“I had a good conversation with my successor-to-be, Sen. Rubio, the other day,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. “I look forward to meeting with him and to going over in detail exactly where we are and where we hope we can go.”
(JNS)
Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, was asked during a press briefing in Fiuggi, Italy, where he was attending a G7 foreign ministers meeting, about the reportedly imminent 60-day ceasefire agreement in Lebanon.
“In 60 days you won’t be in office anymore,” the reporter said. “Do you plan to work with the incoming Trump administration to ensure that this truce can really turn into a lasting peace?”
“We’re absolutely committed to working with the incoming administration on this issue and everything that we’re dealing with,” Blinken said. “I had a good conversation with my successor-to-be, Sen. Rubio, the other day,” he added, of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).
“I look forward to meeting with him and to going over in detail exactly where we are and where we hope we can go or, if we haven’t been able to complete the work, the next administration can go,” Blinken said. “Having that continuity and being able to hand off to the next administration the strongest possible hand to play in bringing peace and bringing security is exactly what I’m focused on.”
Blinken was in Italy for a meeting of the G7—Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as the European Union.
Earlier in the day, the G7 foreign ministers released a lengthy statement, which addressed several regions, including the Middle East. “As the international community is facing a growing number of challenges, including climate change and biodiversity loss, disaster risks, the eradication of hunger and poverty, emerging and disruptive technologies, we renew our determination to foster collective action in the pursuit of common solutions,” they stated.
The ministers reaffirmed their “unequivocal condemnation” of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and continued “to call for the immediate release of all hostages, and for the remains held by Hamas in Gaza to be returned to their loved ones.” They also referred to a “destructive cycle” in the region and said there must be a “pathway to a two-state solution.”
“We are alarmed by the increasing toll of hostilities along the Blue Line and beyond,” they stated. “We are gravely concerned about the very high number of civilian casualties, the destruction of critical civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and health care centers. The growing number of internally displaced persons in Lebanon is alarming.”
They also stated “deep concern” about “recent attacks and strikes on UNIFIL, which have injured several peacekeepers and damaged facilities” and said that “the situation in Gaza has led to unprecedented levels of food insecurity, affecting much of the population, particularly in the north.” They said that UNRWA, the U.N. agency whose employees Israel has accused of having direct ties to Palestinian terror groups, plays a “vital role.”
“We express our strongest condemnation for the rise in extremist settler violence committed against Palestinians, which undermines security and stability in the West Bank and threatens prospects for a lasting peace,” they added. (The Biden administration and some others refer to Judea and Samaria as the “West Bank.”)
They also denounced Iran’s attacks, and those launched by the Houthis, and said the Islamic Republic must not be allowed to secure a nuclear weapon.
‘A significant impact’
Blinken told a reporter in Italy on Tuesday that a ceasefire in Lebanon could have “profound effects.”
A reporter asked the secretary about the White House’s statement that such a deal could lead to a ceasefire in Gaza as well. “For almost a year, it seems that nothing has moved the needle with Hamas,” the journalist said. “So what makes you think that this will convince the group to turn over the hostages it’s holding?”
Blinken said that “one of the things that Hamas has sought from day one is to get others in on the fight, to create multiple fronts, to make sure that Israel was having to fight in a whole series of different places.”
“As it’s thought that that was possible, that’s one of the reasons it’s held back from doing what’s necessary to end the conflict,” he said. “Now, if it sees that the cavalry is not on the way, that may incentivize it to do what it needs to do to end this conflict.”
A reporter asked Blinken, “at this point, does the U.S.-Israel alliance benefit Israel more than it does the United States?” The secretary didn’t respond directly.
Another journalist asked Blinken what guarantees there are that Israel wouldn’t react in a manner, about which there are “concerns,” to ceasefire violations.
Blinken declined to address details of the agreement.
“As a general matter,” he said, “of course by definition Israel will always have the right to deal with challenges or threats to its security, just as any country has that right.”
There is a chance, he said, to achieve “the effective implementation” of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, which was supposed to ensure that Hezbollah wasn’t able to attack Israel.
“Unfortunately, 1701 was never effectively implemented, and the result has been Hezbollah has remained in a position where it could attack Israel and, as I said on Oct. 8, the day after Oct. 7, it again launched these attacks on Israel to such an extent that Israelis were forced out of their homes in northern Israel,” Blinken said.
If the agreement goes ahead, “it is the answer to the problem that has bedeviled the area for a couple of decades and is the best way to guarantee that there is peace, there is stability and this constant threat of attack from Hezbollah, which has caused people to leave their homes, kids to not be able to go to school, is over, people can return, just as people who’ve been displaced in southern Lebanon can return to their homes.”
“That’s in the immediate what’s at stake, as well as, I think, the larger ramifications of getting an agreement, including what I believe can be very positive effects on also ending the conflict in Gaza,” he said.
Image: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken participates in the G7 Foreign Ministers Working Lunch and session on Situation in the Middle East and in the Red Sea in Anagni, Italy, Nov. 25, 2024. Credit: Chuck Kennedy/U.S. State Department.
