During a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken stressed the importance of stopping the escalation and taking urgent action to restore calm after days of bloody escalation. At the Palestinian Authority headquarters in Ramallah, Blinken said: Palestinians face a diminishing outlook.Hope, once again United States opposition to Israel’s settlement expansion, calling for a reduction in tensions following the escalation of violence in the West Bank.
Blinken added: The United States opposes any action from any point of view that would make it difficult to achieve a two-state solution, including expanding settlements, demolition, expulsion from homes, and destabilizing the historic status quo in holy places.
Blinken expressed his condolences for the killing of innocent Palestinians, saying: “Let me begin by expressing our condolences and sorrow for the killing of innocent Palestinian civilians who lost their lives in the escalating violence last year.
In a joint press conference with Netanyahu, Blinken said: “We urge all parties to take urgent steps to restore calm and defuse the escalation, noting that the United States continues to support the maintenance of the status quo in the holy places in Jerusalem and in everything that concerns which moves us away from a two-state solution is in any case detrimental to Israel’s security in the long run.
On the other hand, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign and Expatriate Affairs condemned yesterday’s Israeli “racist” laws to deprive Palestinian prisoners of citizenship or residence permits.
The ministry said in a press statement that it is taking discussions in the Israeli Knesset (parliament) very seriously regarding the passage of a series of racially discriminatory laws that would strip Palestinian prisoners of their citizenship or residency permits.
The ministry considered that such laws constituted “a serious escalation of the situation, another form of collective punishment, a doubling of discriminatory punishments and measures against Palestinian citizens and the same accusation, a flagrant violation of international law, the Geneva Conventions and the principles of human rights. “
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