RIYADH:
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday, the first stop on a wider Middle East trip to discuss issues such as the governance of Gaza once the war with Israel ends.
The top US diplomat travels to Israel later this week, where he is expected to press Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take the concrete and tangible steps US President Joe Biden called for this month to improve the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
In Riyadh, Blinken is expected to meet with senior Saudi leaders and hold a broader meeting with counterparts from five Arab states – Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan – to advance discussions on its governance. What the Gaza Strip would look like after the war, according to a senior State Department official.
Blinken is also expected to bring together Arab countries with European states and discuss how Europe can help rebuild the small enclave, which has been turned into a desert by Israel’s six-month bombardment.
Islamist militants from the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages, according to Israeli accounts.
Israel responded by imposing a total siege on Gaza and then launched an air and ground offensive that killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, health officials in Hamas-run Gaza say.
Talks on rebuilding and governing Gaza have been ongoing for months with a clear mechanism yet to emerge.
The United States agrees with Israel’s goal of eliminating Hamas from playing a role in Gaza’s future, but Washington does not want Israel to retake the strip.
Instead, it is considering a structure that would include a reformed Palestinian Authority with support from Arab states.
Blinken will also discuss with Saudi authorities efforts for a normalization deal between the kingdom and Israel, a major deal that includes providing Riyadh with agreements on bilateral defense and security commitments as well as nuclear cooperation.
In exchange for normalization, Arab states and Washington are pressuring Israel to agree on a path to a Palestinian state, which Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected.
From Riyadh, Blinken will head to Jordan and Israel, and the focus of the trip will turn to efforts to improve the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza.
In Amman, Blinken will meet with senior Jordanian officials and humanitarian groups to hear about the improvements and what else needs to be done, then brief the Israelis later this week.
“(Blinken) will discuss the recent increase in humanitarian aid delivered to Gaza and underscore the importance of ensuring that this increase is sustained,” the US State Department said in a statement on Sunday announcing the extended trip.
Blinken’s trip to review humanitarian aid comes about a month after Biden issued a stark warning to Netanyahu, saying Washington’s policy could change if Israel fails to take steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering and the safety of humanitarian aid workers.
Senior US officials in recent weeks have welcomed Israel’s steps to improve the humanitarian situation, but have repeatedly said more needs to be done.
In a phone call Sunday with Netanyahu, Biden mentioned Israeli preparations to open new border crossings this week in northern Gaza, where the risk of famine remains high, according to a White House statement.
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