Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says in an interview with the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya channel that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the only obstacle to the PA’s returning to rule Gaza.
“The Palestinian Authority governed Gaza before 2007, and it was completely calm. There is no obstacle to the PA returning to Gaza — except for Netanyahu’s refusal,” Abbas says.
Netanyahu has insisted that the PA not be allowed to return to govern a post-war Gaza, despite the idea’s popularity among many Western nations. He has asserted that an as-yet determined body, that is not Israel, will rule the Strip in the future.
Addressing growing international recognition of a Palestinian state, Abbas says that “many heads of state have told me that they intend to recognize a Palestinian state. We recognized Israel in 1988, and in the Oslo Accords we signed on it. If many countries recognize [Palestine], we will go to the UN to request full membership.”
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