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PA informs Israel of Abbas’s intent to visit Gaza Strip

The P.A. leader has not visited the Strip since Hamas violently seized control of the enclave in 2007.

By Charles Bybelezer, JNS

Palestinian Authority leaders have started contacting countries and global bodies, including Israel, to receive backing and lay the groundwork for a visit by P.A. leader Mahmoud Abbas to the Gaza Strip, Ramallah’s official Wafa news agency reported Sunday.

“The president and leadership are preparing to travel to the Gaza Strip which is subjected to a genocidal war by the Israeli occupation, in order to restore national unity and emphasize that the State of Palestine and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) are the mandate holders responsible for the entire State of Palestine,” according to the report.

P.A. officials are reportedly in contact with counterparts from the United Nations, including permanent members of the Security Council, the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the European Union and the African Union, among others.

The diplomatic press is meant to “ensure the success of this step and to secure support and maximum participation. Israel has also been notified,” added the report.

Abbas announced his desire to visit Gaza during an address last week to the Turkish parliament in Ankara.

“Even if my life was at risk, our lives, they are not dearer than the lives of children or anyone in Gaza. We are implementing Sharia [Islamic law]; we seek victory or martyrdom. This is according to Islamic Sharia,” he stated.

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The P.A. leader has not visited the Strip since Hamas violently seized control of the enclave in 2007.

During his speech on Thursday, Abbas offered a prayer for slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed last month in Tehran.

“The latest massacre, the latest oppression, was the crime against the leader martyr Ismail Haniyeh. I call upon you, my brothers and sisters, to say Al-Fatiha on his soul,” Abbas said, using the term for a Koran chapter often recited to ask for mercy on behalf of the deceased.

In his remarks, which lasted approximately 40 minutes, Abbas called on all to help “liberate the more than 10,000 Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails,” including Hamas terrorists captured during the Oct. 7 massacre.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected the prospect of the P.A. playing any role in governing Gaza following the war against Hamas.

“Oslo was the mother of all sins. The difference between Hamas and the P.A. is only that Hamas wants to destroy us here and now, and the P.A. wants to do it in stages,” the prime minister told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in December, referring to the 1993 Oslo Accords.

“We cooperate with them [the P.A.] against Hamas when it serves their interest and ours, up to a certain limit. We decided a few months ago that we don’t want them to collapse so that Hamas does not rise up in Judea and Samaria as well,” he added.

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Netanyahu’s firm stance against a P.A.-controlled Gaza is at odds with the Biden administration, which has taken the position that the P.A. is the best alternative to Hamas.

Meanwhile, senior Hamas terrorist Musa Abu Marzouk last month announced the signing of a Palestinian unity agreement that includes Abbas’s Fatah faction, which rules areas of Judea and Samaria.

The “Beijing declaration” was signed by 14 Palestinian factions that took part in negotiations hosted by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that “instead of rejecting terrorism, Mahmoud Abbas embraces the murderers and rapists of Hamas, revealing his true face.

“In reality, this won’t happen because Hamas’s rule will be crushed, and Abbas will be watching Gaza from afar. Israel’s security will remain solely in Israel’s hands,” Jerusalem’s top diplomat added.