Secretary of State Tony Blinken is expected to travel to the Middle East next week after he joins Biden’s trip to Brussels and Poland, four U.S. and Israeli officials tell BarakRavid.
His original itinerary included stops in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but as the dates of the trip shifted back and forth several times, those visits were dropped.
Blinken wants to use the visit to show U.S. engagement in the region is continuing, the U.S. officials say.Blinken is expected to arrive in Israel on Saturday evening and have meetings with Israeli officials in Jerusalem and Palestinian officials in Ramallah. King Abdullah of Jordan is expected to visit Ramallah on Sunday to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. It's unclear if he will meet Blinken, who is expected to be in Ramallah on the same day.
Blinken will travel on Monday from Israel to Morocco and from there to Algeria, according to the four officials.Palestinian leaders are frustrated that the Biden administration has not followed through on promises to them, in particular reopening the consulate in Jerusalem, which served as the U.S. diplomatic mission to the Palestinian Authority.
In recent months, there have been growing tensions between Algeria and Morocco over the conflict in disputed Western Sahara.
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