PA’s Mahmoud Abbas: We have begun reforms in coordination with the United States

In a rare interview with Channel 12, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says that the PA is coordinating with the United States on reforms it is implementing against the backdrop of a ceasefire deal in Gaza that calls on the body to implement significant changes.

He adds that the international push to recognize a Palestinian state is not meant to hurt Israel.

“We launched a reform that also includes the issue of prisoners’ salaries, which we agreed upon with the United States, in addition to reforms in education, health and the economy — some have already been implemented and others will be implemented until we reach a point where the Palestinian Authority can continue to lead the Palestinian people,” Abbas says in the interview with Arad Nir.

This is Abbas’s first interview with an Israeli media outlet in several years.

The Palestinian Authority, created as a result of the 1993 Oslo Accords, governs Palestinian population centers in the West Bank. It was ousted from Gaza by Hamas in 2007, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out the idea of the PA returning to govern the Strip after the war. The ceasefire deal proposed by US President Donald Trump says the PA could have a role in governing Gaza after undergoing deep reforms.

Abbas adds: “We hoped and we continue to hope that we can stop the bloodshed taking place in our region — in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Jerusalem. We hope that peace, security and stability will prevail.”