US President Joe Biden believes that the Palestinian Authority should ultimately govern the Gaza Strip and the West Bank after the war between Israel and Hamas. The authority now runs only the West Bankwhere many Israeli settlers have also settled.
“In our pursuit of peace, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank must be reunited under a single governing structure, ultimately under a revitalized Palestinian Authority, as we all work toward a two-state solution,” Biden said in an op-ed in The Washington Post. “There should be no forced relocation of Palestinians from Gazano reoccupation, no siege or blockade and no reduction of territory.”
Today the Palestinian terrorist movement Hamas is in power in the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously said Israel must maintain “overall military responsibility” in Gaza “for the foreseeable future.”
At his press conference Saturday Netanyahu said he believes Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority is unable to control the Gaza Strip after the Israeli military operation. “We cannot have a civilian authority in Gaza that supports terrorism, that encourages, finances and educates terrorism,” it said.
Biden also emphasized on Saturday that he was “with the Israeli leaders has stressed that extremist violence against Palestinians in the West Bank must stop and that those who commit violence must be held accountable.” “The US is prepared to take its own steps, including visa bans against extremists who attack civilians in the West Bank,” the president wrote.
According to figures from the UN emergency aid agency OCHA Since October 7, eight Palestinians have been killed and 74 others injured by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Another 191 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army.
Biden also states that the international community must “provide resources to support the people of Gaza in the immediate aftermath of this crisis, such as temporary security measures and a reconstruction mechanism to meet the long-term needs of the Gaza Strip.” Moreover, it is “absolutely imperative that there is never again a terrorist threat from Gaza and the West Bank.”
