Aside from pleasantries, neither man spoke as they greeted each other in front of cameras and the meeting ended without any public comment. It was not immediately clear if the lack of words indicated the meeting had gone poorly. Blinken had visited Israel and met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday before decamping to Jordan for meetings with senior Arab officials on Saturday. U.S. officials believe that Netanyahu may soften his opposition if he can be convinced that it is in Israel’s strategic interests to ease the plight of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Blinken and other U.S. officials are offering a vague outline that it might include a combination of a revitalized Palestinian Authority along with international organizations and potentially a peacekeeping force.

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Persons: Antony Blinken, Mahmoud Abbas, Blinken, Matthew Miller, Abbas, Miller, –, Benjamin Netanyahu, decamping, Netanyahu, United Arab Emirates –, ”, Israel, Ayman al Organizations: West Bank, —, State Department, Authority, Israeli, U.S, United, United Arab Emirates Locations: RAMALLAH, West, Israel, Gaza, Ramallah, Jordan, Washington, Berlin, Amman –, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab, U.S, Jordanian, Palestinian