Israel Demands PA Take Over Gaza

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

For over 10 years, Israel illegally blockaded Gaza, holding two million Palestinians hostage to its viciousness, destroying the Strip's economy, causing a deepening humanitarian crisis - the world community failing to intervene responsibly.

Blockade and three Israeli wars of aggression destroyed Gaza. It proposed a dubious plan to rebuild the Strip - but here's the catch.

The Netanyahu regime demands a Palestinian Authority (PA) takeover. It wants international donors to pay for what it destroyed.

It wants them to contribute a billion dollars - so Israeli and maybe Western corporate predators can benefit at the expense of long-suffering Gazans.

It wants Hamas disarmed and rendered impotent, the PA it controls in charge. There's nothing humanitarian about the scheme.

On Wednesday, a meeting was held in Brussels, chaired by Norwegian Prime Minister Eriksen Soreide and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

Netanyahu's regional cooperation minister Tzachi Hanegbi represented Israel. Trump's international negotiator Jason Greenblatt was there. 

So was PA prime minister Rami Hamdallah, along Jordanian, Egyptian and Moroccon prime ministers, together with officials from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Tunisia.

The meeting was dubbed the ad hoc liaison committee of the International Donor Group for Palestine.

Whatever the group agrees on, it won't help besieged Gazans. All Palestinians suffered grievously for 70 years under Israel's repressive boot.

Mogherini issued a statement saying:

"The basis and objective of our engagement is and remains the two-state solution, with Jerusalem as future capital of both states, the State of Israel and the State of Palestine." 

"This is a position based on the Oslo Accords and on international law, in particular the relevant UN Security Council resolutions."

"The raison d'etre of the ad hoc liaison committee is and remains the shared objective of a two-state solution."

"Any framework for negotiations must be multilateral and must involve all players, all partners that are essential to this process. A process without one or the other would simply not work, would simply not be realistic."

"We believe it is important that the Palestinian Authority is committed to unite the West Bank and Gaza under one single and legitimate authority."

Is she going along with an Israeli takeover? Neither she or other Western officials care a hoot about long-suffering Gazans - failing to do anything about ending Israel's illegal blockade.

She announced a $52.7 million  Palestinian assistance package - for enforcing occupation harshness, she failed to explain.

She called Washington essential for any no-peace/peace plan to work. She hasn't reviewed the details of what Trump has in mind - everything to do with endless occupation harshness, Palestinian subjugation in perpetuity, peace remaining elusive.

Hanegbi lied saying Gazans are "paying the price of Hamas' extremism." Israel and Washington bear full responsibility for their suffering.

Separately, Abbas will meet with Putin on February 12 in Sochi, seeking Russian involvement in any peace talks if held.

Washington is no honest broker, one-sidedly for Israel, uncaring about Palestinian rights and welfare, the way it's always been since the creation of the Jewish state, worse than ever under Trump.

An unnamed PA official said "(w)e  are hoping that Russia and the EU will step in to fill the void."

"We believe that these countries should and can play a larger role in any peace process in the wake of the Trump administration's hostile policies toward the Palestinians and bias in favor of Israel."

On Thursday, Abbas, chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat, and intelligence chief Majed Faraj met with senior Russian officials in Ramallah - Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and Federal Security Service (FSB) Secretary Nikolai Patrushev.

Discussion focused on strengthening PA ties with Russia, along with its greater involvement in PA/Israeli relations.

On February 20, Abbas will address the Security Council during its monthly meeting on the Middle East.

Reportedly he'll focus on unresolved issues following Trump's illegal recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Extremist Israeli UN envoy Danny Danon accused him of "seeking to put an end to any possibility of negotiations with Israel" by addressing SC members.

He'll get no support from permanent members America, Britain and France.

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