Antony Blinken on an impossibe mission to Israel

The US secretary of state Antony Blinken is making yet another visit to Israel and elsewhere in the Middle East. It's like the old-style shuttle diplomacy of the Cold War. He has already tried to persuade Israel to adopt a different path over the bombardment of Gaza and to start thinking of the future of the Palestinians. But it seems he has lost the argument because the Israeli defence minister has now outlined how the Tel Aviv government views a future Gaza. It is to be a territory secured and controlled by Israel, although the Palestinians left from the bombing will be allowed to govern themselves. That's a formula that is never going to find favour in Washington. Joe Biden wants a Palestinian state with independence. There will be no independence with Israeli troops on the streets. So Blinken's visit is going to be even tougher than usual. I don't know how well he stands up to Binyamin Netanyahu but I doubt the Israeli prime minister is in a mood to give an inch to his American visitor. He has decided he wants Israel to retain firm control of Gaza and the West Bank and that's the way it's going to stay for as long as he is in power. I wonder, if there was an election in Israel today, whether the majority of Israeli people would agree with him.