The Palestinian Authority (PA) should reclaim its position as leader of the Palestinians in Gaza - a position it once held in 2005 before being overthrown by Hamas in 2007. Now, with Hamas terrorists slowly being picked off by Israeli forces after the Oct. 7 massacre that saw men, women, and children murdered and over 2000 kidnapped, Gaza will need a new ruler.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with PA President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah Sunday to discuss Israel's ongoing war against Hamas as well as what happens in Gaza the day after.
Blinken has been pushing for a temporary ceasefire to allow for humanitarian aid to reach civilians in Gaza as well as to provide more windows for Palestinians to flee toward south Gaza where Israel's military as designated a safe zone for civilians.
As AP reported, U.S. officials believe that Netanyahu may soften his opposition if he can be convinced that it is in Israel's strategic interests to ease the plight of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. The soaring death toll has sparked growing international anger, with tens of thousands of protestors from Washington to Berlin taking to the streets over the weekend to demand an immediate cease-fire.
The Arab foreign ministers that Blinken met with on Saturday in Amman - from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates - issued the same demand for a ceasefire.
But Blinken said the U.S. would not push for one.
"It is our view now that a cease-fire would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on Oct. 7," he said. Instead, as per the AP report, he said that temporary humanitarian pauses in fighting would be critical to protecting civilians, getting aid in and getting foreign nationals out "while still enabling Israel to achieve its objective, the defeat of Hamas".
With so many Israeli and Palestinian civilians dead, it is understandable that the world is up in arms. As Hamas loses its potency and oppressive grip on Gaza, someone will need to take control of this narrow strip of land sandwiched between Egypt, Israel, and the Mediterranean Sea.
From 1949-1967, Egypt controlled Gaza but there was no effort to turn the area into a Palestinian state. When Israel offered it to Egypt in 1967 after taking control of it, Egypt refused and wanted nothing to do with it.
Since 1967, Israel has offered it several times to the PA, including in 2000, 2005, 2008, and 2014, among others, but the PA refused to accept any agreement, as per the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations.
With this in mind, it is important to understand that Israel wants to rid itself of its Gaza problem and the PA only wants to take responsibility for it as part of a larger peace deal that likely encompassed the West Bank and East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian State.
With Hamas out of the picture, the PA could potentially turn Gaza into wat has been called in the past the "Singapore of the Middle East".
Considering that Gaza's entire western border is a Mediterranean coastline, the strip of land could become a beautiful residential, commercial, and vacation spot. Israel has offered in the past, and will likely again offer, to build an airport and seaport to accommodate the needs of the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza.
Until now, the Hamas terrorist threat impeded those efforts and Israel was wary of allowing goods into Gaza that might be used against it in a terrorist way. There is nothing better for the Palestinians in Gaza than urban development and a complete revamping of the Gaza Strip. Without Hamas oppression, men, women, and children alike, while still adhering to their Muslim values, will have more freedoms and an ability to live and vote how they want.
The possibilities are endless.
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