Photo: Bashar Taleb Agence France-Presse A Palestinian man sits on a mountain of flour sacks in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip.
Agence France-Presse in Cairo
Published at 9:48
- Middle East
Representatives of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, have agreed to form a committee to administer the Gaza Strip after the war, AFP learned Tuesday from negotiators from both sides.
Following talks in Cairo mediated by Egyptian authorities, the Palestinian warring brothers approved a draft agreement to be validated by a presidential decree from Mr. Abbas, according to a member of the Hamas negotiating team and another from Fatah.
But in the aftermath, in Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the occupied West Bank, the plan was rejected by Jibril Rajoub, the influential secretary-general of Fatah, who saw it as a factor of “division” among the Palestinians.
“We want one government, one security apparatus and one policy. Any discussion or effort outside of this framework is a mistake,” he detailed to reporters.
According to him, it is essential to “protect” Palestinian institutions such as the PA rather than “forming separate committees here and there distinct between the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.”
“We will not participate in any approach that reinforces division or conforms to the will of Mr. Netanyahu,” the Israeli prime minister.
Unaffiliated
According to the text of the project seen by AFP, the committee, to be made up of ten to fifteen personalities not affiliated with either movement, would have authority over all matters relating to humanitarian aid, education, health, the economy and reconstruction, in coordination with the government of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000The committee would also be responsible for administering the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, the only gateway from the small territory to another country than Israel.
The executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which is dominated by Fatah but to which Hamas does not belong, is due to meet on Tuesday evening, according to one of its members, and could decide whether or not to accept the Cairo agreement.
“How would this agreement be implemented when Israel controls Gaza militarily??” asks Ghassan Khatib, a Palestinian analyst and former member of the government.
This professor at Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank points out that the Israeli authorities have not yet reacted despite the fact that they are reoccupying the Gaza Strip and controlling all access points to the small territory.
“If this agreement is implemented, it will free Israel from its obligations as an occupier,” believes Mr. Khatib.
Read also
- UN calls situation in Gaza 'horrific and apocalyptic'
- Olive groves, land of struggle between Israelis and Palestinians
- UNRWA announces suspension of aid deliveries through key crossing point from Israel
Diplomatic initiative
The announcement of the agreement comes amid a renewed diplomatic initiative to end the war between Hamas and Israel that has devastated the Gaza Strip, in prey, according to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, to an “apocalyptic” situation.
These efforts, led by the United States and coordinated with Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, according to Washington, come in the wake of the entry into force of a fragile truce in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas.
With the US administration of Joe Biden set to hand over to Donald Trump in January, the Palestinians are under intense pressure from Washington to ensure that Hamas will play no role in Gaza once the war is over.
The Islamist movement has made it clear in recent months that it does not want to administer day-to-day affairs in the Gaza Strip once the war is over.
The government of Benjamin Netanyahu, one of the most right-wing in Israel’s history, has made the destruction of Hamas in Gaza a priority one of its war aims but has also repeatedly signaled its firm opposition to seeing the Palestinian Authority return to Gaza.
The war was triggered on October 7, 2023, by an unprecedented attack by Hamas that resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data and including hostages killed or killed in captivity.
The Israeli military campaign of reprisals on the Gaza Strip has left at least 44,502 dead, mostly civilians, according to data from the Hamas Health Ministry for Gaza, deemed reliable by the UN