At Davos, Blinken calls a pathway to a Palestinian state a necessity for Israeli security

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated the need for a “pathway to a Palestinian state” during a talk Wednesday at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, saying Israel would not “get genuine security absent that.”

If Israel can be brought into the fold of the Middle East, Blinken said, the region would be coming together to isolate Iran, which he called “the biggest concern in terms of security,” as well as its proxies. Those include Yemen’s Houthi rebels who have been attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea.

“The problem is getting from here to there, and of course, it requires very difficult, challenging decisions. It requires a mindset that is open to that perspective,” Blinken said.

He said what is different now is the mindset of leaders in the Arab and Muslim world on integrating Israel into the region and that he feels “a fierce urgency” because “we’re in the midst of what is human tragedy in so many ways in the Middle East right now — for the Israelis and Palestinians alike.”

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