Palestinians protest as Blinken visits Ramallah, vowing ‘tangible steps’ to Palestinian statehood

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Despite the US Secretary of State‘s repeated statements supporting a two-state solution to both Israeli and Palestinian leaders, hundreds of Palestinians protested his visit.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited a number of Middle Eastern leaders including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli ministers, and on several occasions, called for a a Palestinian state.

When meeting with Abbas, he assured the PA leader that the White House supports “tangible steps” towards a Palestinian state “with both living in peace and security.”

Blinken also met in Tel Aviv with President Isaac Herzog, Foreign Minister Israel Katz, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and told the ministers that the only way they could regain cooperation with other countries in the region was by putting Palestinians in charge of Gaza after the war as a pathway to the Palestinian State.

Nevertheless, Blinken’s support of Palestinian statehood didn’t prevent hundreds of Palestinians from protesting against his visit to Ramallah.

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The protestors held signs saying, “Blinken you are not welcome here” some with red triangles, similar to those in Hamas videos showing attacks on IDF soldiers, under Blinken’s name.

The Secretary of State also insisted that the Palestinians should receive all of their tax revenues collected by Israel, even though it has been shown that these funds are used for terrorism.

In response to this demand, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich declared, “We will not transfer a shekel to the Palestinian Authority that will go to the families of the Nazis in Gaza.”

Although the Islamist Hamas group overthrew the PA in the Gaza Strip in 2007, Ramallah still pays the salaries of many public employees there, as well as part of the utility bills.

Smotrich was responding to Blinken’s statement during his meeting with top Israeli government members, that Israel should hand over all the tax income it collects on behalf of the PA.