US, PA discuss redeployment of Palestinian security forces in Gaza

US President Joe Biden’s administration is holding talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas regarding the possibility of deploying members of the PA’s security services to the Gaza Strip the “day after” the Israeli bombing campaign.

This step, according to American officials who spoke to the Walla website, indicates the Biden administration’s determination to establish a “renewed Palestinian Authority” and strengthen it so that it can once again play a role in managing the Gaza Strip in the coming months, 16 years after Hamas won the Palestinian elections and took over governance of Gaza.

According to the Walla report, the Biden administration wants the Palestinian president to lead “widespread reforms in the Palestinian Authority, including introducing new blood into leadership positions,” and urged the introduction of young figures into decision-making circles who “have administrative skills, enjoy the support of the masses in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the confidence of the international community.”

The report added: “One of the issues that the Biden administration has discussed with senior Palestinian Authority officials in recent weeks is the form in which the Palestinian Authority can integrate through its security force in Gaza, the day after the war, through which Tel Aviv and Washington aim to ‘eliminate Hamas movement, ending its ability to rule the Gaza Strip and returning the hostages.’”

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The website quoted an American official as saying: “There are a number of Gaza Strip residents who were previously part of the Palestinian security services and it may be possible to use them as the nucleus of a future Palestinian security force in the months that follow the Israeli military operation, but this is only one of many ideas.”

A source familiar with the talks said: “The Palestinian Authority has begun in recent days to contact some of these people, especially those who are of an appropriate age for security service, with the aim of verifying whether they are interested in returning to serve in the Palestinian security forces.”