Palestinian Authority ‘ready to engage’, says prime minister ahead of talks on formation of new Gaza government
Western powers have rejected suggestions that Hamas as an entity can be allowed a role in governing Gaza at the end of the war, saying only that they recognise that Palestinian militancy will still exist.
Speculation that a weakened Hamas might be willing to form a partnership with the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, and govern Gaza and the West Bank jointly, have been revived by a Russian invitation for Palestinian factions to meet in Moscow on 26 February.
The news of the meeting was confirmed by the Palestinian Authority prime minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, at the Munich security conference.
“We are ready to engage. If Hamas is not, then that’s a different story. We need Palestinian unity,” he said, adding that to be part of that unity, Hamas needed to meet certain prerequisites.
But French officials said they did not want Hamas in its current form given a role in governing Palestine after the 7 October attacks. The officials acknowledged that its ideas could not be obliterated.
The UK wants to see the Hamas military dismantled so that it no longer poses a threat to Israel, and for its leadership to go into exile, preferring a technocratic leadership inside a demilitarised governing authority to take charge pending elections.
Hamas, if it attends the Moscow talks, would like the discussion to focus on reviving a committee of Palestinian factions as a step in rebuilding the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and the formation of a technocratic government, until conditions allow for holding elections.
