'Tension, Conflict and War': US State Department Cautions Israel Against Sheikh Jarrah Evictions
Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared "a two-state solution" would be necessary for "Israel's future as a Jewish and democratic state," as well as "give the Palestinians the state they're entitled to." That same day, Blinken pledged to rebuild US-Palestinian relations by reopening a mission for Palestinians in Jerusalem.
Blinken cautioned Israeli officials against tentative evictions of Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, according to a Thursday report published by Axios.
During his visits to Jerusalem and Ramallah, the US Secretary of State reportedly warned officials that future unrest around the holy site of Temple Mount could lead to renewed "tension, conflict and war."
"[E]victions of Palestinians from their homes where they lived for decades and generations, the demolitions of housing as well ... and of course everything that took place on and around the Temple Mount," he said, Blinken told Axios's Barak Ravid, noting the al-Aqsa Mosque has also been a site of conflict.
He went on to detail that, during his diplomatic trips, US officials raised concerns to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) about the "incitement to violence or letting violence go forward with impunity," as well as "very problematic" payments delivered to Palestinian families convicted of terrorism.
Blinken stopped short of revealing the responses from PNA and Israeli officials, but he did express that there has been support for a continued ceasefire.
"But it's also important that we avoid various actions that could unintentionally, or not, spark another round of violence," he reiterated. "The ceasefire was not an end in itself, as important as it was, but also a means to have some space to start to build something a little bit more positive."
Blinken's published remarks come alongside Israel's refusal to cooperate with a United Nations Human Rights Council commission on the conflict.
"Israel rejects outright the resolution adopted today (Thursday, 27 May 2021) by the United Nations Human Rights Council, a body with a built-in anti-Israel majority, guided by hypocrisy and absurdity," Jerusalem detailed in a statement.
"Any resolution that fails to condemn the firing of over 4,300 rockets by a terror organization at Israeli civilians, or even to mention the terror organization Hamas, is nothing more than a moral failure and a stain on the international community and the UN."
- Source : Evan Craighead
