Abbas blames US for Israel’s ‘return to policy of incursions’ in West Bank

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday that it holds the US responsible for Israel’s alleged return to policies of  “killings and incursions into Palestinian cities, villages and refugee camps.”

Abbas’s statement, issued by the official spokesman for the Palestinian Authority presidency, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, and reported by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, came in reaction to an Israeli military incursion Tuesday morning into the Nur Shams refugee camp in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm.

The PA called for “immediate US intervention to stop the Israeli aggression” beyond the US policy of “issuing statements that do not change anything on the ground,” adding that “the situation is on the verge of exploding” and that Israeli attacks will have “very dangerous repercussions for everyone.”

The Israel Defense Forces said troops entered the refugee camp to deal with a large cache of explosive devices, which was duly destroyed by combat engineering troops. Clashes resulted in the death of 21-year-old Palestinian Ayed Samih Abu Harb and heavy damage to property and infrastructure.

The statement came a day after a phone conversation between Abbas and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in which Abbas denounced the “terrorism” of Israeli settlers.

Abbas also urged the US to force Israel to stop “aggressive practices,” adhere to signed agreements, and focus on the “political horizon” of a negotiated solution to end the conflict.

The State Department readout was thinner on details from the call, saying only that Blinken “expressed continued concern about ongoing violence in the West Bank.”

Blinken also “reaffirmed US support for measures to advance freedom and security and improve the quality of life for the Palestinian people,” stressing his “support for a two-state solution and opposition to actions endangering its viability,” the State Department said.

According to Wafa, Abbas also presented Blinken with four requests in a bid to advance the two-state solution: US support for recognition of Palestine as a full member status at the United Nations; an end to “all sanctions imposed on the Palestinians due to US laws,” referencing congressional legislation that characterizes the PA as a terror organization; the establishment of “normal relations” between the US administration and the State of Palestine, including reopening the US consulate in Jerusalem and the Palestine Liberation Organization’s diplomatic in Washington; and restoring direct US aid to Ramallah.

Several of those requests have also been raised by Palestinian officials in talks with American and Saudi counterparts in the context of US-brokered negotiations for a normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia and Jerusalem, officials familiar told The Times of Israel last week.

Rather than boycotting the process as it did with previous normalization negotiations, Ramallah is engaging with the parties involved, aiming to leverage a potential deal in order to advance its statehood effort.

A Palestinian delegation led by Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee secretary-general Hussein al-Sheikh is traveling to Riyadh this week for talks with Saudi officials on the matter. The visit will coincide with one by an American delegation led by White House Middle East czar Brett McGurk and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf who will also be meeting with Saudi counterparts to discuss a potential Israel normalization deal.

Leaf will then travel to Israel for meetings with top Israeli officials to brief them on her talks in Riyadh, an Israeli official said.