U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Jordan on Tuesday, the second stop on his Middle East tour, where he will meet with senior officials to discuss the war between Israel and Hamas that is roiling politics in the region and the United States pattern.
The Biden administration is working Increase pressure on Hamas Accepting a deal that would lead to a temporary ceasefire in the war in Gaza and the release of some hostages held there.
Blinken discussed the proposed deal at a meeting in Saudi Arabia on Monday. He plans to do the same in Jordan on Tuesday and in Israel on Wednesday, according to State Department officials.
In Blinken’s seventh trip to the Middle East since the war broke out last October, he and his aides have been grappling with a range of issues, including Israel’s continued demand for U.S. weapons, the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza and a plan to target Israel. plan of. Providing a political solution to the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Mr Blinken will make humanitarian aid to Gaza a focus of his visit to Jordan and later to Israel. A State Department official said he planned to meet with officials involved in the aid effort while in Jordan. The official discussed some aspects of the trip with reporters who were on the plane with Blinken. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the details were not disclosed in an official State Department statement on the visit.
In talks with Jordanian officials, Blinken is also expected to discuss issues surrounding the Palestinian Authority leadership that governs the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Biden administration calls for a more technocratic Palestinian Authority Viewed by many Palestinians as authoritarian and corrupt, hoping it would help manage postwar Gaza — an idea the Israeli government opposes. Jordanian officials have close ties with the agency’s head, Mahmoud Abbas, and other prominent Palestinian figures in the organization.
