Paris:
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Israel’s new major diplomat Yair Lapid on Sunday, in the United States’ initial face-to-face meeting with the freshly installed government that seeks a much less combative strategy with its key ally Washington.
Lapid, a centrist who delayed his personal plans to be prime minister as he masterminded a coalition to unseat veteran leader Benjamin Netanyahu, is flying to Rome to see Blinken, who arrives in Italy on Sunday on a 3-nation tour of Europe.
The meeting comes as President Joe Biden’s administration moves ahead with fresh talks on reviving a 2015 accord with Iran — strongly opposed by Israel — in which Tehran drastically scaled back nuclear work in return for promises of sanctions relief.
Biden and Blinken are also eager to preserve a fragile ceasefire that took impact on May 21 among Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, soon after the worst fighting considering the fact that 2014.
The bloodshed triggered some of the strongest criticism of Israel in memory in the US Congress, with some members of Biden’s Democratic Party accusing Netanyahu of excessive force and of triggering the crisis by backing far-suitable Jewish groups that want to adjust the delicate status quo in the holy city of Jerusalem.
Lapid, who took workplace on June 13 beneath Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, a nationalist, has accused Netanyahu of jeopardizing Israel’s after rock-strong assistance in the United States by openly rallying behind former president Donald Trump’s Republican Party.
The new coalition government nonetheless sees Iran as the main threat to Israel, and has launched its personal strikes on the Gaza Strip — but has pledged to place the alliance with Washington initial and to attempt to hold variations private.
After one of Lapid’s phone conversations with Blinken, the Israeli foreign ministry mentioned that the two agreed on no surprises in the relationship.
Netanyahu swiftly pounced, posting a video in English on social media calling the new government “so dangerous” and speaking of how he as premier would often not inform the United States of pending Israeli actions.
– Modest targets on Middle East –
With tensions nonetheless higher soon after last month’s violence, a motley coalition having its bearings in Israel and political uncertainties lingering inside the Palestinian Authority, the Biden administration has made clear it is not rushing to make any grand Middle East peace initiatives.
Blinken, speaking in Paris at a forum on the youth-oriented Brut network, mentioned the instant priority was discovering strategies to bring humanitarian and reconstruction help into the densely populated and impoverished Gaza Strip.
Also vital is to “avoid provocations and incidents over the coming days, weeks and months that could reignite the violence and then to work to create a bit more confidence between the Israelis and Palestinians,” Blinken mentioned.
The hope is that “there can be conditions, which do not currently exist, to allow perhaps a relaunch of the peace process and the establishment of two states, Israel and Palestine,” Blinken mentioned.
“I don’t think the conditions are there yet. We have to work on them and we will.”
He reiterated that the Biden administration plans to let the Palestine Liberation Organization reopen its workplace in Washington, which was closed beneath former president Donald Trump in one of the initial of quite a few choices welcomed by Netanyahu.
The Biden administration has hoped to be much less involved in Middle East hotspots and to repair rifts developed beneath Trump with European allies as aspect of a approach to focus lengthy-term focus on managing the rise of China.
In his 3 days in Italy, Blinken on Monday will see Pope Francis, the pontiff’s initial meeting with a higher-ranking Biden administration official.
Blinken will also take aspect in meetings hosted by Italy of the Group of 20 main economies and of the coalition to defeat the Islamic State extremist group.
(This story has not been edited by TheSpuzz employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)