President Abbas: Palestinian Authority Ready To Hold Responsibility In Gaza, West Bank And Jerusalem As One Palestinian State

JAKARTA - The Palestinian Authority (PA) is ready to assume responsibility in the Gaza Strip, wants a complete cessation of war in the region and continued delivery of humanitarian aid, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said.

"The Palestinian Authority is ready to assume its responsibilities in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem as a Palestinian country," President Abbas told Egyptian television channel, quoted by The National News December 27.

"We want a complete cessation of fighting, the opening of borders for humanitarian aid and the prevention of forced transfer of Palestinians outside their homeland," President Abbas said.

President Abbas, who is also the leader of the Fatah Faction, emphasized that the Palestinian state must be established after the war and must consist of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

Fatah is the dominant faction in the Palestinian Authority, which ruled part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. While rival Hamas has ruled Gaza since they seized power there in 2007.

President Abbas's latest statement came as Egypt pushed for a peace proposal to all parties discussing the scenario "the day after" the war in Gaza ended.

Egyptian sources told Reuters, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which have held separate talks with Egyptian mediators in Cairo, have so far refused to offer any concessions, in addition to the possible release of more hostages arrested on October 7.

Egypt's proposed vision, which is also backed by Qatari mediators, will involve a ceasefire in exchange for the release of more hostages, leading to a broader deal, involving a permanent ceasefire and a leadership reshuffle in Gaza which is currently led by Hamas.

Egypt proposed elections while providing guarantees to Hamas that its members would not be pursued or prosecuted.

Responding to the role of the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, President Abbas said his party repeatedly emphasized that Fatah had never left Gaza.

"We don't need to go back to Gaza, we've been there," he said on the Egyptian ON television channel.

"However, we remain here (West Tepi) and we are also in Gaza despite a coup carried out by Hamas in 2007. We have not changed our position towards Gaza," he continued.

Our institutions, our cadres, our young generation are still in Gaza and you know, we continue to pay for Gaza people, schools, institutions, water, electricity 140 million US dollars each month. We still have cadres and infrastructure present to take power in Gaza," said President Abbas.