Saturday 18 / May / 2024
Washington DC: Amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, US officials are discussing the post-war Gaza governance plans with the Palestinian Authority along with regional allies, CNN reported.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be meeting a delegation of Arab counterparts from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Turkey and the Palestinian Authority, where the topic of Gaza after the Israeli offensive is expected to be a main point of discussion.
US officials have said they ultimately envision both Gaza and the West Bank being ruled by a unified government led by a "revitalised" Palestinian Authority, CNN reported.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who initially rebuffed the idea of the PA ruling Gaza on the heels of the Israeli offensive, has shifted his position.
State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said Wednesday that the US understands that there will be "some kind of transition period" in which Israeli forces remain in Gaza after the end of combat operations, but that "cannot be permanent".
A Western diplomat told CNN that in past conversations the Arab delegation has made clear that they are not eager to be involved with an international force to provide security in Gaza after the war. The ministers have also said that if the world wants Arab states to play a role in the reconstruction and support of the PA, there must be a path towards a Palestinian state.
A senior administration official said that privately there is some consternation within the administration over the US' Arab allies' reluctance to play any role in a post-war international peacekeeping force, since they have been among the loudest in condemning Israel's assault on Gaza.
An Arab ambassador told CNN that their country would "absolutely not" place any of its own forces in Gaza after the war. Part of that is because the Arab states do not want to be seen as subjugating the Palestinians, the ambassador explained.
Notably, the Biden administration has consistently advocated for a two-state solution. Last month, Blinken laid out the administration's terms for "durable peace and security" in Gaza after the war, which include no Israeli re-occupation and no reduction in territory. The US is opposed to the establishment of an Israeli security buffer zone within Gaza after the war.
US Vice President Kamala Harris also raised post-conflict Gaza in multiple meetings and calls with Arab leaders last weekend when in Dubai, telling reporters that she shared what expectations the US will have with regard to post-conflict planning.
Last week, Blinken met with President Abbas in Ramallah. Harris' national security adviser, Phil Gordon, also held additional meetings in the West Bank this week.
Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said last month that the PA will "have to be part" of any future governing solution in both the West Bank and Gaza following the current hostilities - a prospect that Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has explicitly opposed.
The senior administration official told CNN that the apparent disagreement between the US and Israel over a future role for the PA is overstated. The US agrees that the Palestinian Authority in its current, weakened state would be unlikely to be able to govern Gaza, but that a "revitalized" PA - including potentially with new leadership entirely - is a plausible solution.
Notably, Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation agreement in Cairo in October 2017 under pressure from the Arab states, led by Egypt. Under the deal, a new unity government was supposed to take administrative control of Gaza two months later, ending a decade of rivalry that began when Hamas violently evicted the Palestinian Authority from Gaza in 2007.
However, the deal's lofty aspirations quickly collapsed. During Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah's visit to Gaza in March 2018, he was the target of an assassination attempt after a bomb detonated near his convoy. Hamdallah's Fatah party immediately blamed Hamas for the attack, CNN reported.
