US Secretary of State Antony Blinken Arrives in Israel for Ceasefire Talks Amid Uncertainty
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel today intending on final talks on peace in the Gaza Strip. But even here, one can sense that it may be even further before they reach an internationally recognized breakthrough.
Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv on Sunday to further the White House’s attempts to broker a ceasefire of the 10-month Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has escalated further with the recent rubbing out of Hezbollah’s and Hamas’ leaders. The US has been stressed on reaching the conclusion of the process that would not only stop the killings but also stop the development of the further escalation and continuing of the war with Iran and Hezbollah that can lead to chains of consequences in the region.
The State Department has suggested that Blinken’s visit is aiming at achieving a cessation of hostilities and freeing of the hostages and detainees. He is paying his tenth visit to the region since the start of the war following Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October. Blinken will be meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, among other officials, on Monday; after that, he will proceed to Egypt for further consultations.
Discussions in the Doha talks with the US, Qatari, and Egyptian officials had sounded hopeful, with the negotiators endorsing a “bridging proposal” to consider the remaining concerns. Such discussions are expected to occur in Cairo during the latter half of this week, although the US is keen on concluding the deals before the official polling in November.
But Hamas has doubts about the closeness of the deal, calling it an “illusion. “The group has described the new plan concerning the two-state solution as a duplicate of Netanyahu’s idea, with the Israeli leader accused of protracting the agreement.
On his part, Netanyahu has attributed the problems to Hamas, saying that the group has not been forthcoming in the negotiations. He said that although Israel wants changes on some of the issues, there are things that are very core to the existence of the nation and can in no way be compromised.
Part of the ceasefire plan proposed in May by the President of the United States, then supported by the UN Security Council, involves a six-week ceasefire during which some hostages will be exchanged and the delivery of humanitarian cargo to Gaza will be doubled. Unlike previous ceasefires of short durations, this ceasefire would be renewable and renewable at indefinite times so as to avoid returning to the battlefront during negotiations.
Nonetheless, despite the diplomatic engagement of continuous ceasefire negotiation, there is still a fight going on in Gaza. Over the past weekend, 28 Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes: a woman with her six children in the central town of Deir al-Balah. However, the more the bloodshed continues, the more imperative it becomes to find a cessation of hostilities. Nonetheless, the prospects of doing so remain tricky.
International tensions have also heightened in the Middle East, where a conflict between Israel and Hezbollah appears to have rekindled itself after an Israeli air attack in southern Lebanon led to 10 fatalities. This is one of the many deadly incidents in the conflict, which began in early October across the frontier.
Unemployment is high among them, putting a lot of pressure on the available resources. With the situation still tense, the world watches as the wish for a resolution of the conflicts that have been going on in this region for decades is upheld.
