Palestinian Authority Archives

Arab States Seeks Gaza Rebuild Without Displacement

CrossFireArabia
February 5, 2025

Egypt and Palestine held talks Wednesday to discuss recovery plans for the war-torn Gaza Strip without displacing Palestinians from the territory.

This came during a meeting held in Cairo between Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Palestinian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohamed Mustafa.

A statement released after the meeting reiterated Egypt’s support for the Palestinian government and its reform plans.

The statement underlined the importance of “empowering the Palestinian Authority politically and economically to assume its duties in the Gaza Strip as part of the occupied Palestinian territories.”

It highlighted the urgent need for advancing recovery projects in Gaza, ensuring aid delivery and clearing rubble without displacing Palestinians from the enclave.

Abdelatty also reviewed Egypt’s efforts to maintain the Gaza ceasefire deal, and implement all its terms.

Trump said during a news conference in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late Tuesday that the US “will take over” Gaza after relocating Palestinians elsewhere under an extraordinary redevelopment plan that he claimed could turn the enclave into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

The US president first triggered uproar on Jan. 25 by suggesting that Palestinians in Gaza should be relocated to Jordan and Egypt, calling the enclave a “demolition site” after Israel’s war. His proposal, however, was vehemently rejected by Amman and Cairo.

A six-nation Arab ministerial meeting in Cairo on Saturday firmly rejected Palestinian displacement from Gaza and renewed calls for implementing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Trump’s proposal came after a ceasefire agreement took effect in Gaza on Jan. 19, suspending Israel’s genocidal war that has killed more than 47,500 Palestinians and left the enclave in ruins.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants in November last year for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

News

Stop Spewing ‘Fanatical Bulls…’ Rashida Tlaib Tells Trump

CrossFireArabia
February 5, 2025

US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib on Tuesday denounced President Donald Trump’s recent controversial proposal for Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip, saying: “Palestinians aren’t going anywhere.”

“This president can only spew this fanatical bulls because of bipartisan support in Congress for funding genocide and ethnic cleansing. It’s time for my two-state solution colleagues to speak up,” Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman to serve in Congress, wrote on X.

Palestinian-American U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib: "Palestinians aren't going anywhere. This president [Trump] can only spew this fanatical bullshit because of bipartisan support in Congress for funding genocide and ethnic cleansing. It's time for my two-state solution… pic.twitter.com/gX8syzXHeD
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) February 5, 2025

Earlier, rebuffing Trump’s comments on Gaza during a Monday White House meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Tlaib said the president is “openly calling for ethnic cleansing while sitting next to a genocidal war criminal.”

“He’s perfectly fine cutting off working Americans from federal funds while the funding to the Israeli government continues flowing,” she added, referring to Trump’s federal funding freeze ordered last week.

During his meeting with Netanyahu, Trump suggested that Jordan and Egypt should take in Palestinians from Gaza, calling the enclave a demolition site and uninhabitable.

He later doubled down on his proposal at a press conference with Netanyahu, saying the US “will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” according to Anadolu.

“We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out, (and) create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area,” Trump said as reported in the Turkish Anadolu news website.

Jordan, Egypt, and other regional players strongly rejected the proposal, while both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas condemned Trump’s remarks and rejected any attempt to displace Palestinians from their homeland.

Hamas called Trump’s proposal “a recipe for generating chaos and tension,” adding: “Our people in the Gaza Strip will not allow these plans to pass.”

Forcibly displacing a population without justification under international law constitutes a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

News

Israeli Army Withdraws From The Rafah Crossing

CrossFireArabia
January 31, 2025

The Israeli army withdrew from the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Friday in accordance with the terms of the cease-fire agreement, which went into effect on January 19.

According to Israeli Army Radio, the army handed over the crossing to an international force from the European Union (EU) in preparation for its reopening later on Friday.

The radio, which quoted a security source without mentioning his name, noted that the Israeli army has redeployed its forces in an area along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Besides the EU mission, the source said Palestinians from the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority will run the crossing from the Palestinian side, with the role being to stamp existing permits from Gaza.

