WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Israel next week in a show of support for the country before the UN meets for what is expected to be a contentious debate on the creation of a Palestinian state, the State Department said Friday. Despite tensions between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, notably over Israel’s attack on Hamas leaders in Qatar, Rubio will arrive in Israel on Sunday for a two-day visit. He is expected to travel to a controversial archeological site in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians claim for the capital of an eventual state. Rubio will be meeting on Friday with the prime minister of Qatar, whose nation along with many others in the Arab world has condemned Israel’s strike on Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital of Doha. Israel’s attack has ruptured Trump’s hopes to secure a wider Mideast peace deal, with the rulers of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar all uniting in anger against Israel. Trump himself has distanced himself from the strike, saying it “does not advance Israel or America’s goals” and has promised Qatar that it would not be repeated. But his ironclad support for an Israeli government that has increasingly flouted international norms in the wars unleashed by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack is a source of concern in the Gulf and one that Rubio will be forced to addressed on his trip. The State Department said Rubio would “convey America’s priorities in the Israel-Hamas conflict and broader issues concerning Middle Eastern security, reaffirming the U.S. commitment to Israeli security with an emphasis on the Trump administration’s commitment “to fight anti-Israel actions including unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.” His trip also comes as efforts to broker a hostage release and ceasefire deal to end the Israeli-Hamas conflict in Gaza have stalled and Israel has moved ahead with plans to occupy Gaza City. In Rubio’s meetings, the department said Rubio and Israeli leaders would discuss Israel’s “operational goals and objectives” in Gaza and shared attempts to persuade European nations not to recognize a Palestinian state. In addition to his official meetings in Israel, Rubio is expected to visit the City of David, a popular archaeological site and tourist destination built by Israel in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in contested east Jerusalem. The site contains some of the oldest remains of the 3,000-year-old city. Some even claim it is linked to King David. But critics accuse the site’s operators of pushing a nationalistic agenda at the expense of local Palestinian residents. Its parent organization, Elad, helps settle Jewish families in Arab neighborhoods as a way to stake the Jewish claim to the entire city. Israel captured East Jerusalem, home to the city’s most important religious sites, in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed the area. Israel claims the entire city as its eternal, undivided capital while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, including the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The competing claims lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and frequently boil over into violence. In 2017, Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, though he said the move had no bearing on the city’s final boundaries. Nonetheless, the move pleased the Israelis and enraged the Palestinians. Only a few small countries have followed suit, and the vast majority of the international community says the city’s status should be settled through negotiations. Matthew Lee, The Associated Press
