2023-12-16 17:29:51
Recent weeks have witnessed a series of visits from senior American officials to the West Bank to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in the hope that the 88-year-old will be able to make enough changes to his unpopular authority that will make it qualified to administer Gaza after the ongoing conflict there between… Israel and the Hamas movement, in which it stands by, according to what was reported by the Archyde.com news agency.
Abbas was one of the architects of the Oslo peace agreement with Israel in 1993, which revived hopes for the establishment of a Palestinian state, but the construction of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which is under the administration of his authority, is gradually diminishing his legitimacy. Many Palestinians began to view his administration as corrupt, undemocratic, and absent, according to Archyde.com.
But in the wake of the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, US President Joe Biden clearly said that he wants to see the Palestinian Authority, which has been run by Abbas since 2005, take over responsibility in Gaza once the conflict ends after it is restructured, and unify the administration of Gaza with West Bank.
Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with Abbas yesterday, Friday, becoming the latest senior American official to urge him to embrace rapid change. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters after meeting with the Palestinian leader in late November that they discussed the need for anti-corruption reforms, empowering civil society, and supporting a free press.
Three Palestinian sources and a senior official from the region familiar with the talks said that Washington’s closed-room proposals also include Abbas relinquishing some of his control over power.
Palestinian and regional sources said that, according to the proposals presented, Abbas could appoint a deputy, hand over more executive powers to the prime minister, and introduce new figures into the leadership.
The White House did not provide answers to questions from Archyde.com. The US State Department said that leadership choices are a matter for the Palestinian people and did not provide clarification of the steps necessary to restructure the authority.
In an interview with Archyde.com in his office in Ramallah, Abbas said that he is ready to introduce amendments to the Palestinian Authority with new leaders and hold elections that have been suspended since Hamas won the last elections in 2006 and excluded the Palestinian Authority from the administration of Gaza, provided that there is an international agreement. A binding agreement that would lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
This is something that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right coalition refuse to support.
Abbas said in the interview last week when he was asked about the American proposals that the problem is not changing Palestinian politicians and forming a new government, but rather the problem is the policies of the Israeli government.
While Abbas may acknowledge that his long rule is coming to an end, he and other Palestinian leaders say the United States, Israel’s top strategic ally, should pressure Netanyahu’s government to accept the establishment of a Palestinian state that includes Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
An informed source in Washington reported that Abbas secretly expressed his openness to some American proposals to reform the Palestinian Authority, including injecting “new blood” with technocratic skills and granting the Prime Minister’s Office more executive powers.
While American officials stress that they have not proposed any names to Abbas, regional sources and diplomats say that some in Washington and Israel prefer Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hussein Al-Sheikh, as a potential deputy and successor in the future.
Four American sources, two of whom are administration officials, said that Washington is urging “countries with influence with the Palestinian Authority” to persuade Abbas to urgently move forward with institutional reforms to prepare “for the next day.”
The American sources said that Abbas has pledged several times to make changes to his administration in the past few years and does not have many results to offer, so senior American officials will keep up the pressure while they wait to see if he will do so this time.
However, American officials believe that Abbas remains the only realistic Palestinian leadership figure at the present time, despite his unpopularity among the Palestinians and the lack of confidence in him on the part of Israel, which denounces his failure to condemn the Hamas attack on October 7.
A senior US administration official, who requested anonymity due to the confidential nature of the talks, reported that Biden aides are quietly urging Israel’s leaders to abandon their opposition to the Palestinian Authority after it was restructured and assumed a leadership role in Gaza after the conflict.
Israel’s stubbornness
Palestinian and American diplomatic sources said that talks about what will happen once the war ends have increased in the past few weeks, but no plans have been presented to Abbas.
International condemnation of the Israeli attack has increased in light of the rise in the death toll, which health authorities in Gaza said approached 19,000 yesterday, Friday, but Netanyahu is determined that the war will continue until the elimination of Hamas, the return of the hostages, and the securing of Israel from future attacks.
Netanyahu said on Tuesday that there is a dispute with America over the Palestinian Authority’s rule of Gaza. He added that Gaza “will not be Hamas-istan or Fatah-istan.”
While Washington announced this month the imposition of sanctions on Israeli settlers responsible for attacks on Palestinians, the US government remains loyal in its defense of Israel at the United Nations, as it rejects calls for a ceasefire, and Biden also agreed to provide military aid during the past weeks.
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