Palestinian unity government meets in Gaza Strip

Members of the new Palestinian unity government, led by Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, traveled from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip Thursday for their first cabinet session there — a meeting meant to signal the end of Hamas’s absolute control of the territory.

The meeting came some four months after Fatah and Hamas reached a reconciliation agreement and over a month after Israel and Gaza-based terror groups ended a bloody 50-day war.

Hamdallah described the event as an “historic opportunity.”

“Our message to our people in Gaza is about bringing back hope, uniting institutions and reconstruction. The Palestinian national project is incomplete without Gaza, and the president gave clear instructions last night to the government confirming that we should rebuild Gaza,” he told Palestinian news agency Maan.

“It’s our responsibility to provide work opportunities for Gaza workers, and we will overstep external challenges with good will,” he added.

The gathering took place at the Gaza home of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Israel Radio reported.

The visitors were expected for lunch with former Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniyeh. Hamas forces were deployed around the Strip to secure the event, Israel Radio reported.

The West Bank lawmakers crossed into Gaza through the Erez checkpoint earlier Thursday, with the cooperation and authorization of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) Major-General Yoav Mordechai.

The lawmakers’ visit will include a tour of the Beit Hanoun area and the Shejaiya neighborhood of Gaza City — described as a Hamas stronghold by Israel — where 13 Golani soldiers were killed in an ambush in late July, prompting an IDF response that led to more than 60 Palestinians dead, many of them combatants.

The meet came three days ahead of an international donor conference where Abbas seeks $4 billion for Gaza’s reconstruction following the summer Israel-Hamas war.

By meeting in Gaza for the first time, the Cabinet, which reports to the Western-backed Abbas, hopes to reassure donors it can lead reconstruction efforts.

It’s not clear, though, how much authority it will have on the ground. Hamas, which seized Gaza from Abbas in 2007 after a violent battle, says it will step aside, but refuses to disband its security forces.

עזה: שוטרי חמאס פרוסים לאבטח שיירת הממשלה הפלסטינית שמגיעה מרמאללה לראשונה מאז הפילוג ב-2007https://t.co/cfGMUoDlK7 pic.twitter.com/e5KKQaY2Og

— Gal Berger גל ברגר (@galberger) October 9, 2014

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On Wednesday, Israel Radio quoted deputy Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Muhammad Mustafa saying Palestinian Authority observers would begin to man the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom and Erez crossings into the Gaza Strip in the coming days.

He said the unity government would take responsibility for the crossings and that no members of any Palestinian organization would be allowed near them, as per the truce agreement reached with Hamas in Cairo.

Also Wednesday, a top US official said Israel must play a role in the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, also pressing all sides to agree to a lasting ceasefire.

US Secretary of State John Kerry will attend Sunday’s reconstruction conference being co-hosted in Cairo by Egypt and Norway and billed by the US as a “major humanitarian assistance and reconstruction effort” after the devastating 50-day war between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist terror group which runs the Gaza Strip. It will also be attended by Abbas, Hamdallah and several Palestinian lawmakers.

The Palestinian government has unveiled a 76-page reconstruction plan for Gaza, calling for $4 billion to rebuild the war-battered territory, with the largest amount going to build housing for some 100,000 left homeless.

Washington has already pledged some $118 million to help the Palestinians in Gaza and State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said she expected there to be “a range of countries in the international community who are going to be contributing” funds at the Cairo talks.

The Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip killed nearly 2,200 people, at least half of them combatants according to Israel, while 72 died on the Israeli side, 66 of them soldiers. Israel blames Hamas for all fatalities, since it emplaced its war machine in residential areas. Hamas fired some 4,500 rockets and projectiles at Israel and staged several attacks through tunnels dug under the border.

The war ended in August with a temporary ceasefire, and indirect negotiations for a permanent truce are due to resume under Egyptian mediation later this month.