As Israel’s war on Gaza continues with the failure of all political processes to find a consensual formula that guarantees a vision for the day after the war, an Egyptian-brokered proposal has emerged to form a joint committee for Gaza’s administration.
The Gaza Administration Committee (GAC) seeks to bring Fatah and Hamas together for the purpose of managing the civil affairs of the population, particularly in relation to reconstruction and relief.
Recently, discussions have intensified around the potential issuance of a presidential decree by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to officially form the GAC.
However, optimism has waned following the recent conclusion of meetings between Fatah and Hamas in Cairo without an announcement of an agreement, reminiscent of the reconciliation talks and meetings that have been ongoing since 2007.
While officials in Egypt were waiting for Abbas to arrive in Cairo following the end of negotiations between the Hamas and Fatah delegations regarding the GAC, the committee entered a dark phase after Abbas refused to ratify the agreement reached between the delegations of the two movements in Cairo.
The New Arab’s Arabic language sister outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed learned that Abbas did not approve the agreements reached in Cairo in a final manner, in light of differing views on several issues related to administering the Strip after the end of the war.
Reasons for the Stalemate
According to information obtained by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the reasons for the delay have primarily focused on specific issues related to the management of the Strip, foremost among them “security” and “funding.” Differences arose over the supervision of internal security within the Strip, as well as security conditions in border areas of the Strip, both along Gaza’s perimeter and on its border with Egypt.
A senior source in the Hamas movement told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the movement “provided all possible facilitation during the meetings managed by Cairo to reach a Palestinian-Palestinian agreement for managing the Strip.”
“We approached the proposals with open minds and hearts and accepted the formation of the committee, despite the fact that this proposal does not fully align with the movement’s vision, which favours forming a national unity government to maintain unified administration between the West Bank and Gaza,” he added.
The source mentioned that “Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) might have deliberately postponed his approval of the agreements during his recent visit to Cairo, awaiting the results of the U.S. elections to determine his final stance”.
Further disputes over the GAC
According to other Palestinian faction sources who spoke to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, several disputes are preventing the announcement of the formation of the GAC, most notably regarding the committee’s political authority, the names involved, and the individuals who will be represented. The sources, who preferred to remain anonymous, said it is still too early to discuss forming the GAC given the unresolved points of disagreement about its structure, authority, and operational mechanism.
Additionally, there is uncertainty about how Israel would interact with the committee and the pending arrival of the new US administration.
The sources pointed out that Hamas favours forming a national unity government to handle all administrative matters, whereas President Mahmoud Abbas wants to issue a decree to form the GAC, select its members, and have the political authority reside with the Palestinian government in Ramallah, with funding directed from there.
In contrast, Hamas believes that if the GAC is formed, its authority should come from the factions.
With Donald Trump’s victory and the upcoming Arab-Islamic summit (scheduled for 11 November), it is expected that the parties might delay the official announcement of the GAC and wait until the beginning of the new year.
Meanwhile, Hani al-Masri, head of the Palestinian Center for Policy Research and Strategic Studies, stated that the idea of forming a Gaza Administration Committee was based on an Egyptian vision, which does not necessarily align with the desires of both Fatah and Hamas regarding the management of the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the war.
Al-Masri explained that the most likely option is to delay the public announcement and operation of the committee until after the inauguration of the new U.S. president, to gauge the international approach toward the war and the potential for it to end permanently.
He noted that the existing disagreements prompted both sides to request a return to their respective leadership authorities and to continue discussions at a later time, given the Egyptian interest in forming a GAC as part of a solution to end the war in the Strip and undercut Israeli attempts to circumvent Palestinian leadership in the enclave.
This is an edited and abridged translation of an article by Youssef Abu Watfa from our Arabic edition
