Blinken Sets Out Vision For Post-War Gaza

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) WASHINGTON -- "We will hand off that plan to the trump administration to carry forward, but let me share a few of its core elements this morning," Secretary Blinken disclosed.
"We believe that the Palestinian Authority (PA) should invite international partners to help establish and run an interim administration with responsibility for key civil sectors in Gaza like banking, water, energy, health, civil coordination of Israel, the international community would provide funding, protectable support and oversight.
"The interim administration would include Palestinians from Gaza and representatives from the PA selected following meaningful consultation with communities in Gaza, and would hand over a complete responsibility to a fully reformed pa administration as soon as it's feasible, the administrators would operate in close cooperation with a senior UN official who should oversee the international civilization and recovery effort.
"An interim security issue would be made up of members of partner Nation Security Forces and vetted Palestinian personnel.
"Its responsibilities would include creating a secure environment for humanitarian and reconstruction efforts and ensuring border security, which is crucial to preventing smuggling that could allow Hamas to rebuild its military capacity.
"But if and only if, it is agreed that Gaza and the West Bank are reunified under a reformed PA as part of a pathway to an independent Palestinian state, and therein lies the rub.
"These principles are mutually reinforcing, time bound, because no one will believe or accept an endless process. Palestinians need and deserve a clear and near horizon for political self-determination.
"Conditions based, because while Palestinians have a right to self-determination, with that right comes responsibility.
"We sincerely hope the parties will be prepared to make tough choices going forward, and yet the unimpeachable reality is that up to this point, they've either failed to make these difficult decisions or acted in ways that put a deal on long term peace further from reach.
"Israel's government has systematically undermined the capacity and legitimacy of the only viable alternative to Hamas, the Palestinian Authority," Blinken acknowledged.
"Consider funding Israel continues to hold back PA tax revenues that it collects, on behalf of the Palestinians, funds that belong to the Palestinians and to the PA des to pay people who provide essential services like health care and security in the West Bank, which is vital to Israel's own security.
"Just this week, us, engagement led Israel to agree to unlock hundreds of millions of dollars in PA tax revenues, a welcome step, but these funds never should have been withheld in the first place, and Israel continues to hold more than half a billion dollars in tax revenues that the DA urgently needs, that Palestinians are entitled to in the West Bank.
"Israel is expanding official settlements and nationalizing land at a faster clip than any time in the last decade, while turning a blind eye to unprecedented growth illegal outposts, violent attacks by strong settlers against Palestinian civilians have resurrected violence.
"We've long made the point to the Israeli Government that Hamas cannot be defeated by a military campaign alone, that without a clear alternative, a post conflict plan and a credible political rise for the Palestinians, Hamas, for something just as important and dangerous, will grow back --.
"That is a recipe for an enduring insurgency and perpetual war. The longer the war goes up, the worse the humanitarian situation gets in Gaza, Israel faces uniquely challenging circumstances in Gaza, the civilian population trapped there with Hamas hiding in and under homes, hospitals, schools and mosques," Blinken stressed.
He accused the Palestinian Authority of failing to undertake "long overdue reforms like reining in corruption and a bloated bureaucracy, further eroding its support among Palestinians." (end)
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