Blinken to unveil Gaza ‘day-after’ plan in speech sparking division within Biden admin
Secretary wants plan to be blueprint for post-war management of Gaza, but some US officials fear window to give such a speech closed after Nov. and that it could harm hostage talks
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will unveil a plan for the post-war management of Gaza in a speech on Tuesday that has been the subject of internal divisions within the Biden administration, according to a US official.
Blinken hopes the plan will serve as a blueprint for Gaza’s governance, security and reconstruction after the war. Frameworks for these three issues will be a key part of negotiations regarding the second phase of a still-to-be-finalized hostage deal between Israel and Hamas.
But some in the State Department and White House have expressed concerns that giving the address this week would be ill-timed and potentially damaging to nearly-finished efforts to finalize an agreement on the first stage of a hostage deal, the US official told The Times of Israel on Monday, confirming reporting in the Axios news site.
The Biden administration has been working on crafting this plan for months, and already in the summer Blinken announced that it would be released shortly.
The US worked with allies in the Arab world through a contact group it set up last January to advance the plan for the so-called “day-after” in Gaza.
But the effort faced repeated setbacks, with both Israel and the Palestinian Authority chafing at various components. Meanwhile, Arab allies held off on making commitments regarding their participation before there was a ceasefire in Gaza, which few felt would take so long to secure.

The US has argued that waiting until after the war ends to have a day-after plan in place is a recipe for disaster, but Blinken ultimately wasn’t able to convince other allies to get on board. When the contact group did put together its own plan seeking the administration’s support over the summer, the US pushed back on some of the proposal’s key elements, arguing that they were unrealistic.
With the Democrats losing the presidential election, Blinken’s speech is being likened to one former secretary of state John Kerry gave in December 2016 in which he made a final case for the two-state solution, while excoriating Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank. The address was blasted by Israel.
Blinken’s speech on Tuesday at the Atlantic Council will have some of the same themes, while focusing more on the post-war management of Gaza and the opportunities that lie ahead for Israel, the PA and the region if it is managed properly, the US official said.
The plan Blinken is slated to unveil envisions a reformed PA leading the post-war governance of Gaza in what would create a pathway to an eventual two-state solution. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thus far ardently resisted any PA involvement in Gaza, but Blinken is expected to reiterate how a role for Ramallah would unlock the assistance of Arab allies that the premier has been seeking.
Blinken will argue that allowing the PA to return to Gaza would create a pathway for a two-state solution — Saudi Arabia’s final condition for a normalization deal with Israel, which Netanyahu has long sought.
In June, Blinken told Mideast counterparts that Egypt and the United Arab Emirates are prepared to participate in a post-war Gaza security force, three officials familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel. However, the officials said that Cairo and Abu Dhabi both stipulated conditions for their involvement, including a demand that the initiative be at the invitation of a reformed PA and linked to the establishment of a political horizon for Palestinians.

But the fear from some in the administration is that the speech will end up serving Netanyahu’s political interests, while marginalizing the PA and its President Mahmoud Abbas, Axios reported.
The US official speaking to The Times of Israel said that Netanyahu could end up using the plan as an excuse to blow up the hostage negotiations by arguing that the talks are being used to allow the PA to gain a foothold in Gaza once the war is over.
A second US official rejected that charge, saying the US has long called for the involvement of a reformed PA in Gaza and that doing so again on Tuesday won’t have any impact on the hostage talks, which the Biden administration is working together with the incoming Trump team to close.
Hostage talks in Doha progressed significantly since the weekend, with two officials crediting a “tense” meeting US President-elect Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff held in Jerusalem with Netanyahu during which he pressed the premier to make the compromises necessary to secure a deal by the January 20 inauguration.
Aides for Biden and Trump have been optimistic, but outgoing US officials have acknowledged that they’ve been this close to a deal before only for the talks to fall apart.