These hurdles mean western policy-makers face a huge challenge in transforming the PA into a body that is acceptable to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as to an Israel prime minister who has spent 15 years reducing the organisation’s influence. Landscapers work in Tel Aviv work beneath a billboard depicting Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas wearing a Hamas headband. “I don’t think it would be wise for any Palestinian movement to say: ‘We will do this under the watchful eye of Israel,’” he said. Other observers, such as former Israel negotiator Daniel Levy, counsel the PA against entering Gaza if security remains an Israeli preserve, as Netanyahu has insisted it will. Nasser al-Qudwa, a nephew of Yasser Arafat tipped as future PA leader, said: “I think the current authority, in its present form and with the men leading it, is unable to even set foot in the Gaza Strip, let alone handle the major tasks required at this time.” But many doubt its ability to do so, even if there were such a plan. The PA – established in the 1990s as part of the then peace process to run areas in the West Bank and Gaza under Palestinian control – has said it is willing to play a role in Gaza, from where it was expelled by Hamas in 2006, but only if it is part of a clear, comprehensive peace plan with Israel that also includes the West Bank. Indeed, Israel is so hostile to the PA that it banned the authority’s foreign minister from travelling this month to Bahrain to speak to a conference attended by US and Arab leaders on its post-war plans.
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