The Palestinian Authority is working with U.S. officials on a plan to manage the Gaza Strip after the war ends, Bloomberg News reported, citing PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh. To this end, American officials met with the head of the Palestinian Authority earlier this week.
The ideal outcome of the conflict, according to Mohammad Shtayyeh, would be for Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, to become a junior partner of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), helping to build an independent state including the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, the Palestinian Authority’s Ramallah-based prime minister said in an interview with Bloomberg News on Thursday.
“If they (Hamas, editor’s note) are ready to conclude an agreement and accept the political platform of the PLO, then it will be possible to discuss. The Palestinians must not be divided,” he said, adding that Israel’s goal of totally defeating Hamas was unrealistic. “Hamas is in Lebanon, everyone also knows that its leaders are in Qatar and that they are here in the West Bank,” justified the Palestinian official.
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Mohammad Shtayyeh also specified that he had met with American officials to work on a management plan for the Gaza Strip. The two sides reportedly agreed that Israel “should not reoccupy Gaza” and should not establish a buffer zone inside the Gaza Strip, as well as expel residents of the enclave, the news agency said. . The Palestinian prime minister also affirmed that he would refuse to return to Gaza under Israeli military supervision. “We need to put a system in place, something we are working on with the international community,” he added.
Asked about a peaceful agreement with Israel, the Palestinian official said he was pessimistic. “Look what Netanyahu said: no return to the Palestinian Authority, no two-state solution. What does that mean? Netanyahu wants the military occupation of Palestinian territory to continue. This is unacceptable,” he said.
Asked to condemn the October 7 massacre, Mohammad Shtayyeh “hesitated,” Bloomberg also reports, before specifying that the conflict had not started on that date.
