Saudi Arabia facilitating highest point on post-war Gaza: Report

 The meeting will be attended by several Arab officials, including a top aide to Mahmoud Abbas, and will focus in part on 'reforming the PA'

Saudi Arabia is hosting a regional ministerial summit with representatives from five countries on 8 January, aimed at reaching a unified Arab position on the war in Gaza and what should come after it, two Arab diplomats told The Times of Israel. 

“The Arab ministers are slated to discuss efforts to expand pressure for a ceasefire in Gaza, leveraging their willingness to take part in the Strip’s rehabilitation after the war,” the diplomats told The Times of Israel. 

In addition, they are set to discuss “further integrating Israel into the region, on the condition that Jerusalem agrees to take steps creating an irreversible pathway to an eventual Palestinian state,” the sources added. 

The meeting, which has yet to be officially announced, will also be attended by Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior aide to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas. 

Riyadh will continue to “expand its cooperation with Ramallah, assuaging concerns that Saudi Arabia will abandon the Palestinian cause while working to boost its regional and global stature,” the diplomats went on to say. 

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, Sheikh, and the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, the UAE, and Qatar will be in attendance, according to the diplomats. 

The summit comes after several under-the-table meetings between Saudi, Jordanian, Egyptian, and PA security officials, which were organized by the kingdom. 

“Those meetings focused on security matters, such as whether the Arab states would be willing to provide troops in order to help secure Gaza after the war.”

One diplomat said the participants of Thursday’s meeting are willing to cooperate towards an “interim period” in Gaza if requested by the PA. 

However, it has to be part of a “broader, time-bound initiative aimed at eventually establishing a Palestinian state.”

The meeting will focus less on security issues and center around reforming the PA. 

According to the sources, the Arab states involved in the summit do not want Hamas to be part of Gaza's post-war political leadership. However, they believe that the resistance group will survive Israel’s war, and “a level of its acquiescence will be needed in order to successfully advance the rehabilitation of Gaza.” 

Qatar has been included in this meeting because of the influence it is capable of having over Hamas, the sources say. 

Regarding the “integration” of Israel in the region, Saudi Arabia recently doubled down on its position that normalization cannot take place without Palestinian statehood. However, sources told Reuters over the weekend that the kingdom is satisfied with an Israeli “political commitment” to a Palestinian state and will not insist that Israel take “concrete steps” to establish one. 

The planned Saudi-led meeting comes as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the latest truce proposal mediated by the US, Qatar, and Egypt, vowing to continue the war until Hamas is eradicated.

It also comes a week after the Jerusalem Post reported that Netanyahu has approved a plan for a “transition period” where Israel assumes military control over Gaza. This is supposed to facilitate the reformation of the PA and the eventual establishment of some form of Palestinian statehood. 

According to the 31 January report,  a group of “businessmen” with close ties to the prime minister drew up the several-stage initiative.

Much like how the 1993 Oslo Accords did in the occupied West Bank, the plan fails to account for several factors, including the status of east Jerusalem. It also enables Israeli security operations in post-war Gaza. 

The plan also includes a broader normalization pact between Israel and Arab states.