Abdel Atty sketches ambitious vision for PA governance in Gaza despite ‘prohibitive conditions’ preventing ceasefire

In a press conference held at the Rafah border crossing on Monday as Israeli forces advance on Gaza City, Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Atty sketched out a vision for post-war governance in Gaza as he stood alongside the visiting Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohamed Mostafa — even as he said that "prohibitive conditions currently prevent a comprehensive deal” to end the war.

Under pressure of Israel’s escalation, mediators in Qatar and Egypt revived stalled negotiations toward a ceasefire deal last week. The talks have so far failed to avert the military’s launching steps to expel Palestinians residing in Gaza City, where some 1 million residents are currently taking shelter.

Abdel Atty said on Monday that Egypt has presented proposed amendments to an earlier version of the deal that he said might succeed if there is “political will” on the Israeli side.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected anything but a comprehensive deal, laying out terms earlier this month that would grant Israel complete security control of the strip and install a civilian administration comprising neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority. 

Egypt’s foreign minister nevertheless backed the Palestinian Authority on Monday as the “only legitimate” entity that could assume governance of a Palestinian territory that should include Gaza. 

During the presser, both Abdel Atty and Mostafa presented an ambitious set of plans as part of their vision for the PA’s governance of the Gaza Strip in the post-war scenario, including training for new police personnel, upcoming meetings for reconstruction, as well as an ongoing PA coordination to provide humanitarian aid to the strip, outlined by Mostafa.

He stressed that the strip is an “integral part” of the Palestinian territory and that the Palestine Liberation Organization is the only legitimate representative of Palestinians.

Mostafa also expressed the PA's readiness and capacity to "assume its responsibility," claiming that the authority taking control would not represent a bid for power, but rather a large responsibility in the path of unifying Palestine with the support of "friends" in other countries.

The deployment of international forces in Gaza, an interim scenario for handling governance and security that has been discussed at earlier phases of negotiation, would be backed by Egypt, Abdel Atty reiterated. Yet the foreign minister stipulated that this should happen only “within a political framework that embodies the Palestinian state,” under the conditions of a Security Council resolution with clear mandates and as part of a defined political process.

“Without a political horizon, deploying forces in the Gaza Strip would not be logical,” he said.

Palestinian statehood has come further under threat with Israeli officials launching plans to “bury” the idea of a Palestinian state by fragmenting the West Bank, in an announcement made during the weekend which received international condemnation. 

Netanyahu also doubled down on Saturday evening on plans to advance the escalation which seeks to exert full security control over the strip, refusing any agreement with Hamas unless it meets Israel's conditions to end the war and release all prisoners in a single step. 

The Israeli prime minister claimed earlier this month that Hamas “strongholds” in Gaza City, the strip’s central camps and Mawasi prompted the cabinet to instruct Israeli troops to “dismantle” these areas — effectively the entirety of the strip that is not yet controlled by Israeli forces.

As Israel enacts its plan to occupy the strip in its entirety beginning with troop advances in the east of Gaza City and aerial bombardment that has already killed dozens, Israeli officials said that they were finalizing plans on Sunday to evacuate the city’s residents.

The military would prepare a new area in the Gaza Strip’s south to receive displaced residents amid the city’s “capture,” since it would be impossible to accommodate all the expelled residents of Gaza City in the “humanitarian zones in central Gaza and Mawasi camps that exist today,” an Israeli Army Radio correspondent said.

The plan aligns with a previous scheme put forward by Israeli officials to build a “humanitarian city” to confine displaced Palestinians in Rafah, on the border with Egypt, which they would not be allowed to leave. 

The government in Cairo, meanwhile, has publicly rejected plans for Palestinians to be concentrated in closed zones in Rafah, while officials have been concerned since the outset of Israel’s genocidal war that such a plan could push tens of thousands of Palestinians toward Egypt’s eastern border to seek refuge in Sinai. 

Abdel Atty took the opportunity at Monday’s presser to reiterate Egypt’s categorical rejection of the forced displacement of Palestinians outside of the strip, as well as of an imposed political or demographic reality that targets the “liquidation of the Palestinian cause.”

Mostafa also praised Egypt’s position as a “strong barrier” in the face of forced displacement plans, which he said came despite tremendous pressure on the country. 

The PA prime minister also echoed Egyptian officials' repeated statements that the Rafah border crossing is “blocked by the Occupation’s tanks” as part of Israel’s starvation policies against Palestinians in Gaza.

Criticism has been directed toward Egypt’s government over recent months for contributing to the blockade on Gaza, with protests held in front of Egyptian embassies in several European countries and in Tel Aviv.

Abdel Atty added that, under president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s directive, Egypt is ready to “drown Gaza with food and medical aid,” but that the barriers and restrictions imposed by the Occupation should be lifted first.