Blinken told Abbas that the Palestinian Authority should play a central role in what comes next in the Gaza Strip, a senior State Department official told Reuters. Abbas told Blinken there should be an immediate ceasefire and that aid should be allowed into Gaza, according to spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh. Abbas' Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has seen its popularity shrivel amid allegations of graft, incompetence and widely hated security cooperation arrangements with Israel. The meeting was Blinken’s second with Abbas since the conflict began, but the first to take place in the West Bank. Blinken and Abbas "discussed efforts to restore calm and stability in the West Bank, including the need to stop extremist violence against Palestinians and hold those accountable responsible," Miller said.

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Persons: Antony Blinken, General Hussein al, Mahmoud Abbas, Blinken, Israel, Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, Matthew Miller, Miller, Jordan, Simon Lewis, Ali Sawafta, Hugh Lawson, Alexander Smith Organizations: PLO, Hamas, West Bank, Sunday, Palestinian Authority, State Department, Reuters, Palestinian, United Nations, Thomson Locations: Israel, Palestinian, Ramallah, RAMALLAH, Gaza, United States, Egypt