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According to Secretary of State Anthony Brinken, the strategic partnership between the United States and Egypt is “extremely important.”
Noting that the majority of Egypt’s population is under the age of 25, Brinken said it was important to engage with them. state. ”
A top US diplomat launched a tour of the Middle East in Cairo on Sunday, hoping to use US influence to ease tensions amid escalating violence in Israel and Palestine.
Before visiting Jerusalem and Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Monday and Tuesday, Brinken is scheduled to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is likely to dominate the debate between the two allies, and Egypt has historically played a mediating role between the two main players.
The long-scheduled visit came amid the escalation of Israel and Palestine.
On Friday, a Palestinian was shot dead in East Jerusalem after shooting seven people. On Saturday, a Palestinian shot and wounded two of his Israelis in East Jerusalem. The Israelites occupied part of the city. On Sunday, Israeli guards killed a Palestinian in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory Israel has occupied since 1967.
Also on Friday, Israeli forces shelled the Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire from a blocked enclave.
The new outbreak was exacerbated by Thursday’s deadliest Israeli raid in years in the West Bank town of Jenin, where nine Palestinians were killed.
– No change” –
Washington has condemned the “horrific” attack in East Jerusalem, and Blinken has urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to “take urgent steps to de-escalate,” the State Department said. .
If US officials do not keep their frustration at the escalation private, the secretary of state’s room for maneuver seems limited.
Experts interviewed by AFP do not expect any major breakthroughs. The US would probably be happy to express support for her two-state solution of Israel and Palestine.
Aaron David Miller, an expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, said the final war between Israeli and Palestinian militants “is to stabilize the situation to avoid a recurrence in May 2021.” is the best they can achieve,” he said.
Geis Al-Omari, an expert at the Washington Institute, said, “This visit does not change America’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” but that “the conversation[with Mahmoud Abbas]It’s not going to be fun.”
– Visit Cascade –
Blinken’s visit to Israel reflects Washington’s desire to reconnect with Netanyahu, the most right-wing head of government in Israel’s history. It comes after the visit of White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
“I have never seen so many high-level visits under any administration,” said Aaron David Miller.
“Another expert, David Makovsky of the Washington Institute, agrees, and CIA Director William Burns recently visited the region, including Cairo.
In Israel, Brinken will stress the “importance of maintaining the historical status quo” at the esplanade of a mosque in East Jerusalem, a hotbed of tensions between Israelis and Palestinians. This place is his third holiest site in Islam and the holiest in Judaism.
The Abraham Accords, the normalization process between Israel and several Arab countries, should also be on the agenda, and Netanyahu hopes to win against Saudi Arabia.
In Cairo on Sunday, Mr Blinken did not mention the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He only told a youth representative at the American University in Cairo that he was visiting Israel and the West Bank.
“It is important to talk not only between governments, but with all segments of society, especially the younger generation,” he said.
Egypt, one of the main beneficiaries of US military aid, has been regularly criticized, especially by the US, for its human rights record, which NGOs have described as “disastrous.”
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