PA is garnering international support for Abbas to visit Gaza

Following Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s pledge before the Turkish Parliament to visit the Gaza Strip last week, the PA is making preparations for Abbas to lead a high-level delegation there, the Palestinian news agency Maan reports.

The objective of the visit will be to express solidarity with the people of Gaza, and to assert the authority and jurisdiction of the PA and the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) over the coastal enclave, Maan adds.

In preparation for the visit, the PA has reportedly made contact with the UN and the permanent members of the UN Security Council, with Arab and Muslim countries, with members of the European Union and the African Union, and other countries. Israel has also been informed, the agency writes.

No date is given for the planned visit, and it is not clear how Abbas and his delegation will enter the embattled Strip.

A Palestinian source familiar with the plan tells The Times of Israel that Abbas has also appealed to the US and other members of the international community to secure his visit and that the PA is awaiting the end of ongoing negotiations on a truce-hostage deal with Hamas before it can take place.

The visit will have to be arranged with international guarantees and with a prior understanding by Israel, the unnamed source adds, noting that “Hamas’s approval is also important.”