The escalation of violence is likely to dominate the discussions, since Egypt is a historical mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is just experiencing an upturn in a wave of violence that has dragged on for months.
Blinken will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tomorrow, and a day later with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, in Ramallah, the administrative capital of the West Bank.
The diplomat will ask “in general terms that measures be taken to reduce tensions,” the US State Department spokesman, Vedant Patel, told reporters, the AFP news agency reported.
Last Friday, a 21-year-old Palestinian killed seven people outside an East Jerusalem synagogue, and another Palestinian shooting attack took place in the same section of the city on Saturday, injuring two.
The attacks came after nine Palestinians were killed last Thursday in an Israeli army raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, in one of the deadliest such operations in recent years.
Israel claimed the target was Islamic Jihad militants and also attacked the Gaza Strip, ruled by the Palestinian organization Hamas, in response to rocket fire.
Security guards killed a Palestinian on Monday near an Israeli settlement in the part of the West Bank under Israeli military occupation, authorities on both sides said.
Source: Ambito
