(Cairo) Tuesday’s announcement of an agreement on the formation of a Palestinian committee responsible for administering the Gaza Strip after the war raises doubts in view of the hostility displayed by senior Fatah officials towards view of the project.
Posted at 6:54 a.m.
Updated at 5:52 p.m.
Monday evening in Cairo, representatives of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, agreed on the formation of a committee responsible for administering the Gaza Strip after the war, according to negotiators on both sides.
At the end of discussions under the aegis of the Egyptian authorities, the Palestinian enemy brothers approved a draft agreement to be validated by a presidential decree from Mr. Abbas, a member of the team of negotiations by Hamas and another by Fatah.
But barely announced, this plan was rejected by Jibril Rajoub, the influential secretary general of Fatah, who sees it as a factor in “dividing” the Palestinians.
“We want one government [palestinien pour la Cisjordanie et la bande de Gaza, NDLR]a single security device and a single policy. Any discussion or effort outside of this framework is a mistake,” he told journalists in Ramallah, headquarters of the Palestinian Authority (PA), in the occupied West Bank.
According to the text of the plan seen by AFP, the committee, to be made up of 10 to 15 personalities not affiliated with either movement, would have authority over all matters relating to humanitarian aid, education , health, economy and reconstruction, in coordination with the Palestinian Authority government in Ramallah.
The committee would also be responsible for administering the Palestinian part of the Rafah crossing point between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, the small territory’s only gateway to a country other than Israel.
The executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), an institution dominated by Fatah and to which Hamas does not belong, met Tuesday evening, but refrained from publicly endorsing or rejecting the Cairo agreement.
“No one will sign”
“The information circulating [au sujet du comité pour Gaza] are inaccurate,” one of its members told AFP on condition of anonymity: “There was no agreement on [sa] formation. »
“The Fatah delegation [au Caire] did not accept the agreement”, and “no one on the committee [exécutif de l’OLP] will not sign such an agreement,” he added.
Anyway, “how would this agreement be implemented when Israel controls Gaza militarily?” “, asks Ghassan Khatib, Palestinian analyst and former member of the government.
“If this agreement is implemented, it will free Israel from its obligations as an occupier,” said Mr. Khatib, professor at Birzeit University (West Bank).
The announcement of the agreement comes against the backdrop of a renewal of diplomatic initiative to put an end to the war triggered by the unprecedented attack by Hamas launched on October 7, 2023 against Israel, whose military reprisals devastated the Strip of Gaza, now prey, according to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, to an “apocalyptic” situation.
These efforts, under the aegis of the United States, in coordination with Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, according to Washington, are taking place in the wake of the entry into force of a fragile truce in Lebanon between Israel and the Hezbollah, ally of Hamas.
The government of Benjamin Netanyahu, one of the most right-wing in the history of Israel, has made the destruction of Hamas one of its war aims, but has also repeatedly expressed its firm opposition to seeing the Palestinian Authority return to Gaza.
