Report: Arab intel chiefs discuss reforming PA for a postwar return to Gaza
At unpublicized meeting in Riyadh earlier this month, Saudi national security adviser said to tell PA, Egypt, Jordan that Gulf kingdom still interested in normalization with Israel
Top national security officials from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority met in Riyadh earlier this month to advance efforts aimed at reforming the PA so that it can return to governing Gaza after the Israel-Hamas war, according to a new report.
The January 18 meeting revealed Sunday by the Axios news site was the latest demonstration of efforts by Arab stakeholders to establish a united front in planning for after the war. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has avoided holding cabinet discussions on the matter, apparently due to his fear that sharp differences between members of his fragile coalition could lead the government to collapse.
Nearly one-third of Netanyahu’s ministers attended a conference on Sunday calling for the establishment of settlements in Gaza and the displacement of Palestinians living there, notions the premier has rebuffed amid staunch opposition from Israel’s primary wartime backer, the United States. For his part, Netanyahu has all but rejected allowing the PA to return to governing Gaza, while refusing to articulate a viable alternative.
IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi reportedly warned Netanyahu’s security cabinet in recent days that failure to plan for who will govern Gaza after the war risks wasting the military accomplishments secured after nearly four months of fighting.
The Riyadh summit marked a deepening of cooperation between Saudi Arabia and the PA, which began over the past year, as the Gulf kingdom has sought to demonstrate that it is not abandoning the Palestinian cause, even as it holds negotiations with the Biden administration about normalizing relations with Israel.
The meeting was hosted by Saudi National Security Adviser Musaid al-Aiban who was joined by PA intel chief Majed Faraj along with counterparts Abbas Kamel from Egypt and Ahmad Husni from Jordan. US and Israeli officials were briefed on the meeting afterward by some of the participants, Axios reported, citing two unnamed sources.
During the sit-down, Faraj was told by his Arab counterparts that the PA needs to conduct significant reforms in order to be better positioned to eventually retake control over the Gaza Strip, after being ousted by Hamas in a violent coup in 2007.
Participants pressed for PA President Mahmoud Abbas to establish a new government and to hand over some of his powers to a prime minister who would be empowered to enact necessary reforms, Axios said, confirming similar reporting by The Times of Israel on the matter.
The US has been leaning hard on Abbas to cooperate with revitalization efforts, and the PA leader has given a conditional commitment to the Biden administration that he would be willing to restructure his cabinet, a senior Arab diplomat and an official familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel last week.
Without such reforms, the PA will not be able to govern Gaza after a postwar transitional period, the Saudi, Jordanian and Egyptian national security officials told Faraj.
Also at the meeting, al-Aiban told participants that Saudi Arabia is still interested in normalizing ties with Israel in return for practical and irreversible steps aimed at creating a pathway toward the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state — a proposal Netanyahu reportedly rejected earlier this month.
The Riyadh meeting was not the only regional effort aimed at planning for postwar Gaza.
The US is also advancing a “contact group” with Middle East allies with similar aims, a Biden administration official and a senior Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel last week.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken brought the idea to leaders from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Turkey when he visited the region earlier this month and got approval from each country to move forward with the initiative, the two officials said.
The US is asking regional stakeholders to play a role in the reconstruction and management of Gaza after the war, and hopes that the contact group will allow for ideas to be raised and advanced in a single forum, the administration official said.
The senior Arab diplomat said the Biden administration hopes that through the creation of the contact group, it can unite the region around a postwar plan that can then be taken to Netanyahu. Among the ideas being discussed are changes to the Palestinian Authority that would weaken Abbas’s grip on power, money to rebuild the devastated Gaza Strip and long-sought ties between Jerusalem and Riyadh.
“It would include the reconstruction of Gaza, reforming the PA, creating a pathway to a Palestinian state and a Saudi normalization agreement,” the diplomat explained.
Each country has been tasked with picking a representative on the contact group, with Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf being the US delegate, according to the administration official. The forum is expected to begin holding largely virtual working group meetings next month.
Among the top agenda items for the contact group is helping the PA transition to governing the Strip, with the countries recognizing that Ramallah will have to undergo significant reforms first.
The US has also been pushing for the establishment of a separate contact group with European partners to hold similar discussions regarding the “day after” in Gaza with a particular emphasis on funding, the administration official said, adding that the forum might also include an Israeli representative.
The official familiar with the matter was not particularly bullish about the initiatives, saying there was a risk that, like other forums, they would become mired in bureaucracy, with little power of execution.
Much of the success of the contact groups hinges on a major scale-back — if not a complete end — to the war, as well as cooperation from Israel, two conditions that have not yet been met.
“They’ve discussed the idea of having President Biden come to the region or invite leaders to the White House to make the final sell,” the senior Arab diplomat said, speculating that Netanyahu would have a harder time saying no under such conditions.
As the State Department advances the contact group, the White House — led by Middle East czar Brett McGurk — has been more focused on the hostage file, believing that securing a release deal is the key to winding down the war, the US official and Arab diplomat said.
While progress was reportedly made over the weekend, Israel and Hamas remain very far apart, with the former determined to continue the war after any deal, while the latter will not agree to anything less than a permanent ceasefire.
