Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Sunday warned US Secretary of State Antony Blinken of “catastrophic” consequences if the Middle East war continues, as the White House scrambles to avoid a widening conflict.
“His Majesty King Abdullah, during a meeting on Sunday with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, warned of the disastrous consequences of the ongoing war on Gaza, emphasizing the need to end the tragic humanitarian crisis in the Peninsula,” the Royal Court said afterwards. their meeting.
Abdullah II urged Blinken to push for a ceasefire in the hot three-month war between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Blinken has embarked on a roughly weeklong trip to the Middle East in a diplomatic effort to try to defuse rising tensions in the region.
Abdullah II stressed that there will be no “stability in the region without a just solution to the Palestinian issue and a just and comprehensive peace based on a two-state solution.”
He also firmly rejected any push to relocate Palestinians in the Gaza Strip or the West Bank – something Israeli President Isaac Herzog had strongly rejected in an interview Sunday.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Sunday demanded a ceasefire in the Hamas-Israel war. POOL/AFP via Getty Images
“Absolutely, absolutely not,” Herzog told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday about Palestinian displacement. “Strongly disagree or not the position of the Israeli government, or the Israeli parliament, or the Israeli public.
“I say openly, officially and unequivocally: This is not Israel’s position.”
After Blinken’s meeting with Abdullah II, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller touched on transfer concerns.
“The Secretary thanked King Abdullah II for Jordan’s role and leadership in providing life-saving assistance to Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” Miller said in a statement.
“The secretary also emphasized US opposition to the forced displacement of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza and the critical need to protect Palestinian civilians in the West Bank from extremist settler violence.”
Last year, Blinken publicly stated that “too many Palestinians have been killed” in the bloody war.
Jordan, Israel’s neighbor, has long voiced its distaste for war. The king has also attacked Israel’s policy towards the Palestinians.
Blinken is trying to navigate the very volatile dynamics of the Middle East. AFP via Getty Images
After his visit to Jordan, Blinken was due to be in Qatar to meet with Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, as well as Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani on Sunday.
Blinken’s trip to the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean comes amid growing concern in the Biden administration that a second front could erupt amid Israel’s growing friction with the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.
A few days after the surprise attack by Hamas on October 7, President Biden talked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu out of an initial attack on Hezbollah, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Smoke billows from the Gaza Strip along Israel’s southern border on January 7. ABIR SULTAN/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
However, the threat of wider conflict still exists.
Hezbollah is a Shiite Islamic group that functions as a political party in Lebanon and a militant force. It is designated as a terrorist organization by both the US and many countries.
The Israeli military and Hezbollah have traded blows in recent days, including Saturday, when the group took credit for firing rockets into Israel.
Dozens of rockets are believed to have exploded into Israel. This was an apparent response after the group accused Israel of killing Hamas leader Saleh Arouri in Beirut a few days earlier.
Palestinians search for victims at the site of an Israeli attack in Gaza. Reuters
Israel has estimated that Hezbollah has a stockpile of nearly 150,000 precision-guided missiles – making it a more formidable military force than Hamas, according to the Associated Press.
Hezbollah and Israel have a history of war.
Since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out in October, more than 1,200 Israelis have been killed. More than 240 people have also been taken hostage by Hamas. About half of them have been released.
Gaza’s Hamas-affiliated Ministry of Health claims that at least 22,835 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
