Report: PA held secret meet with 3 Arab countries to advance postwar plan for Gaza

Gianluca Pacchiani is the Arab affairs reporter for The Times of Israel

Axios reports that top security officials from the Palestinian Authority, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt held a secret meeting in Riyadh 10 days ago to hatch a plan to bring Gaza back under the rule of a “revived” Palestinian Authority after a postwar transition period.

The meeting was reportedly hosted by Saudi Arabia’s national security adviser Musaed bin Mohammed al-Aiban, and saw the participation of powerful Palestinian spy chief Majed Faraj and his Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts.

A similar idea has been put forward by the Biden administration in the context of the contact group it has been establishing with Middle East allies to formulate a united policy for the Gaza Strip after the war.

At the secret Riyadh meeting, the Saudi national security adviser reiterated that the Gulf monarchy is still interested in normalizing relations with Israel in return for practical steps by Jerusalem towards the establishment of a Palestinian state, Axios reports.

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