US Secretary of State Tony Blinken returned to the US disappointed from his meeting with PA Chairman Abu Mazen, which was intended to bring about calm in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and the renewal of security coordination with Israel.
Senior officials in the PA said that the meeting between the two personalities ended without any results, but Abu Mazen agreed to the stay of two senior American diplomats in Israel, Barbara Leaf and Hadi Amro, so that they could hold talks with the senior officials of the PA and the security figures in Israel on ways to calm the security situation, also Israel agreed to this.
According to the Palestinian sources, Minister Blinken did not present any political perspective in his meeting with the PA chairman, he offered the Palestinians financial aid in the amount of 50 million dollars to be transferred to UNRWA and the upgrade of the cellular network in the West Bank to G-4.
He completely ignored the issues of opening the American consulate in East Jerusalem and opening PLO offices in Washington.
American sources said that the Biden administration fears the outbreak of a third intifada in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and is therefore investing a political effort to calm the security situation.
Egypt and Jordan joined the American effort and sent to Ramallah the head of Egyptian intelligence Abbas Kamel and the head of Jordanian intelligence Ahmed Housni, the two met with the chairman of the Palestinian Authority but did not achieve a breakthrough.
Minister Blinken presented to the Chairman of the PA a security plan written by General Mike Fenzel, the coordinator between the American administration and the security forces of the PA, to restore the security control of the PA over the cities of Nablus and Jenin, the plan is acceptable to Israel and it includes the establishment of a security force a special Palestinian unit who will be trained by the Americans and will be deployed shortly in Nablus and Jenin to fight against the armed terrorist groups.
PA Chairman Abu Mazen expressed reservations about the American plan and refused to approve it.
In the talks held by the American team with senior PLO officials, Hussein al-Sheikh, Secretary General of the PLO Executive Committee, set a series of conditions for renewing security coordination with Israel.
A. Cessation of Israel’s unilateral measures.
B. The cancellation of the sanctions that Israel imposed on the PA ..
C. Stopping the entry of IDF forces into areas A in the West Bank.
D. Termination of plans to expand settlements.
E. Stopping the demolition of the illegal housing in East Jerusalem.
F. Maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount.
The visit of the American Minister of Foreign Affairs to Lincoln in Ramallah is like giving an Aspirin pill to a terminally ill patient, an American attempt to inject more oxygen into the respirator that is breathing the PA, which is facing collapse.
It is very doubtful whether the Biden administration will be able to prevent a major burst of violence in East Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria ahead of the month of Ramadan.
The Palestinian demands from Israel are not acceptable to the Netanyahu government, but Israel continues the diplomatic game, the PA chairman is not ready to fight against the armed terrorist groups in the northern West Bank, in the first place he violated the Oslo agreement by allowing them to grow and grow unimpeded.
Senior PA officials say that the Biden administration wants calm in the West Bank without being willing to pay the political price required for the PA, his talk of a two-state solution is lip service to buy time.
The armed terrorist groups in the northern West Bank are satisfied with the failure of Minister Blinken’s visit to the region and have announced that they will continue their resistance operations against Israel.
The fear of escalation is greater than ever.
