The Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, said that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's visit to the region aims to achieve calm at the expense of the Palestinian people, and to put pressure on the Palestinian National Authority to restore security coordination with Israel.

In his interview with the episode (31/1/2023) of the “Beyond the News” program, Al-Barghouti does not see that Blinken’s visit differs from previous visits of American officials to the region. He talked about the two-state solution without mentioning how, and condemned the Palestinian attack on the Israelis without condemning the massacre. Jenin, nor the killing and persecution of Palestinians at the hands of the occupation forces and settlers.

He emphasized that the US administration is exerting intense pressure on the Palestinian Authority to restore security coordination with the occupation, which explains the participation of the Egyptian and Jordanian intelligence director in Blinken's talks with the Palestinian presidency.

He said that the security coordination is to protect the occupation, and that the Israelis want it to move freely in all Palestinian areas, and he believed that the decision to stop coordination is a correct decision and that the authority should abandon all agreements with Israel.

The Palestinian presidency had announced the cessation of security coordination with the Israeli occupation and the approach to the UN Security Council and the International Criminal Court in response to the massacre committed by the occupation forces in the city and camp of Jenin in the northern West Bank, which left 10 Palestinians dead.

The Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative spoke of an American attempt to prevent the Palestinians from their right to resist the occupation, considering that the sudden American interest in the Palestinian situation is due to the Palestinian resistance.

There is no American plan for a solution

Former US State Department spokesman Dr. B.J. Crowley expected that Blinken had urged the Palestinian Authority and its President, Mahmoud Abbas, to resume security cooperation with Israel "because this would protect the lives of the Palestinians," noting that the Egyptians and Jordanians had encouraged this.

The American guest told the "Behind the News" program that there were behind-the-scenes talks during Blinken's visit to Israel that he did not disclose, and that the American minister acknowledged that he did not come up with an American plan for a solution, but rather encouraged the Palestinians, Israelis and the Arab countries concerned to work together in order to establish stability in the region.

And whether the Israeli government will continue to escalate against the Palestinians, Crowley expected that Blinken had spoken to Benjamin Netanyahu that there are elements in his government that will escalate matters and he must control the actions of these people, referring to the extremist ministers, headed by the Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir and Minister Finance Bezalel Smotrich.

He added that the administration of President Joe Biden announced that it does not want to engage directly with marginal parties in the Israeli government, and that it will do everything in its power to influence them, which influence has limits, according to the guest.

Blinken - who met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today, Tuesday, in the city of Ramallah - confirmed that US President Biden is still committed to the principle of the two-state solution and opposes any step that impedes achieving this, and stressed that the United States opposes policies of demolition, expulsion, and harm to the historical status of the holy areas.

As for Abbas, he said - during the meeting - that the Palestinian people will not accept the continuation of the occupation forever, holding the occupation authorities responsible for the practices that undermine the two-state solution.