Blinken rejects the demands of Arab countries to urgently implement a ceasefire
Astro Awani
November 6, 2023
Blinken while attending the Arab Foreign Ministers Meeting held in Amman, Jordan. - REUTERS photo
Blinken rejects the demands of Arab countries to urgently implement a ceasefire
Blinken while attending the Arab Foreign Ministers Meeting held in Amman, Jordan. - REUTERS photo
AMMAN: The United States (US) Secretary of State, Antony Blinken rejected the demands of Jordan and Egypt who called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The rejection was made at the Arab Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in Amman, Jordan on Sunday.
According to Blinken, a ceasefire would be counterproductive and could encourage more attacks from Hamas.
In fact, Blinken insisted that his party could only support a temporary cessation of conflict on 'humanitarian grounds' to allow the delivery of aid and the evacuation of people from the besieged region.
"The United States and our partners will have different views on how best to advance or achieve these steps. But we all recognize that we cannot return to the status quo.
"We all understand that we not only have an interest, but also a responsibility to do everything we can to determine a better path together. In our view, a ceasefire will only leave Hamas in place without being able to regroup and repeat surprise attacks. on October 7," he said.
Earlier, Foreign Ministers from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and a senior Palestinian official met with Blinken after holding a separate meeting before and another meeting with Jordan's King, King Abdullah II.
Based on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Jordan in a statement, the meeting reiterated the call of the Arab countries to implement an immediate ceasefire and the delivery of aid without any interruption in Gaza as part of efforts to stop the conflict.
