Blinken reaffirms need for two-state solution

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israelis and Palestinians to ease tensions on Monday during a visit to Jerusalem, reaffirming a long-stalled peace vision of two states side by side as the only path forward.

Arriving amid the bloodiest violence in years, Blinken focused censure on a Palestinian gun spree outside a synagogue that put Israel on high alert but also cautioned against any celebration or avenging of such bloodshed.

Seven people were shot dead in Friday's attack by an East Jerusalem man who was himself killed by police. Lionized by many fellow Palestinians, he had no known links to militant groups.

A day earlier, Israel carried out an unusually deep raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, killing 10 residents, most of them gunmen. At least 35 Palestinians, including fighters and civilians, have died in violence surging since beginning 2023, medical officials say.

"It is the responsibility of everyone to take steps to calm tensions rather than inflame them," Blinken told reporters after landing in Tel Aviv.

He said, “Friday's rampage was more than an attack on individuals. It was also an attack on the universal act of practicing one's faith. We condemn it in the strongest terms”.

"And we condemn all those who celebrate these and any other acts of terrorism that take innocent lives, no matter who the victim is or what they believe. Calls for vengeance against more innocent victims are not the answer."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Blinken met later on Monday, has called for more citizens to carry guns as a precaution against such street attacks. But he has also warned Israelis not to resort to vigilante violence.

Blinken is due to see Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday.

Palestinian officials said Israeli settlers had set fire on Monday to two cars near the northern West Bank city of Nablus and thrown stones at a house near Ramallah, following a similar attack on Sunday.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, Palestinian officials said Israeli troops killed a 26-year-old man at a checkpoint. The army said troops opened fire on the man's car after he rammed into one of them and tried to flee an inspection.

The last round of US-sponsored talks on founding a Palestinian state alongside Israel stalled in 2014.

Netanyahu's new hardline government includes partners who oppose Palestinian statehood, and control over the Palestinian territories is divided between Abbas, who favours diplomacy, and rival Hamas Islamists, who are sworn to Israel's destruction.

After meeting Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Blinken restated Washington's belief that a two-state solution was the only way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“As I said to the prime minister, anything that would move us away from that vision is, in our judgment, detrimental to Israel's long-term security and long-term identity as a Jewish and democratic state,” Blinken said.

Recent data indicates that public support for a two-state solution has reached a historic low.

According to a survey published last week by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Research, 33% of Palestinians and 34% of Israeli Jews say they support it, a significant drop from data collected in 2020.

Two-thirds of Palestinians and 53% of Israeli Jews said they opposed the two-state solution.

Blinken also addressed local political tensions, noting that the vibrancy of Israel's civil society has been on full display of late, a reference to large demonstrations against proposed changes in the judiciary that protesters see as undermining judicial independence.

Standing alongside Netanyahu, Blinken said a strength of the US and Israeli democracies was a recognition that building consensus for new proposals is the most effective way to ensure they're embraced and that they endure.

US-Indian cooperation against China

According to South Asia Journal, the top diplomats of India and the United States have pledged to expand their multilateral security partnership, underscoring the deepening of ties between two countries concerned over China’s growing influence in the region.

US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar met in New Delhi and sought to strengthen a regional front against Beijing’s assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific and their cooperation in Afghanistan.

They also lauded each country’s help in fighting the coronavirus and said their vaccine partnership is an effort to end the pandemic. Blinken also announced a US$25 million fund to support India’s COVID-19 vaccination program.

“There are few relationships in the world that are more vital than one between the United States and India. We are the world’s two leading democracies and our diversity fuels our national strength,” Blinken said at a joint news conference.

Washington has made no secret of its desire for India’s help in isolating China. The two countries have steadily ramped up their military relationship and signed a string of defense deals.

The US and India are part of the Quad regional alliance that also includes Japan and Australia and focuses on China’s growing economic and military strength. China has called the Quad an attempt to contain its ambitions.

Blinken’s India visit comes just days after the No. 2 U.S. diplomat, Wendy Sherman, was in China.

Blinken said he and Jaishankar also discussed regional security issues including Afghanistan, where the US is expected to complete its military withdrawal in August. He called India’s contribution to the stability of Afghanistan “vital.”

Blinken said there was no “military solution” to the conflict in Afghanistan and that the country would turn into a “pariah state” if the Taliban takes control by force.

“We will continue to work together to sustain the gains of the Afghan people and support regional stability after the withdrawal of coalition forces from the country,” Blinken said.

Jaishankar said the world wishes to see an “independent, sovereign, democratic and stable Afghanistan at peace with itself and with its neighbors,” and cautioned that the country’s “independence and sovereignty will only be ensured if it is free from malign influences.”

 New Delhi has often expressed concern that a Taliban takeover could lead to security threats against India.

India has provided Afghan security forces with operational training and military equipment, even though it has had no troops on the ground. It has also provided more than US$2 billion in development aid to Afghanistan.

In June, India’s Foreign Ministry said it was in contact with “various stakeholders” in Afghanistan to discuss its future. More recently, officials from the two countries have increased mutual visits.

“New Delhi is clearly stepping up its game on the Afghanistan front,” said Micheal Kugelman of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Wilson Center. “Its decision to engage more in regional diplomacy on Afghanistan signifies a desire to be more of a player than it has in the past.”

In a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi later Wednesday, Blinken discussed the pandemic, security and defense cooperation, including Quad, and “shared values and democratic principles,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.

Earlier during his visit, Blinken spoke to civil society leaders and said fundamental freedoms and rule of law are “tenets of democracies” like the US and India.

Opponents of Modi’s governing Hindu nationalist party have accused it of stifling dissent and introducing divisive policies that discriminate against Muslims and other minorities. Modi has also been accused of trying to silence voices critical of his administration’s handling of the pandemic.

India routinely denies criticism of its human rights record. It has also rejected criticism by foreign governments and rights groups that civil liberties have contracted in the country.

 “We believe that all people deserve to have a voice in their government, to be treated with respect, no matter who they are,” Blinken said.

But experts say human rights concerns are unlikely to fundamentally affect the US-India relationship.

“For all the rhetoric trumpeting the shared values that drive partnership, it really boils down to shared interests,” Kugelman said. “At the end of the day, so long as China’s rise continues to be a common concern, the relationship will have no trouble operating on all cylinders.”