US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Egypt, the West Bank, and Israel the following week to call for a stop to violence following a deadly Israeli raid, the State Department announced on Thursday.
Since regaining power and presiding over Israel’s most right-wing administration in history, Blinken will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in person for the first time.
On his visit on Monday and Tuesday, he will also see Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, in Ramallah.
According to State Department spokesman Ned Price, Blinken “would emphasise the urgent need for the parties to take efforts to de-escalate tensions in order to put an end to the cycle of bloodshed that has killed too many innocent lives.”
Blinken will first travel to Egypt on Sunday. Egypt serves as a crucial bridge between Israel and the Palestinians and has managed to have good relations with President Biden’s administration despite his promises to be harder on human rights violations.
According to the State Department, Blinken will meet with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and address regional challenges, such as Libya and Sudan.
