U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday urged Israelis and Palestinians to reduce tension in the West Bank «urgently.»
«Good conversation yesterday with President (Mahmoud) Abbas. I reiterated to him our commitment to a two-state solution and stressed the need for all parties to reduce tension in the West Bank,» Blinken tweeted.
On Friday, Abbas spoke to Blinken and asked him to «force» Israel to stop attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank such as «blockades, extrajudicial killings, house demolitions and settlement construction,» according to Palestinian news agency WAFA.
Blinken’s mention of the two-state solution is not gratuitous, since after the November 1 elections Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to lead the most right-leaning coalition government in Israel’s history.
This Saturday Netanyahu has sent invitations to the leaders of the parties he intends to include in his coalition to hold individual meetings on Monday in Jerusalem, according to the Israeli press citing sources in Netanyahu’s Likud party.
Among them is Itamar Ben Gvir, leader of the extreme right-wing party Otzma Yehudit, Jewish Force, although they are not expected to be official negotiations. Netanyahu’s pro-Netanyahu parties won 64 of the 120 seats in the Knesset or Israeli Parliament.
