Israeli Channel: Abbas Refuses to Receive Call Phone  of US Secretary of State

An Israeli channel revealed today, Thursday the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had refused to answer a call phone of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for one month and a half.

The Israeli Broadcast Corporation (KAN), pointed out this afternoon that the Palestinian President refused to answer Blinken’s call as the recognized international protocols, the US President Joe Biden should contact his Palestinian counter not the Secretary of State.

The Israeli channel went on to say that Biden and Abbas did not talk on the phone since Biden took the helm on January 20.

Sources in Ramallah, the status quo capital of Palestine, and Washington assured that Blinken may phone either Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh or Hussein El- Sheikh, an official in the Palestinian Authority (PA).

KAN pointed out the US administration is mulling over transferring of $40 million to aid the Palestinian Authority.

The USA pledges to support the   United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA)  partially.

Biden administration intends to funnel $ 75 million to promote civil and economic projects through USAID Agency in the Palestinian territories.

On the other hand, Linda Thomas Greenfield, US Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) announced that Washington is going to reopen diplomatic channels with Palestine.

It is worth noting that the Trump administration had severed diplomatic with the Palestinian Authority (PA).

She added that since January, US diplomacy has been guided by the assumption that sustainable progress towards peace must be based on active consultations with both the Israeli and Palestinians.

These statements came during a UN Security Council conference on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

Thomas-Greenfield indicated that    the Democratic   administration will take steps to reopen diplomatic channels of communication that were suspended during the previous administration’s era

The US  envoy revealed that her country would like to “see Israelis and Palestinians alike take steps towards a two-state solution.”

She added   that “under the leadership of President Joe Biden, the United States has restored its commitment to the vision of a mutually agreed-upon two-state solution, in which Israel lives in peace and security.”