During his visit to Tel Aviv this week, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that he warned Israeli leaders about the consequences of evicting Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem and unrest at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
This came during special statements made by Blinken, in a telephone interview, to the American “Axios” website, Thursday evening, during his return flight from his tour in the Middle East.
He added that the evacuation of Palestinian families from East Jerusalem, or the outbreak of more unrest at Al-Aqsa Mosque, may lead to renewed “tension, conflict and war” in the country.
Blinken emphasized that “the most important aspect of his tour is that he heard directly from Israel and indirectly from” Hamas “movement via Egypt that they wanted to preserve the ceasefire.
He continued, “But it is also important to avoid various actions that could inadvertently or unintentionally lead to another round of violence.”
However, the US Secretary of State did not refer to the Israeli side’s reaction to the warning he addressed to them, according to the American website.
On Wednesday, Blinken arrived in Jordan, from Cairo, at the end of a tour in the region that began Tuesday, and included Israel, Ramallah and Egypt, to discuss stabilizing the calm in the Palestinian territories.
Since last April 13, the situation in the Palestinian territories has erupted as a result of brutal attacks by the Israeli police and settlers in the occupied city of Jerusalem, especially Al-Aqsa Mosque and its surroundings and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood (center), following Israeli efforts to evacuate 12 homes of Palestinian families and hand them over to settlers.
And at dawn on May 21, a ceasefire between the Palestinian resistance factions in Gaza and Israel took effect, after 11 days of fighting.
The Israeli aggression on the Palestinian territories resulted in a total of 288 martyrs, including 69 children, 40 women and 17 elderly, in addition to more than 8,900 wounded, including 90 “very serious” injuries.
