America’s top diplomat has flown into a perfect storm in Israel as the country’s infernal tit-for-tat violence threatens to spiral out of control, while any prospects of a long-term peace wither away.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s meeting with Israeli leaders – his first trip to Jerusalem since the current rightwing coalition took over, was expected to be tense, with seemingly little common ground between the Democrat White House and the ultranationalist Israeli coalition.
It comes amid a wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians that culminated in a deadly Israeli raid in Jenin last Thursday, which killed nine, and two terrorist attacks in East Jerusalem that left a total of seven Israelis dead at the weekend.
After arriving in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon Blinken called on both sides to end the “new and horrifying surge in violence”.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s response to the murderers of Jews last week has been to call for the strengthening of the illegal West Bank settlements, which undermine hopes for a two-state peace deal, and to bring in measures to make it easier for Israelis to carry guns.
Shortly before Mr Blinken’s arrival, the Palestinian officials said Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man in the flashpoint city of Hebron. The death brings the toll of Palestinians killed in January to 35.
But it will be the presence of far-right, Jewish extremists in the coalition pressing to expand provocative settlements in the West Bank, which will alarm a Biden administration that still insists a two-state solution is needed to end the conflict.
Israeli Army Radio reported late Sunday that the government was set to approve a rogue outpost deep inside the West Bank and speed up approval for other such small settlements.
After meeting Netanyahu, Blinken said that moving away from the two-state solution was “detrimental to Israel’s long-term security and long-term identity as a Jewish and democratic state”.
The Netanyahu regime shows no signs of changing course, despite criticism from many inside Israel.
Although there are signs that even Israel’s traditional supporters in the US Congress are already losing patience with the Israeli coalition as it moves to undermine the courts and further weaken Israeli’s status as a secular nation.
Brad Sherman, a senior Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has warned that Israel risks losing vital America support if it continues with its current brand of political extremism
Another leading pro-Israel Democrat, Senator Jacky Rosen, reportedly refused to meet any members of two-far right parties in Netanyahu’s governing coalition during a congressional delegation.
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There’s yet to be any real, genuine criticism from the top, however.
But with his words and deeds, some observers say that Netanyahu himself is now well and truly in the orbit of the anti-democratic nationalists like Viktor Orbán, Jair Bolsonaro and Donald Trump, and that it is time for President Joe Biden to treat him as such.
In the past few days Presdent Joe Biden has merely rung Netanyahu to stress “iron-clad US commitment to Israel’s security”.
But that won’t be enough for peace and security – for either Palestinians or Jews.
Meanwhile, Blinken’s immediate aim as he meets Palestinian officials on Tuesday is to prevent the current tensions erupting into another all-all conflict between Palestinians and Israelis.
His administration might have hoped to focus its attention on Russia and China. But the running sore that is Israel-Palestine keeps pulling it back.