In latest zig-zag, top Israeli official briefing foreign press says PA can’t have role in Gaza since it’s not reliable

A senior Israeli official says there can be no role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza because the body cannot be trusted to fulfill Israel’s demands in the territory.

The official, who was briefing the press, said that remarks made by National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi in an op-ed in the Saudi-owned Elaph news site, which had been interpreted as indicating the government may allow the Palestinian Authority a role governing Gaza after the war, were misunderstood.

The official says Israel needs Gaza to be demilitarized, deradicalized, and a functioning civil administration established, which he says the PA can do none of.

“On the first issue, we know the PA can’t do it because they are not ready to confront the terrorists… they haven’t done it since the beginning of the Oslo agreement and they don’t do it today… We can’t take people who aren’t doing this in Jenin and ask them to do it in Gaza. It’s a non-starter,” the official says.

He says that instead Israel wants moderate Arab nations, citing Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as examples, to be involved in deradicalizing Gaza, along with Western assistance, and wants a “local administration of Palestinians” to run civilian life in Gaza “which is able to work for the future horizon of the Palestinian people with the help of moderate Arab countries.”