Non-partisan government of technocrats to run enclave to be part of any deal to pause war, according to sources
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Officials from the US, Qatar, Egypt and Israel are meeting in Doha on Monday to flesh out an “understanding” reached in Paris last week to pause the Gaza war and to discuss postwar mechanisms to run the devastated Palestinian territory.
Sources told The National on Monday that foremost among the postwar plans under discussion would be the formation of an interim Palestinian government made up of non-partisan technocrats to run Gaza and the occupied West Bank when a ceasefire is in place.
That government, they said, will need to win the acceptance of Israel, the US and the international community as the body to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza – devastated by nearly five months of Israeli bombardment.
The proposed government would be in office until legislative and presidential elections are held in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
On Monday, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh announced the resignation of his government, which rules parts of the West Bank, saying “new political measures” were needed given the changing reality in Gaza.
His resignation, he said, was prompted by “developments related to the aggression against the Gaza Strip and the escalation in the West Bank and Jerusalem”.
Delegates in Doha will also discuss details of a detainees-for-hostages swap between Israel and Hamas, as well as laying out the logistics of delivering substantial humanitarian assistance to the enclave when fighting is paused.
The Qatar talks, like previous rounds elsewhere, are being held behind closed doors.
Also on the table in Doha, will be the reconstruction of Gaza and the more immediate task of building a sufficient number of camps to house and care for displaced Palestinians. About 85 per cent of the territory’s 2.3 million residents have fled their homes, due to the fighting.
The Doha talks come a day after US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the Paris talks have yielded an “understanding” of what the hostage and prisoner deal might look like.
“The United States’ position in this is clear. We would like to see this deal get done,” Mr Sullivan said.
“We would like to see the hostages returned, including American hostages, and we would like to see a temporary ceasefire which will alleviate the suffering of the people in the Gaza Strip, innocent civilians, women and children.
“So, we are telling everyone, including the Israeli government, that it is our firm position that every effort be exercised to get to this agreement.”
The progress made in truce talks follows what the sources said last week was Hamas’s move to drop its demand for a permanent ceasefire.
Instead, the group accepted a six-week pause on the condition that negotiations to reach a permanent ceasefire begin as soon as soon as the temporary ceasefire is in place, according to the sources.
Hamas has also reduced from 5,000 to 3,000 the number of Palestinians jailed in Israel it wants to be released in return for the hostages held in Gaza since October 7.
It is also showing flexibility on the number of high-profile Palestinian prisoners serving long jail terms that it wants free as part of the exchange, said the sources.
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