OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Secretary of State Antony Blinken
vowed Tuesday to rebuild US relations with Palestinians by reopening a
consulate in the occupied Jerusalem and giving millions in aid to help the
war-ravaged Gaza Strip.
اضافة اعلان
The announcements signaled a clean break with
US policy
under former president Donald Trump who had shuttered the diplomatic mission
for Palestinians in 2019 and slashed aid to the Palestinian Authority.
Blinken's visit, part of a wider Mideast tour, comes after
Friday's truce ended 11 days of heavy Israeli bombing of Gaza and rocket fire
out of the enclave on Israel, as tensions simmer in annexed east Jerusalem and
the occupied West Bank.
The top diplomat of US President Joe Biden reiterated
support for Israel's right to defend itself against rocket attacks from Hamas,
which he said must not benefit from the aid effort.
But
Blinken also stressed "the commitment of the
United States to rebuilding the relationship with the Palestinian Authority and
the Palestinian people, a relationship built on mutual respect and also a
shared conviction that Palestinians and Israelis alike deserve equal measures
of security, freedom opportunity and dignity".
That language signaled a significant change in tone from
Trump's administration, whose Middle East peace plan was rejected by
Palestinians as heavily biased in Israel's favor.
"The United States will be moving forward with the
process of reopening our consulate in Jerusalem," Blinken said after
meeting Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah.
A senior Palestinian official told AFP a US-Palestinian
committee was also discussing how to reopen the Palestine Liberation
Organization office in Washington, which was closed during the Trump
administration.
Millions in aid
Blinken is on a tour that will next take him to Egypt, which
brokered the truce, then Jordan.
He promised financial aid to Palestinians and emergency
assistance to help rebuild the impoverished Gaza Strip, as well as efforts to
shore up the ceasefire between Israel and the enclave's rulers Hamas.
"The United States will notify Congress of our
intention to provide $75 million in additional development and economic
assistance to the Palestinians in 2021," he said.
That was to come on top of $5.5 million dollars in immediate
disaster assistance for Gaza and about $32 million for an emergency humanitarian
appeal by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, he said.
He reiterated that the United States — which considers Hamas
a terrorist group — "will work with partners to ensure that Hamas does not
benefit from these reconstruction efforts".
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meanwhile warned
that Israel remained ever ready to defend itself.
"If Hamas breaks the calm and attacks Israel, our
response will be very powerful," he said.
Abbas said his administration was ready to "work
directly to help with the reconstruction of Gaza", while stressing his
support for "peaceful and popular resistance" by Palestinians against
Israeli policies.
'Lots of hard work'
The latest military escalation started after clashes in the
occupied Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Islam's third holiest site, which
is also revered by Jews as the Temple Mount.
Israeli forces had moved in on Palestinian worshippers
there, towards the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
They had also sought to quell protests against the
threatened eviction of Palestinian families from homes in the east Jerusalem
neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah to make way for Jewish settlers.
"There's lots of hard work ahead to restore hope,
respect and some trust across the communities," Blinken said.
Israeli air strikes and artillery fire on Gaza killed 253
Palestinians, including 66 children, and wounded over 1,900 people in 11 days
of conflict from May 10, the health ministry in Gaza says.
The recent war has sparked unrest across Israel, with mob
violence between Israeli Jews and Arabs, as well as clashes in the occupied
West Bank.
Peace talks have stalled since 2014, including over the
status of east Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Palestinian shot dead
Israel on Tuesday began allowing humanitarian aid to pass
into the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing, saying it would permit
daily convoys.
Patients will be able to travel in and out of Gaza for
treatment, and fishing off the enclave's coast can resume, said COGAT, the
Israeli military body that administers civilian affairs in Palestinian
territories.
But tensions simmer in Israel and the occupied Palestinian
territories.
Hours before Biden's arrival, Israeli occupation forces
killed a Palestinian man during an arrest raid on the Amara refugee camp near
Ramallah in the West Bank, Palestinian and Israeli security sources said.
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