Blinken to meet with Abbas in Ramallah as US envisions PA’s return to Gaza after war

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah today in what will be the top American diplomat’s first trip to the West Bank since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, a Palestinian official told The Times of Israel, Report informs.

Earlier this week, Blinken told a congressional hearing, “At some point, what would make the most sense would be for an effective and revitalized Palestinian Authority to have governance and ultimately security responsibility for Gaza.”

The comments marked the first time the Biden administration publicly declared its desire for the PA to return to the Gaza Strip, after privately raising the idea with regional partners amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Ramallah, for its part, has asserted it has no interest in returning to Gaza unless it is part of a diplomatic initiative that unites the enclave with the West Bank and revamps the peace process with Israel, an idea that would be supported by the Biden administration but have little backing in the current Israeli government.