The U.S. wants a reformed Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza once the war is over. But many obstacles remain to making that vision a reality.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Palestinian prime minister announced the resignation of his government on Monday, paving the way for a shake-up in the Palestinian Authority, which the U.S. hopes will eventually take on a role in postwar Gaza.

Many obstacles remain to making a revamped Palestinian Authority a reality. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose forces were driven from Gaza by Hamas in 2007, has made clear that he would like the PA to govern the enclave after the war. But it is deeply unpopular among Palestinians, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has roundly rejected the idea of putting the authority in charge of the territory.

Abbas accepted the resignation late Monday, the official Wafa news agency announced, but left Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh in place at the head of a caretaker government until a successor is named. There was no word on how long that might take.

The move appears to be the first step in a process toward ushering in reforms sought by the United States, as international negotiations ramp up to bring about a cease-fire. The authority, created under interim Israeli-Palestinian peace deals in the early 1990s, administers parts of the West Bank but is beset by corruption.

  • Deceptichum@kbin.social
    244·
    4 months ago

    Bibi effectively put Hamas in charge of Gaza in an effort to destabilise PA and stop their popularity, why would the West Bank PM stepping down mean Bibi would want to put PA back in charge of Gaza?

    He clearly wanted a split Palestine because it’s easier to annex, so this move seems pointless.

  • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldEnglish
    91·
    4 months ago

    Is it naive to think that this could be the first step toward the first Palestinian elections in decades? Abbas is in the 20th year of his 4 year term.

    • Arete@lemmy.worldEnglish
      187·
      4 months ago

      You know Hamas won that election, right? I don’t support it, but if there was ever a time to rig an election, that was it.

      • Altofaltception@lemmy.worldEnglish
        104·
        4 months ago

        Which resulted in sanctions and an aid embargo immediately. And a blockade that has lasted nearly 20 years. The intention was to starve the Hamas administration to the point where it would fail and elections would be called again.

        My point is if we were going to meddle, perhaps we should have just rigged the election.

      • NoneOfUrBusiness@kbin.social
        85·
        4 months ago

        Who did you expect Palestinians to elect? The Israeli and American puppet that is the PA? There’s a reason nobody likes those fucks.

      • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafeEnglish
        48·
        4 months ago

        And that was before their second, not-actually-a-replacement charter in 2017 that didn’t mention all the genocide they want to do!

        But no, rigging elections is always an attack on democracy as a whole.

        If they want to go full fash afterwards, like Hamas did when they won and immediately cancelled elections, that’s on them.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    4·
    4 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose forces were driven from Gaza by Hamas in 2007, has made clear that he would like the PA to govern the enclave after the war.

    But it is deeply unpopular among Palestinians, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has roundly rejected the idea of putting the authority in charge of the territory.

    But the move signals a willingness by the Western-backed Palestinian leadership to accept a shake-up that might usher in reforms sought by the United States, as international negotiations ramp up to bring about a cease-fire.

    The authority, created under interim Israeli-Palestinian peace deals in the early 1990s, administers parts of the West Bank but is beset by corruption.

    Netanyahu has vowed to destroy the military and governing capabilities of Hamas — which has ruled Gaza since 2007 and staged the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that set off the current war.

    The Palestinians have rejected such a limited role and seek an independent state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza — areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.

    The original article contains 350 words, the summary contains 179 words. Saved 49%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!