European countries back Arab alternative to Trump’s Gaza plan

Israel and the U.S. have rejected the proposal that envisages the population staying in place and the PA being in charge.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Four major European countries announced Saturday that they back an Arab plan for reconstructing the Gaza Strip that both Israel and the U.S. have rejected.

The foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, and the UK said in a joint statement that the $53 billion proposal “shows a realistic path” to rebuilding the war-devastated enclave and that they were “committed to working” with it.

The statement also said that Hamas could have no part in ruling the Strip, noting, “We are clear that Hamas must neither govern Gaza nor be a threat to Israel anymore.”

However, the plan, introduced by Egypt last week and approved by the Arab League and the 57 states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, includes no such statement. Rather, it notes the difficulties in disarming the terrorist groups in Gaza by saying vaguely, “It is something that can be dealt with, and even ended forever, only if its causes are removed through a clear horizon and a credible political process.”

The proposal calls for a supposedly independent panel of Palestinian technocrats to manage Gazan affairs for six months, including the overseeing of humanitarian aid delivery, with international troops keeping the peace under the auspices of the UN.

Egypt and Jordan would spend the time training Palestinian Authority (PA) police officers to assert law and order, and then the PA would take control of the Strip.

The plan also envisages massive improvements for the enclave, including a commercial harbor, a technology hub, beach hotels, and an airport.

The PA has several well-trained police and security forces already, some of them having been taught by the Americans through the U.S. Security Coordinator’s Office, which has worked with the Authority since 2007.

The Europeans said they “support the central role for the Palestinian Authority and the implementation of its reform agenda.”

There has been little sign of any reforms taking place in the PA, an idea pushed by the Biden administration before the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel, which sparked the war that has destroyed most urban areas in Gaza.

The PA’s leaders never condemned the mass murder and abductions that Hamas carried out that day, limiting their censure to the fact that their chief rival’s actions led to massive loss of life and destruction.

Since the PA also still publicly and financially supports terrorism against Israel, Jerusalem has categorically and repeatedly rejected the PA as a viable alternative to Hamas.

Unlike the plan floated by U.S. President Donald Trump to turn Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East,” the Arab plan says all the inhabitants should stay put while their homes and cities are being rebuilt.

National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said Tuesday that the plan “does not address the current reality that Gaza is currently uninhabitable,” as it is “covered in rubble and unexploded ordnance.”

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters Thursday that the plan “does not meet the expectations” of the White House.