US envoy slams PA for criticizing Hamas-Israel truce efforts ‘from the sidelines’

“The Palestinian Authority cannot criticize from the sidelines. The Palestinian Authority should be part of the solution for the Palestinians of Gaza and Palestinians as a whole. If not, others will fill that void,” Greenblatt said.

By: World Israel News Staff

The US lent strong support to Egypt’s efforts to negotiate a ceasefire between Hamas in Gaza and Israel and a reconciliation deal between the Palestinian factions, while stating that the Palestinian Authority (PA) “cannot criticize from the sidelines.”

Jason Greenblatt, Special Representative for International Negotiations to US President Donald Trump, issued a statement on Wednesday in which the Trump Administration stated that it “strongly supports the efforts of [Egyptian] President [Abdel Fatah] Al Sisi and the Egyptian government ‎to help facilitate an agreement to restore calm in Gaza and bring about the conditions for the Palestinian Authority to fully assume its responsibilities in Gaza.”

The terms of the deal reportedly include a long-term ceasefire and an economic package to save Gaza’s economy.

PA head Mahmoud Abbas has voiced intense hostility towards the deal, which he has referred to as “treachery and defiance against the leadership.”

“The Palestinian Authority cannot criticize from the sidelines. The Palestinian Authority should be part of the solution for the Palestinians of Gaza and Palestinians as a whole. If not, others will fill that void,” Greenblatt said.

He has previously publicly called for Abbas to step down.

Abbas made his position on the ceasefire clear when he said, “An agreement between Hamas and Israel, over my dead body!”

“Leadership is about making hard choices,” Greenblatt asserted.

“The people of Gaza, and Israelis in the area around Gaza, have suffered for far too long. It is time for the Palestinian Authority to lead the Palestinian people – all Palestinians – to a better future,” he concluded.

Among Abbas’ complaints with regard to any future agreement involving Hamas is the illegitimacy of the terror group’s rule over the Gaza Strip, which was achieved via a violent coup in 2007 through which the PA was ousted from the coastal enclave.

Regardless of Abbas’ comments, senior Hamas officials claimed that the ceasefire agreement could be concluded in the near future.

Hamas’ Gaza-based leader, Yahya Sinwar, declared Wednesday that “calm” in the Strip was feasible without reconciliation with the terror group’s Fatah rivals in the PA, while at the same time issuing a number of serious threats to Israel.