Palestine tries to give more weight to Europe in the Gaza war due to the proximity of the United States to Israel

Palestine and the Arab countries are mobilizing to turn the axis of discussion on the war in Gaza towards Europe in the face of the United States’ partiality towards Israel. Washington is the most influential partner in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, but it has been much less forceful about the human rights violations of the Israeli army in Gaza and in imposing its demands for containment. With that premise, Mohamed Mustafa – prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), a technocratic government with which the US and the European Union aspire to convince Israel to allow him to take the reins of the post-war Strip – has presented to several European countries a reform plan to “lead the reconstruction after a permanent ceasefire,” according to a document to which Morning Express has had access.

The Palestinian head of government presented the plan on Sunday to the foreign ministers of several member states, representatives of the UN and the United Kingdom, as well as several Arab countries—Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan—, Norway and the EU, in a donor meeting and in another to promote an upcoming peace conference. The ultimate goal of the plan, which includes a timeline for each step of the sweeping reforms needed, is to reunify the institutions of the West Bank and Gaza under a single administration and reopen the Strip to the world; something that clashes head-on with the future that Netanyahu outlines.

The main donors committed to intensifying support for the ANP, until now paralyzed and discredited, and to promote a peace conference for Gaza in the short term. All this while Israel maintains its attacks on Rafah, against the call of international justice. On Sunday night, while Arab and European ministers met in Brussels with the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, an Israeli bombing killed 45 people – 23 of them minors – who were taking refuge in a camp. displaced. They add to the more than 36,000 people dead and the thousands missing in the rubble.

Israel’s offensive in Gaza, in response to the Hamas attacks of October 7, divides the EU partners. Some, like Austria or the Czech Republic, maintain almost ironclad support for the Jewish State. Others, such as Spain or Ireland, have cried out from the beginning against the violations of international humanitarian law and will recognize Palestine as a State this Tuesday. As the Israeli Army advances on the Strip, the tone regarding Netanyahu has risen and Spain’s position is beginning to gain weight.

This hardening of the discourse towards Israel and the fact that the EU is one of the largest donors to the Palestinians is one of the main reasons that Mustafa and his technocratic Executive are moving the axis towards Europe. The plan he presented in Brussels includes emergency reforms worth 1,311 million dollars (1,200 million euros). He received unanimous support and offers of technical and financial support. In addition, they will pressure Israel to reverse the announcement last week by its Finance Minister, the ultra Bezalel Smotrich, of the withholding from the ANP of taxes that it collects in its name and that it is obliged to transfer to it, in retaliation for the recognition of the State of Palestine that Spain, Ireland and Norway will carry out this Tuesday.

The day after on the Strip

The idea is to turn the ANP into an acceptable alternative to manage the daily lives of Gazans, which Israel does not want to take over and for which there are not enough volunteers. She is the one to whom it would legally belong and did so until Hamas forces expelled her in 2007, a year after her electoral victory.

In the plan for the Palestinian State, it is proposed that the ANP “lead” the reconstruction after a permanent ceasefire in two phases. The first, an emergency response and start of recovery, which places it in the first 36 months after the cessation of hostilities. It would be very focused on covering the basic needs of the population and beginning to provide accommodation in a Strip with entire neighborhoods erased from the map and more than half of the houses damaged, as the document explains.

The second would last at least a decade and would consist of taking advantage of the reconstruction to “transform” Gaza, so that it is “fully integrated politically, socially and economically, into the State of Palestine and, through it, with the rest of the world.” ”. It is exactly the opposite of what the Israeli Government wants, which did not stop technically occupying the Strip after withdrawing its soldiers and settlers from there in 2005 and now plans to carry out for years the raids it deems necessary, control the border with Egypt and maintain a buffer zone within the Strip.

Ensure full transparency and judicial independence; transform institutions; eliminate duplications; contemplate a progressive tax system; update the legal code… The language of the plan sounds good in Brussels. And it shows the awareness of citizen detachment with the ANP, by pointing out the need to “earn public trust through an absolute focus on serving citizens.”

According to the Arab barometer, carried out before the war, 77% of West Bankers do not trust the Government and 94% consider that there is corruption in the ANP. However, only 10% cite corruption as their main concern, far behind the war in Gaza (50%) and the Israeli military occupation (23%), in the latest survey by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. , from last April.

For this reason, the Palestinian Government document talks about “improving governance, transparency and accountability”, as well as “fighting corruption at all levels of Government”, with a “zero tolerance” policy. Also to “promote partnerships with civil society, the media and the private sector to detect and expose it.” These are sectors where clientelism prevails.

The words change. “Revitalized,” according to US President Joe Biden; or “strong” and “functional”, as Borrell said this Sunday, the idea is to turn around the sclerotic and discredited ANP so that it later assumes civilian control of Gaza. A challenge for the Government that was born from the Oslo Accords of 1993; it only exercises limited sovereignty over a third of the West Bank, militarily occupied by Israel; and Netanyahu has been wearing it down for years.

A 69-year-old economist, Mustafa was sworn in last April as head of a new Executive of technocrats with the reconstruction of Gaza among his priorities. He was chosen because he was liked by both the president of the ANP, Mahmud Abbas, and the West, which seeks to convince Israel that the ANP should manage Gaza. Mustafa is close to the president, with whom he served as deputy prime minister and director of the Investment Fund. At the same time, he trained in the United States, has held important positions in the World Bank and maintains contact with official representatives of the country.

Experts are skeptical of his ability to change things, because Abbas retains broad powers and because he clashes with Israel’s interests. Only 8% of West Bankers are satisfied with Abbas and 84% want him to resign, according to the aforementioned April poll.

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