After a day of meetings in Israel, where Antony Blinken urged Israelis and Palestinians to take measures to contain the escalation of tension in the region, the US Secretary of State met with Mahmud Abas, president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), in Ramallah. Blinken had an impact on trying to revive the solution of the two states, a formula to solve the conflict that is difficult to apply in the current situation. "USA. it opposes any action that makes that objective more difficult to achieve”, he hinted, referring to the plans of the Executive of Beniamin Netanyahu to expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
The US Secretary of State expressed his concern for the future of the Palestinian people and insisted that the creation of an independent State is the guarantee for them to have "democracy, opportunities and dignity". President Abbas's term expired in 2009, and since then he has postponed several electoral calls. Blinken also highlighted the desire to "rebuild" the relationship with Ramallah, after the break in relations during the Trump administration. For his part, Abbas blamed the Israeli government for the violent escalation, given the "actions that undermine the two-state solution." Blinken reminded him of the danger of "inciting and condoning violence", after the images of celebrations of the recent attack in Jerusalem that left seven Jewish victims.
A recent poll revealed that support for the two-state solution is at an all-time low. In Israel, only 34% would support the partition of the territory into two national entities, while 30% of Palestinians support the measure. “Peace in the region is further away than ever. The last majority support for the two states was in 2017,” said analyst Dalia Scheindlin. For this reason, it represents "an increasingly difficult challenge for leaders to find popular support favorable to peace."
In September, the former Hebrew prime minister Yair Lapid considered in an appearance at the UN that the formula of the two states continues "to be the correct one". But given the unpopularity of making concessions to the other side – given past breaches – the Israeli center-left limited itself to speaking of “separation from the Palestinians”, as a guarantee to safeguard “a Jewish and democratic State”. From the Netanyahu Executive and its far-right partners, the will is to continue expanding settlements to consolidate "Greater Israel", as well as weaken the PNA and limit its jurisdiction to disconnected areas in the occupied territories.
Blinken also discussed with Abbas the security coordination between the PNA and Israel, following the rais's announcement to stop cooperation last week. The Palestinian president assured CIA director William Burns that part of the coordination with Israeli forces had not stopped despite the announcement, issued after the military operation in Jenin that left nine Palestinians dead. In an unusual move, the secretary of state met in Jerusalem and Ramallah with human rights organizations and expressed condolences "for the deaths of innocent Palestinian civilians" in the West Bank. In 2022, 170 people were killed by Israeli fire. This January another 30.
