The Palestinian Authority in its current state is not capable of governing the Gaza Strip after Hamas is defeated, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Sunday.
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Speaking to ABC's "This Week," Kirby said only a "reformed and revitalized Palestinian Authority" could competently carry out the task.
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US President Joe Biden and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas
(Photo: Reuters)
The remarks follow Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's assertion that the Palestinian governing body, which holds partial control over the West Bank, is incapable of governing Gaza, as he claims that like Hamas, it also denies Israel's existence.
The Palestinian Authority “pays murderers…. They educate their children to hate Israel and, to my sorrow, to murder Jews, and ultimately for the disappearance of the State of Israel,” he responded to a reporter's question on the matter in a press conference Saturday.
“What [Netanyahu] said was right now you’ve got an unreformed PA and that’s unacceptable to him. I would tell you that’s unacceptable to us too. We don’t believe the PA is in a position right now to be in, a credible control of governance in Gaza,” Kirby told anchor George Stephanopoulos.
He emphasized that the future governance in the territory, while not necessarily limited to the Palestinian Authority, should include them and must be responsive and representative of the Palestinian people. He also asserts that Hamas does not fulfill this criteria.
The Palestinian Authority, created under the Oslo Accords as part of an interim peace process in the 1990s, is highly unpopular among the Palestinian people, who often view it as a security subcontractor for Israel.