Israel Rejects All US Proposals to Meet with Palestinians

National Security Council chairman Eyal Hulata meets with Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in Washington on August 3, 2021. (US State Department/Twitter)
National Security Council chairman Eyal Hulata meets with Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in Washington on August 3, 2021. (US State Department/Twitter)
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Israel Rejects All US Proposals to Meet with Palestinians

National Security Council chairman Eyal Hulata meets with Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in Washington on August 3, 2021. (US State Department/Twitter)
National Security Council chairman Eyal Hulata meets with Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in Washington on August 3, 2021. (US State Department/Twitter)

Israel has once again rejected a proposal by an American delegation visiting Israel to bring senior Israeli and Palestinian officials together in a meeting to discuss the stalled peace process.

According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the meeting would be similar to the one attended by Israeli, US and Arab officials in the Negev in March, but would now include Palestinian officials as well, in preparation for US President Joe Biden's visit to the region in July.

Israeli officials told their US counterparts that it is “a bad idea because it would seem like the beginning of a political process without any guarantee for its success.”

They also stressed that they don’t need mediators to facilitate talks with the Palestinians, noting that both sides maintain permanent contact, in reference to their security cooperation.

This is the second time Israel rejects a proposal to hold talks with Palestinians in a political framework.

Earlier this month, Deputy US Secretary of State Wendy Sherman proposed a five-party summit, which would convene the foreign ministers of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the United States, Egypt and Jordan in Washington or a regional venue, such as Egypt or Jordan.

This came during her meeting with Israeli National Security Advisor Eyal Hulata in Washington.

However, Hulata reportedly said that the Israeli government deems the conditions on both sides not ripe for such an initiative and stressed that Israel isn't interested in a “photo-op” that ends with nothing, resulting in an “expectation crisis.”

In Ramallah, Haaretz reported that Palestinians are upset because the current US administration hasn’t made any political changes, but rather adopted a different rhetoric and terminology.

When the US proposed on Palestine to hold this summit, officials stressed that such a meeting should include an Israeli commitment to the two-state solution based on the 1967 borders, otherwise, the meeting would be useless.

Palestinian officials and diplomats said that all Palestinian appeals to the United States to move forward with a diplomatic process have so far been met with claims that the political situation in Israel is too fragile for talks to resume, Haaretz reported.

“They talk as if only Israel has a government and public opinion that has to be considered,” said one source. “What about Palestinian public opinion and what about the aggression against Palestinians?”

Palestinian officials also reportedly presented the US delegation with a list of demands unrelated to the Israeli government – including the re-opening of the US consulate in East Jerusalem, which serves mainly Palestinians, removing the Palestine Liberation Organization from the US list of terror groups, and restoring the economic aid.

“These are decisions that the United States can make unilaterally and don’t require hollow summit meetings to be advanced,” said one Palestinian official.



UN: Lifelines Keeping People Alive in Gaza Are Collapsing

21 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Mourners pray near the bodies of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes, according to medics, during the funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
21 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Mourners pray near the bodies of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes, according to medics, during the funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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UN: Lifelines Keeping People Alive in Gaza Are Collapsing

21 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Mourners pray near the bodies of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes, according to medics, during the funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
21 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Gaza: Mourners pray near the bodies of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes, according to medics, during the funeral at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Photo: Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is appalled by an accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions in Gaza "where the last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing," his spokesperson said on Monday.

"He deplores the growing reports of children and adults suffering from malnutrition," UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

"Israel has the obligation to allow and facilitate by all the means at its disposal the humanitarian relief provided by the United Nations and by other humanitarian organizations."

Israeli ground troops for the first time Monday pushed into areas of a central Gaza city where several aid groups are based, in what appeared to be the latest effort to carve up the Palestinian territory with military corridors.

Deir al-Balah is the only Gaza city that has not seen major ground operations or suffered widespread devastation in 21 months of war, leading to speculation that the Hamas militant group holds large numbers of hostages there. The main group representing hostages’ families said it was “shocked and alarmed” by the incursion, which was confirmed by an Israeli military official, and demanded answers from Israeli leaders.

Israel says the seizure of territory in Gaza is aimed at pressuring Hamas to release hostages, but it is a major point of contention in ongoing ceasefire talks.

The UN food agency, meanwhile, accused Israeli forces of firing on a crowd of Palestinians seeking humanitarian aid over the weekend. Gaza's Health Ministry called it one of the deadliest attacks on aid-seekers in the war that has driven the territory to the brink of famine.