Abbas, Blinken Hold Talks in Ramallah

Abbas and Blinken meet in Ramallah. (AFP)
Abbas and Blinken meet in Ramallah. (AFP)
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Abbas, Blinken Hold Talks in Ramallah

Abbas and Blinken meet in Ramallah. (AFP)
Abbas and Blinken meet in Ramallah. (AFP)

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Ramallah on Sunday.

He stressed that the priority should always be towards finding a political solution that would end the Israeli occupation of Palestine along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

He called for resolving all permanent status issues, including those on refugees and the release of all prisoners under the supervision and sponsorship of the Quartet (United States, Germany, Britain, and France), according to international resolutions.

Blinken had arrived in Ramallah following a visit to Israel where he met with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and other Israeli officials.

He is on a tour of the region, which also includes Morocco and Algeria, to consult with partners on a range of regional and global priorities.

According to the US Department of State, Blinken will discuss the Russian government’s war on Ukraine, Iran’s destabilizing activities, the Abraham Accords and normalization agreements with Israel, Israeli-Palestinian relations, and preserving the possibility of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, among other issues.

Abbas discussed with Blinken means of reviving the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, reopening the US Consulate in Jerusalem and the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s (PLO) headquarters in Washington.

Talks also tackled the resumption of US financial support to the Palestinian Authority, which was suspended by former President Donald Trump.

He stressed that no party is holding Israel accountable for its actions, noting that “it acts as a state above all law.”

Blinken, for his part, stressed that the US is committed to rebuilding its relationship with the PA and Palestinian people.

He said the American administration has been focused on concrete ways to help improve the lives of Palestinians, including rejoining UNRWA and providing half a billion dollars in humanitarian assistance since April 2021, economic support to the Palestinian private sector and small businesses, job training for young people, and support for food-insecure families in the West Bank and Gaza.

“We’re focused on advancing Palestinian civil and human rights, supporting civil society,” he added.

Blinken said he spoke with Abbas and his team about the importance of responsive, responsible governance.

At the heart of all of this is an ongoing, enduring commitment to the basic principle of the two-state solution, he remarked.

“Palestinians and Israelis alike deserve to live with equal measures of freedom, of opportunity, security, of dignity, and we believe that the most effective way, ultimately, to give expression to that basic principle is through two states.”

However, he pointed out that the two sides are very far apart in this regard, noting that the US will continue its work to try to bring them closer.

“We’ll work to prevent actions by either side that could raise tensions,” he noted, including settlement expansion, settler violence, home demolitions, evictions, payments to people convicted of terrorism and incitement to violence.

Blinken underscored the need to have a peaceful Ramadan, Easter, Passover, all of which come together in a month’s time.



UN Chief Outlines Four Options for Embattled Palestinian Relief Agency UNRWA

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends a press briefing during the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) at the Center des Expositions conference center in Nice, France, June 10, 2025. (Reuters)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends a press briefing during the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) at the Center des Expositions conference center in Nice, France, June 10, 2025. (Reuters)
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UN Chief Outlines Four Options for Embattled Palestinian Relief Agency UNRWA

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends a press briefing during the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) at the Center des Expositions conference center in Nice, France, June 10, 2025. (Reuters)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends a press briefing during the third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) at the Center des Expositions conference center in Nice, France, June 10, 2025. (Reuters)

A review of the embattled United Nations Palestinian relief agency UNRWA, ordered by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, has identified four possible ways forward for the organization that has lost US funding and been banned by Israel.

The proposals, seen by Reuters, are: inaction that could see the potential collapse of UNRWA; a reduction of services; the creation of an executive board to advise UNRWA; or maintaining UNRWA’s rights-based core while transferring services to host governments and the Palestinian Authority. While Guterres ordered the strategic assessment of UNRWA in April as part of his wider UN reform efforts, only the 193-member UN General Assembly can change UNRWA’s mandate.

UNRWA was established by the General Assembly in 1949 following the war surrounding the founding of Israel. It provides aid, health and education to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

“I believe it is imperative that Member States take action to protect the rights of Palestine refugees, the mandate of UNRWA and regional peace and security,” Guterres wrote in a letter dated on Monday and seen by Reuters submitting the UNRWA assessment to the General Assembly. The review comes after Israel adopted a law in October, which was enacted on January 30, that bans UNRWA's operation on Israeli land - including East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in a move not recognized internationally - and contact with Israeli authorities.

UNRWA is also dealing with a dire financial crisis, facing a $200-million deficit. The US was UNRWA's biggest donor, but former President Joe Biden paused funding in January 2024 after Israel accused about a dozen UNRWA staff of taking part in the deadly October 7, 2023, attack by the Palestinian Hamas group that triggered the war in Gaza. The funding halt was then extended by the US Congress and President Donald Trump.

FOUR OPTIONS

The UN has said nine UNRWA staff may have been involved in the Hamas attack and were fired. A Hamas commander in Lebanon - killed in September by Israel - was also found to have had an UNRWA job. The UN has vowed to investigate all accusations and repeatedly asked Israel for evidence, which it says has not been provided. Israel has long been critical of UNRWA, while UNRWA has said it has been the target of a "fierce disinformation campaign" to "portray the agency as a terrorist organization." Guterres and the UN Security Council have described UNRWA as the backbone of the aid response in Gaza.

The first possible option outlined by the UNRWA strategic assessment was inaction and the potential collapse of the agency, noting that “this scenario would exacerbate humanitarian need, heighten social unrest, and deepen regional fragility” and “represent a significant abandonment of Palestine refugees by the international community.”

The second option was to reduce services by “aligning UNRWA’s operations with a reduced and more predictable level of funding through service cuts and transfer of some functions to other actors.”

The third option was to create an executive board to advise and support UNRWA’s commissioner-general, enhance accountability and take responsibility for securing multi-year funding and aligning UNRWA’s funding and services. The final potential option would see UNRWA maintain its functions as custodian of Palestine refugee rights, registration, and advocacy for refugee access to services, “while progressively shifting service provision to host governments and the Palestinian Authority, with strong international commitment to funding.”