Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas says Gaza must be run by PLO after the war

Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday that the war-torn, besieged coastal enclave must be run by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) after Israel's war ends. 

In an interview with a Russian media outlet, Abbas expressed his categorical rejection of Israeli plans in prolonging the war and maintaining its control over the Gaza Strip.

"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seeks to prolong the war by rejecting all solutions proposed by mediators," Abbas said, adding that "Israel resorted to assassinating the political bureau chief of Hamas, Ismail Hanyieh in Tehran to prolong the war."

Abbas called on the Israeli authorities to stop their aggression against the Palestinian people, respect international law, and implement the Arab Peace Initiative. 

"Our people in Gaza need to reach a ceasefire deal that would lead to the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the entire of Gaza. Then, Gaza must be run by the PLO," Abbas explained. 

On 12 August 2024, Abbas is scheduled to visit Russia and meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and discuss the dire situation in the occupied Palestinian Territories. 

On the other hand, Abbas stressed that efforts are ongoing to achieve national unity, calling on all factions to meet and achieve reconciliation, and he welcomed international and Arab efforts in this regard.

Abbas also said the formation of a national consensus government is conditional on Hamas's approval of the reconciliation requirements, referring to the agreement reached between Palestinian factions in Beijing to form an interim government.

"The Palestinian Authority is ready to regain full control over Gaza once the war ends," Ahmed Majdalani, a senior PLO official, told The New Arab. 

"We are ready to re-control Gaza based on the proposal of US President Joe Biden to reunite the Gaza Strip and the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority if the international community supports the reconstruction of Gaza and pushes Israel to agree to the two-state solution," Majdalani said. 

"We are ready for a political reform agenda through free and democratic general elections," he added. 

He stressed that the PA will not go to the negotiating table if Israel does not allow it to decide the future of the Gaza Strip. 

"This will be done through consensus with Hamas and to unify the Palestinian ranks to end the suffering of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip," he explained.

"For this, we are consulting with Hamas to be in the Palestinian political equation within an agreement that we agree on and within a vision that places international law at the centre of our discussions and focus," Sabri Saidam, a senior official of Fatah, spoke to TNA. 

"In a bid to achieve our national goals, we [Fatah and Hamas] are focusing on Palestinian harmony for a broad consensus on the form of the national struggle in the coming stage," he stressed.