The Emirati ruler was the subject of a discussion about Gaza aid
The U.S.-Gaza conflict in Jordan: a diplomatic perspective from the point of view of Jordan, Greece and the Middle East
After a day of talks with Turkish and Greek leaders in Istanbul and Crete, Blinken met Sunday with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi seeking buy-in for U.S. efforts to tamp down resurgent fears that the three-month-old war could engulf the region, ramp up aid deliveries to Gaza and prepare for the eventual end of hostilities.
The situation in Lebanon, northern Israel, the Red Sea and Iraq has put severe strains on what had been a modest U.S. push to prevent a regional conflagration.
King Abdullah II “warned of the catastrophic repercussions” of the war in Gaza while calling on the U.S. to press for an immediate cease-fire, a statement by the Royal Court said.
Jordan and other Arab states have criticized Israel’s actions and refused to support long term planning because the fighting must end before such discussions can begin. They have been demanding a cease-fire since mid-October as civilian casualties began to skyrocket. Israel has refused and the U.S. has instead called for specified temporary “humanitarian pauses” to allow aid to get in and people to get to safety.
The World Food Program’s regional coordination warehouse in Jordan’s capital is being used to deliver food aid to Gaza through both the Kerem Shalom and Rafah crossings.
“The efforts right here to collect and distribute food to people in need are absolutely essential,” Blinken said. The US has been working to open access routes into Gaza.
The rate of trucks entering has not gone up. According to the United Nations, there are an average of 120 trucks a day entering through Kerem Shalom and Rafah this week.
Almost 85% of the people in Gaza have been driven from their homes by Israeli attacks. Most live in U.N. shelters crowded beyond their capacity, in tent camps that have been sprung up, or on the streets. The few functioning hospitals are overwhelmed with the wounded as well as patients amid outbreaks of disease, as sanitation systems have collapsed.
He said in Greece that the conversations are not easy to have. “There are different perspectives, different needs, different requirements, but it is vital that we engage in this diplomacy now both for the sake of Gaza itself and more broadly the sake of the future for Israelis and Palestinians and for the region as a whole.”
On Sunday and Monday, Blinken will be traveling to Saudi Arabia. He will go to Israel and the West Bank on Tuesday and Wednesday before concluding his trip in Egypt.
He said his priorities are protecting civilians — “far too many Palestinians have been killed” — getting more humanitarian aid into Gaza, ensuring Hamas cannot strike again, and developing a framework for Palestinian-led governance in the territory and “a Palestinian state with security assurances or Israel.”
Hezbollah, which is backed by the Iranian government, fired dozens of rockets at northern Israel on Friday afternoon and said the attack was in retaliation for the assassination of a Hamas leader in Lebanon’s capital. Israel responded in a heavy way to cross-border fighting.
Meanwhile, stepped-up attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels have disrupted international trade and led to increased efforts by the U.S. and its allies to patrol the vital commercial waterway and respond to threats. The coalition of countries issued what amounted to a final warning to the Houthis on Wednesday to cease their attacks on vessels or face potential targeted military action. Since Dec. 19, the militants have carried out at least two dozen attacks in response to the Israel-Hamas war.
The Sudan War in the U.S. vs. the Sudan War: The State of the Art and the Status of the United States
The U.S. continues to press for peace in the region and for the creation of an independent Palestinian state, according to the spokesman.
The New York Times reported in September that the Emirates had been sending weapons to the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group that is battling the regular army in Sudan, bringing the arms into the country through a remote military air base across the border in Chad. Mr. Blinken said in December that the two warring armies and associated militias in Sudan were all committing war crimes.
The Emirates is one of the biggest buyers of American arms and is viewed by the U.S. government as a security partner, but the country and the Biden administration are at odds over several major security issues, including the Emirates’ role in the Sudan war and its efforts to forge important military and economic partnerships with China.
