12/27/2023–|Last updated: 12/27/202303:34 AM (Mecca time)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced 3 conditions for the Palestinian Authority to assume responsibility in Gaza, which has been subjected to a devastating Israeli war since last October 7, considering at the same time that the Authority “did not leave the Gaza Strip until it returned to it.”
Abbas spoke during an interview with the Egyptian channel “On” and broadcast on Palestine TV (government), on Tuesday evening, where he said, “We want a comprehensive halt to the fighting, open the doors for humanitarian aid, and prevent the migration of Palestinians outside their homeland.”
He continued, “We requested these three points. After that, if there is an (Israeli) exit from Gaza, we are ready to bear our responsibilities that we bear now. We will continue to bear the responsibilities of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem as one Palestinian state.”
In response to a question about whether there were plans or cadres to rule Gaza the day after the war, he replied, “We have everything, and the cadres are there (…), we did not leave Gaza in order to return to it.”
The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) won the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006, and following the collapse of a national unity government, the movement took control of Gaza the following year, in light of disputes that still exist with the Fatah movement led by Abbas.
“We are in Gaza”
Abbas said, “We are present in Gaza, and we have our institutions, cadres, and youth. We pay Gaza, the people and institutions, 140 million dollars a month. We are present in Gaza. Today, among our ministers, 5 are from Gaza, and 3 are residents there.”
He continued that the Palestinian vision is that “the Palestinians (the Authority) are in Gaza, not for us to return to it. At any moment (an) international conference (can be held), and we are ready to study the situation on the basis of international legitimacy and the application of international legitimacy and a Palestinian state that includes Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem.”
While the administration of US President Joe Biden wants the Palestinian Authority to bear responsibility in Gaza after the war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects this option, and wants to maintain security control over the Strip.
Abbas said that Israel does not want the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, but rather “it wants to remain and seize parts (of other Palestine), but the world does not agree, and in theory America does not agree with it.”
He went on to say that communications are continuing with Egypt and Jordan as part of efforts to stop the aggression, adding that “meetings will be held soon and bring together more countries such as the UAE and Qatar to work to stop the aggression, and to talk about what comes after the war.”
Abbas stressed that “Israel wants to displace Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip as it did in 1948.”
He added, “The plan of Israel, Netanyahu, and his current government is to get rid of the Palestinians and the Palestinian Authority.”
“We don’t believe the Americans”
Abbas said, “America is the one that supports Israel, and with one signal (from it) it can stop it (the war).”
He said, “We will not believe the Americans (the US administration)” when they claim that they are giving instructions to Israel, but it does not listen to those instructions.
Since the outbreak of the war, the United States has provided Israel with the strongest possible military, intelligence, and diplomatic support, to the point that critics have come to consider Washington an “accomplice” in Israeli “war crimes” in Gaza.
Abbas described what is happening in Gaza as “nowhere in the world has happened greater and more horrific than the 1948 Nakba,” adding that Gaza “needs tens of billions (of dollars) to at least return to living a new life.”
Abbas said that Israel is waging war on the Palestinians, imposing a severe siege on the Authority, and “is withholding about a billion dollars, at a time when there is no support or assistance (from abroad).”
He concluded, “Hope is coming. Gaza will return to what it was and is better, and it will be a Palestinian state. The world must understand that we are a people who deserve life and independence, and there is no justification for us to remain under occupation.”
As of Tuesday, the Israeli war on Gaza had left 20,915 martyrs and 54,918 wounded, most of them children and women, massive infrastructure destruction and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, according to the Gaza Strip authorities and the United Nations.