United States President Donald Trump is attempting to place the Gaza strip under the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority’s control.
When former US President George W. Bush forced Israel to surrender Gaza in 2005, he and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had planned to put the coastal strip in the hands of American-backed Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan.
Hamas’s subsequent electoral victory, along with its successful resistance to an attempted military coup by Bush, Rice and Dahlan, ultimately led to Dahlan’s expulsion from the strip.
Hamas has since fought a number of conflicts with Israel that have each resulted in catastrophic results for the people of Gaza. The most recent flare up this summer seems to have come to an end with the intervention of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
On Wednesday, just hours after PA President Mahmoud Abbas spoke on the phone with el-Sisi about the situation in Gaza, the White House published a statement thanking the Egyptian president for his attempts to bring calm to the area.
“The Trump Administration strongly supports the efforts of President al-Sissi and the Egyptian government to help facilitate an agreement to restore calm in Gaza and bring about the conditions for the Palestinian Authority to fully assume its responsibilities in Gaza,” said US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East Jason Greenblatt.
Greenblatt further stated that “The Palestinian Authority cannot criticize from the sidelines. The Palestinian Authority should be part of the solution for the Palestinians of Gaza and Palestinians as a whole. If not, others will fill that void.”
The American envoy added that “it’s time for the Palestinian Authority to lead the Palestinian people – all Palestinians – to a better future.”
The White House statement and the call between Abbas and el-Sisi point to increased American pressure on Abbas with regards to Gaza. Abbas has been concerned about the diplomatic efforts to improve the situation in Gaza, because he believes those talks will empower Hamas on expense of Fatah.
Abbas has also expressed his fear that if the PA takes over Gaza, as Greenblatt is urging it to do, Israel will retaliate against his regime whenever one of the local terror organizations in Gaza fires a rocket toward Israel, or even sends arson kites to the fields of Israeli communities in the south.
Abbas is correct to fear a PA take over in Gaza. They shouldn’t attempt it. Israel should.
The only way to prevent the same senseless war from repeating itself every couple of years is for Israel to take responsibility and not only right the wrongs of 2005 but also offer Palestinians better options for the future.
Israel needs to acknowledge our mistake in letting Bush force us out of Gaza, return to the strip, dismantle Hamas, rebuild the Jewish communities destroyed at America’s behest and offer the Palestinians a better life with us as full Israeli citizens.
Israel could even embark on a wealth redistribution policy through offering economic incentives for Palestinians to either move to the Negev and participate in the development of Israel’s south or return to the general areas their families fled in 1948, even if the actual homes they fled are no longer available.
