Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on November 10 that the Palestinian Authority (PA) could play a role in governing the Gaza Strip, provided there is a comprehensive political solution that includes the occupied West Bank.
According to Mr. Abbas, Israel bears full responsibility for the events in the Gaza Strip, which has suffered weeks of attacks that have left more than 11,000 people dead.
The Palestinian president said the PA could be part of a more comprehensive political solution, with an independent Palestinian state.
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| US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on November 5. (Source: AP) |
“Gaza is an integral part of the State of Palestine and we will assume its full responsibilities within the framework of a comprehensive political solution, including the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza,” he said.
President Abbas noted that it is necessary to hold an international peace conference to outline specific timelines, backed by international guarantees.
With Israeli forces now advancing deep into Gaza, some two weeks after Israel launched a ground operation to crush the Islamist Hamas movement, speculation is growing about the future of the coastal strip after the fighting ends.
The US believes that Gaza should be governed by Palestinians after the conflict, but how that will actually work remains open.
Efforts to reach a deal on a two-state solution, with an independent Palestinian state, have been stalled for nearly a decade, after the most recent round of US-brokered peace talks broke down in 2014.
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