Abu Dhabi (Quds News Network)- The United Arab Emirates has held discussions with Israel and the United States about participating in a provisional administration for post-war Gaza, until a reformed Palestinian Authority is able to assume control, officials familiar with the talks told Reuters.
The behind-the-scenes discussions, reported exclusively by Reuters for the first time, included the possibility of the UAE and the United States, along with other nations, temporarily overseeing the governance, security and reconstruction of Gaza after the Israeli military withdraws and until a Palestinian administration is able to take over, a dozen foreign diplomats and Western officials told Reuters.
The diplomats and officials said this provides the UAE with some leverage over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. The UAE is a close security partner of the U.S. and has diplomatic relations with Israel.
The sources told Reuters that after more than a year of war, Israel remains reluctant to outline its own vision for Gaza and the international community has struggled to formulate a viable plan.
The sources, asked not to be identified because the conversations were private, added that the ideas that had emerged from the UAE talks lacked detail and had not been distilled into a formal, written plan nor adopted by any government.
“The UAE will not participate in any plan that fails to include significant reform of the Palestinian Authority, its empowerment, and the establishment of a credible roadmap toward a Palestinian state,” a UAE official told Reuters, in response to questions about the discussions, something that Israel has publicly opposed.
“These elements – which are currently lacking – are essential for the success of any post-Gaza plan.”
A U.S. State Department spokesperson told Reuters there had been talks with several partners, including the UAE, on options for governance, security and reconstruction, and that various draft proposals, plans and ideas had been put forward by partners.
“These have been deliberative discussions that continue, as we seek the best way forward,” the spokesperson said, declining to comment further on “private diplomatic conversations”.
Four of the diplomats and Western officials also said that Emirati officials had suggested the use of private military contractors as part of a post-war peacekeeping force in Gaza. The other sources confirmed they were briefed on what they described as Emirati post-war proposals, which included the possible use of such forces.
They said any deployment of such contractors would spark concerns among Western nations. Private military contractors, hired by the United States and other governments, have faced accusations of torture, human rights abuses, and use of excessive force, among other allegations, including in Iraq and Afghanistan.
According to two former Israeli officials, who declined to be identified, Israel still wants the UAE involved in post-war Gaza, despite the UAE’s criticism of the war in Gaza and Netanyahu himself.
Asked whether Hamas was aware of proposals discussed by the UAE, Basem Naim, one of the organization’s senior officials, told Reuters that after the war, Gaza must be “distinctly Palestinian” and without “foreign interventions”.
The UAE has called for a new prime minister to lead the Palestinian Authority, which Emirati officials frequently criticized as corrupt and inept during the closed-door talks, the diplomats and officials said, without providing details.
Emirati officials have mentioned former prime minister Salam Fayyad, a U.S.-educated former World Bank official, as the type of person who would be credible to lead a revamped Palestinian Authority, according to the diplomats and officials. Fayyad served as prime minister from 2007 until resigning in 2013 after falling out with President Mahmoud Abbas, who remains in office.