids presented as “counter-terrorist”.
” Both Palestinians and Israelis have a growing sense of insecurity, growing fear in their homes, in their communities and in their places of worship “, regretted Antony Blinken in Ramallah.
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” We think it is important to take de-escalation measures, to stop violence, to reduce tensions… he added, warning against any move that undermines the two-state solution, Israeli and Palestinian.
He quoted ” expansion of (Israeli) settlements, legalization of wild settlements (unauthorized by the government), demolitions and evictions », policies of the Israeli governments.
Mr. Blinken also lamented “ a shrinking horizon of hope for Palestinians. This too, we believe, must changer”.
Some 475,000 Israelis reside in Jewish settlements – illegal under international law – in the West Bank, where around 2.9 million Palestinians live.
The tour of the head of the American diplomacy, which was planned for a long time, began Sunday in Egypt and ends this Tuesday evening. It takes place after several days of violence marked by Palestinian attacks in East Jerusalem which left seven dead and deadly raids by the Israeli army in the West Bank.
(With AFP)