The broadcaster’s correspondent, Doron Kadosh, said 50 wounded Palestinians will be allowed every day to travel in addition to three escorts to each injured, totaling 200 people every day.

He added that all names of wounded people and their escorts will be checked by the Israeli general security service Shin Bet, along with Egyptian approval on the names.

The EU on Friday resumed its Rafah border crossing mission connecting the southern Gaza Strip to Egypt, including for Palestinians needing medical care.

“Europe is here to help: the EU’s civilian border mission deploys today to the Rafah Crossing at the request of the Palestinians and the Israelis,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced on X.

The Palestinian Health Ministry also confirmed that the crossing would open on Saturday for the first batch of wounded people to leave Gaza.

It added that their travel is planned in collaboration with the World Health Organization.

The Rafah crossing, a vital route for humanitarian aid into Gaza, has been closed since May 2024 after Israel’s ground offensive in the southern city of Rafah.

On Jan. 19, a ceasefire agreement and prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel went into effect, initially lasting 42 days, during which negotiations will continue for subsequent phases of the deal. The agreement is mediated by Egypt and Qatar, with support from the US.

Israel’s genocidal war has killed more than 47,400 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and injured more than 111,000 since Oct. 7, 2023.

The Israeli onslaught on Gaza has left more than 11,000 people missing, with widespread destruction and a humanitarian crisis that has claimed the lives of many elderly people and children in one of the worst global humanitarian disasters ever according to Anadolu.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

News

Is Smotrich up to His Word?

CrossFireArabia
January 6, 2025

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich incites in a statement on X against West Bank towns provocatively asserted that Palestinian towns in the West Bank “should resemble [Gaza’s] Jabalia” alluding to the heavily bombarded region in Gaza.

He added that Israel should not trust the Palestinian Authority when assessing its security needs. This is not the first time he incited against the Palestinian people.

Previously, he reaffirmed his determination to implement a plan to seize control of the West Bank and block the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Smotrich called Monday for massive destruction in the West Bank cities of Nablus and Jenin as the case in Jabalia in northern Gaza.

“Funduq, Nablus, and Jenin must look like Jabalia,” Smotrich said.

His call came after three illegal Israeli settlers were killed in a shooting attack in the village of Funduq in the central West Bank.

The extremist minister called for an urgent cabinet meeting to discuss what he called “a change in Israel’s approach” in the occupied West Bank according to Anadolu.

News

Can Trump Get a Gaza Deal From Netanyahu?

CrossFireArabia
December 7, 2024

The Israeli newspaper Maariv stated that the incoming US President Donald Trump is putting intense pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to bring the exchange deal of prisoners closer.

It added that the talks are proceeding not only on one or two channels. But negotiations on Gaza are moving along three channels:

Exchange deal

A military channel aimed at ending the war, a political channel aimed at maturing into an exchange deal, and a humanitarian channel for talks related to restoring the Gaza Strip and returning life to normal.

It stressed that the three channels are complementary to each other and are in the hands of the Egyptians.

It stressed that the main points of the agreement stipulate that the Israeli army must stop the war in stages and gradually withdraw from the Gaza Strip. The Rafah crossing will be opened to allow hundreds of aid trucks to enter every day, and Israel will release hundreds of security prisoners and receive prisoners. The implementation of the interim agreement will be supervised by America and other countries, as in Lebanon.

What plan?

According to the newspaper, in recent weeks, the Egyptians have been working away from the spotlight to bring Hamas and the Palestinian Authority closer together develop a plan to establish a new government entity in the Gaza Strip once a ceasefire is declared.

The proposal talks about a body to manage the civilian affairs of the Gaza Strip and will be staffed by 10 to 15 professionals who are not affiliated with any movement, and with an already official name: “The Social Committee to Support the Residents of Gaza”.

Its no coincidence the Egyptians have given it this title, nor the “unity government”, although it will operate under the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah. The Egyptians chose this name to be accepted by the Israeli government.

The newspaper stressed the agreement document the Egyptians extracted from Hamas and the Palestinian Authority is an achievement in itself and the Israeli government will have to decide soon whether handing over the Gaza Strip to this committee is acceptable to it or not according to Al Rai Al Youm.