As he tries to rally region behind postwar vision for Gaza, top US diplomat reportedly holds ‘tense’ meeting with PA leader while hundreds outside protest ‘unwelcome’ visit.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Wednesday as part of US efforts to rally the region behind postwar plans for Gaza that include governance reforms and concrete moves toward a Palestinian state.

Blinken told Abbas that the White House supports “tangible steps” toward the creation of a Palestinian state, said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

The top US diplomat also reiterated Washington’s longstanding position that a Palestinian state must exist alongside Israel, “with both living in peace and security.”

He later said the Palestinian leader was committed to reforming the Palestinian Authority. “What I take away from this meeting is that he is committed to that and is very much prepared to move forward,” Blinken told AFP in Bahrain in response to a question about Abbas’s commitment to reforming the PA.

Blinken noted “increased volatility” in the West Bank, where there has been a wave of terror attacks on Israelis and increased Israeli military operations to crack down on Hamas and other terror groups, as well as a surge in violence against Palestinians by Israeli settlers.

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