The Wall Street Journal reported that Washington and its allies fear that chaos will prevail in Gaza, and that Hamas will be able to re-impose itself in the Strip without the presence of a significant security force for a population of about two million people.
The newspaper quoted American and Palestinian officials as saying that US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan asked Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to “provide security personnel who can form the nucleus of a security force to patrol Gaza.”
A US official said on Friday: “We believe that the Palestinian Authority’s security forces should provide the nucleus of a future security force, and we want to strengthen and support them.”
He added that Washington also believes that former security personnel of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza “can be trained and attached to a future security force.”
Palestinian officials also said that American and Palestinian officials discussed a plan to retrain a thousand former officers in the Palestinian Authority security forces in Gaza, and between 3,000 and 5,000 others in the occupied West Bank, to work in the Strip after the war.
On the other hand, a senior White House official admitted on Friday that what he considered “the low appreciation of the Palestinian Authority among Palestinians and Israelis could be an obstacle to its rule.”
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby explained: “We do not know exactly what these security services will look like to the people of Gaza after the end of the conflict.”
Israel had previously announced its categorical rejection of the Palestinian Authority taking over the administration of the Gaza Strip after the war.
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2023-12-16 11:46:19
