Former U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticized the decision of nations to recognize a Palestinian State during the UN General Council meeting next month.
"The decision by France, the U.K., Canada and Australia to recognize a Palestinian state in September is morally right and reflects a global consensus," Blinken wrote in an editorial published by the Wall Street Journal late on Monday.
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Protesters demand release of the hostages held in Gaza
(Photo: Violeta Santos Moura / Reuters)
"Yet with the Gaza crisis still unfolding, this focus on recognition seems totally beside the more pressing realities. Amid the suffering of Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages—and Israel’s announced plan to occupy all or part of the enclave—averting famine, recovering the hostages and ending the conflict in Gaza are the priorities. Talk of two states can wait."
Near the end of the Biden Administration, Blinken said Israel would have to accept a unified West Bank and Gaza under the Palestinian Authority's (PA) control and that the PA would lead the reconstruction and rehabilitation in Gaza along with other nations, after the war.
"We believe that the Palestinian Authority should invite international partners to help establish and run an interim administration with responsibility for key civil sectors in Gaza," Blinken said in January.
Biden's top diplomat said in his editorial that a full occupation of Gaza, as announced by the security cabinet last week, would not comport with the release of the hostages but recognition of a Palestinian state at the appropriate time could speed up normalization of ties with Saudi Arabia
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He said Arab nations have denounced Hamas and called for the terror group to be disarmed. These countries are open to sending forces to rule over the Strip and push Hamas out, but only if there is a credible path to an independent Palestinian State. Without it, he wrote, Hamas would preserve the legitimacy of its political rule in Gaza.