Blinken arrived in Jeddah on Wednesday to hold talks with a number of senior Saudi officials (French)
On Thursday, the Egyptian capital, Cairo, will host a meeting of the foreign ministers of five Arab countries and a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organization, in the presence of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who is conducting his sixth tour of the region since the start of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip on October 7.
A memorandum from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs showed that Blinken will meet with the Foreign Ministers of Egypt, Sameh Shoukry, Saudi Arabia, Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, Qatar, Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, Jordan, Ayman Al-Safadi, and the UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation, Reem Al-Hashemi, along with the Secretary of the Committee. Executive Director of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hussein Al-Sheikh.
The memorandum did not include details about the subject of the meeting, but Egyptian security sources said that the Arab countries would present plans for a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Such plans were on hold while mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the United States sought to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza and the release of Israeli and Palestinian prisoners.
According to the Egyptian News Agency, Blinken will hold discussions with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in Cairo tomorrow, Thursday, before the latter participates in the upcoming Arab ministerial meeting on the same day.
Blinken began a tour in the region from Saudi Arabia, where he arrived on Wednesday evening in Jeddah and met with the Saudi Foreign Minister and a number of senior officials and discussed with them the latest developments in Gaza and the situation in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
The US State Department said earlier today, in a statement, that Blinken's tour will also include a visit to Israel on Friday, noting that during the tour he will discuss efforts to reach an immediate ceasefire agreement in Gaza that guarantees the release of all Israeli prisoners and intensifies international efforts to increase aid. Humanity for Gaza.
She added that Blinken's discussions will also include coordination regarding planning for the post-war phase in Gaza, including ensuring that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) is not able to rule or repeat the October 7 attacks, while the US Secretary will stress the need to end Houthi attacks on commercial ships and restore stability. And security in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, according to the same statement.
Shoukry is scheduled to hold a joint press conference with Blinken at the conclusion of the meetings in Cairo, on Thursday evening, according to the Egyptian News Agency.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip that has left tens of thousands of civilians martyred and wounded, most of them children and women, in addition to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe and massive destruction of infrastructure, which led to Tel Aviv appearing before the International Court of Justice on charges of Genocide.
Source: Agencies