Behind closed doors: Netanyahu and Blair discuss the role of the PA in Gaza.
The Israeli TV channel 11 (Kan) reported last night (Saturday) that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met secretly last week with Tony Blair, who is advancing a plan to hand over management of parts of the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian Authority.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office did not release any report on the meeting and, in response to a request from Kan, stated that officials did not intend to comment on the matter.
According to informed sources, Blair is pursuing a plan that would initially hand over management of some areas of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority on a temporary and experimental basis. These sources say that if this phase is successful, the PA’s scope of responsibility could be expanded to include more parts of Gaza. According to Kan, the implementation of this plan is conditional on internal reforms within the PA.
Despite the Israeli regime’s strong opposition to the PA’s presence in the administration of Gaza, informed sources have emphasized that the idea has not been completely rejected and has recently been discussed in Israeli security and military circles. These sources also said that in meetings between Israeli officials and Blair, no explicit opposition to the plan was raised, although no practical decision has yet been made.
According to the Kan report, Blair has also been consulting with several Arab countries in recent weeks and is trying to reach an agreement between Netanyahu and these countries to hand over the administration of some areas of Gaza to the Palestinian Authority.
At the same time, the Haaretz newspaper reported that the United States intends to form a temporary committee to administer the Gaza Strip in the next two weeks, before the Christmas holidays; a committee that will operate under the supervision of the “Peace Council”. According to officials at the International Command Center for Monitoring the Implementation of the Ceasefire in Kiryat Gat, this committee is part of the second phase of Donald Trump’s plan for the future of Gaza.
The Israel Hayom newspaper also reported after the signing of the ceasefire agreement based on Trump’s peace plan for Gaza that Tony Blair may head an interim government in Gaza. The plan, known as the “Gaza International Transitional Authority” or “GITA,” is structured around an international council that is supposed to take over the interim administration of Gaza for three to five years.
According to the document, the administration of Gaza will be fully in the hands of this council during the transitional period, after which power will be transferred to what is called a “reformed Palestinian state,” the details of which are still unclear. The council is supposed to be made up of seven to ten members, including diplomats, economic experts, and international investors. Among the names mentioned are Sigrid Kaag, former Dutch Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Affairs; Mark Rowan, an American financier who heads the Reconstruction Fund; Najib Sawiris, an Egyptian businessman for regional investments; and Aryeh Lightstone, executive director of the Abraham Accords for Peace.
According to IRNA, Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan aims to immediately end the war, release prisoners, and hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a “technocratic, non-political Palestinian committee” under the supervision of an international delegation headed by Trump. The plan also emphasizes the complete exclusion of Hamas and other groups from any political role in Gaza.
Within the framework of implementing this plan, Tony Blair has been introduced as one of the main options for the chairmanship of the “International Transitional Council” and is expected to assume responsibility for organizing the administrative structure of Gaza in the post-ceasefire phase and cooperate with the Israeli regime, Egypt, and the United States in implementing the provisions of the plan.