Palestinian Authority plans for major role in post-war Gaza despite US blueprint

By Tom Perry and Ali Sawafta

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) -The Palestinian Authority expects a significant role in post-war Gaza, even though President Donald Trump's plan sidelines it for now, and is banking on Arab support to secure its position despite Israeli objections, Palestinian officials say.

Gaza's future governance has moved into focus with a ceasefire due to begin on Thursday, the first step in Trump's bid to end two years of war. The next phase of the deal must tackle thorny issues, including demands that Islamist militant group Hamas disarm and end its rule in Gaza, from where it launched the October 7 attacks on Israel that ignited the war.

Hamas seized control of the coastal enclave from Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007. Trump's proposal foresees an internationally supervised technocratic Palestinian committee taking over Gaza after the war. It requires the PA, which is based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, to enact reforms before it can assume power. 

While the PA has welcomed Trump's efforts, its officials have privately expressed disappointment. An alternative plan drawn up by Saudi Arabia and France had emphasised its leading role in Gaza. 

Abbas has already declared his commitment to tackling corruption, holding elections, and other reforms requested by Western nations, helping to convince several of them to recognise Palestine in recent weeks.

Three senior Palestinian officials said they still expect the PA to be deeply involved in Gaza. They noted the role it has played in the enclave since the Hamas takeover, paying salaries to tens of thousands of civil servants and overseeing essential services, including education and Gaza's electricity supply.

"We're already there," Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa told Reuters. Mustafa, 71, was appointed by Abbas last year as part of a shake-up of the Authority after then-president Joe Biden made clear he wanted to see a revitalized PA take charge in post-war Gaza.

"It's one thing to have some international, temporary arrangements to help and monitor things, it's another to govern and get things done," Mustafa said.

The three officials cited the PA's international standing as the Palestinians' representative body, and the support of Arab states that want Gaza and the West Bank reunited in an effort to preserve hopes of Palestinian statehood.

Many countries, including Arab states, believe the PA must be "in-charge" of Gaza not least because "they know that it's the only practical way of doing things", Mustafa said. 

A spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not respond to a request for comment. The U.S. State Department also did not immediately respond to Reuters' questions.

PM DEVELOPS GAZA PLANS

Mustafa said international plans for Gaza's governance were still evolving, though the basics were covered in the U.S. roadmap. Gaza's post-war transition will be the focus of an international meeting in Paris on Thursday.       

Mustafa - a former World Bank official who once ran the Palestinians' sovereign wealth fund and is seen as close to Abbas - has been developing reconstruction plans since taking office 18 months ago. 

With Egypt's support, he has scheduled a reconstruction conference to take place a month after the ceasefire. 

Updated World Bank estimates put reconstruction costs for Gaza at $80 billion, up from $53 billion last October, he said. That's four times the combined GDP of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2022, according to the multilateral lender.

Arab states including Egypt, Jordan, and Qatar backed the Saudi-French plan, which called for a transitional administrative committee to be formed "under the umbrella of the" PA, and foresaw the deployment of an international stabilisation mission at the PA's invitation.    

But Ghaith al-Omari, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute think-tank who once served in the PA, doubted the PA would now have a significant role in the initial phase of Trump's deal. 

Arab states may well coordinate with it over appointments in the committee of Palestinian technocrats expected to rule Gaza under Trump's plan, but without giving it a veto, he said.

"The reference to the PA, vague as it may be, gives it some sort of standing; reinforces that Gaza and the West Bank are the same unit, which the Arabs wanted," he said. But he didn't expect Arab states to expend political capital pressing for a more concrete PA role early on.

The PA was set up in 1994 in what Palestinians hoped would be a step towards statehood in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, a goal that has appeared increasingly elusive as Israel has expanded settlements and ruled out Palestinian independence.

The Trump plan foresees a temporary international stabilisation mission deploying to train and support vetted Palestinian police forces, saying it would "consult with Jordan and Egypt".

Mustafa said the PA had already nominated some 5,500 Palestinians to be part of a new Gaza police force being trained by Egypt. The goal is to train at least 10,000 people. 

Sabry Saydam of Abbas' Fatah movement told Reuters that Israel didn't want the PA to return to Gaza in order to maintain the split between the two Palestinian territories. "The Arab states support the presence of the PA (in Gaza)," he said, describing its Arab ties as better than ever.

MUSTAFA: REFORM MUSTN'T BE PRETEXT FOR BLOCKING STATEHOOD

Hamas officials have signalled their support for a PA role, saying it should be the "reference" for a new technocratic committee to which it is prepared to hand authority, seeing this as preferable to foreign supervision.

Trump's plan foresees former British Prime Minister Tony Blair as part of an international supervisory body, an idea that provoked strong criticism among Palestinians.

The failure to secure statehood has contributed to the PA's diminishing standing among Palestinians. Many Palestinians deem it corrupt. Opinion polls show Abbas, 89, is unpopular. 

The PA last held elections in 2006.          

Netanyahu has been firmly against its return to Gaza. He levels charges against the PA including incitement, saying in a September 26 U.N. speech that Palestinian textbooks teach children "to hate Jews and destroy the Jewish state".

Trump's plan calls on the PA to complete reforms outlined in his 2020 peace plan. This described the PA as corrupt and promoting "a culture of incitement" in PA-controlled media and schools. It also said Palestinian leaders must recognise Israel as "the Jewish state".    

Washington has also sought an end to PA payments to families of Palestinians killed or jailed by Israel, which critics have described as "pay to slay".

The PA claims progress, abolishing a law governing such payments and pledging to reform school curricula in line with U.N. standards. 

Abbas has, however, ruled out recognising Israel as a Jewish state, noting that the Palestine Liberation Organisation, which he chairs, recognised Israel in 1993 and that 21% of Israel's population are Arabs.   

Mustafa said the PA had made "very good progress" on institutional reforms. "We don't want Israel to use this as a pretext for not proceeding with statehood, with reintegrating Gaza, with reconstruction of Gaza," he said.

(Additional reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo and Pesha Magid in Jerusalem; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Daniel Flynn)