In what could be his final speech on the job, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Israel of systematically undermining the Palestinian Authority, which he said should govern a unified Gaza Strip, in addition to Judea and Samaria after Israel’s war against Hamas terrorists concludes.
Presenting his plans on Tuesday for the “day after” the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip at the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C., the Biden administration’s top diplomat reiterated that the P.A. and international partners should “run an interim administration with responsibility for key civil sectors in Gaza, like banking, water, energy, health, civil coordination with Israel.”
The envisioned interim body would “hand over complete responsibility to a fully reformed P.A. administration as soon as it’s feasible,” he said.
Blinken’s proposal, which he said would be shared with the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, also calls for the U.S. to train and arm more security forces in the P.A., who would gradually take over from an interim force led by “partner nations.”
The legal position of the P.A. forces would be enshrined in a binding U.N. Security Council Resolution, the diplomat proposed.
The U.S. State Department has worked for months with partner nations to draw up proposals for managing security, governance, reconstruction and more in Gaza, Blinken noted, arguing that the international community cannot afford to wait until a ceasefire is put in place to launch such plans.
According to Blinken, the outgoing administration has stressed to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Palestinian terror “cannot be defeated by a military campaign alone, that without a clear alternative, a post-conflict plan and a credible political rise to the Palestinians, Hamas or something just as abhorrent and dangerous will grow back.”
‘Prepared to make tough choices‘
The “capacity and legitimacy” of the P.A., which he described as the “only viable alternative” to the Iranian-backed terror group, has been undermined by the current government in Jerusalem, Blinken claimed.
“Israel continues to hold back P.A. tax revenues that it collects on behalf of the Palestinians, funds that belong to the Palestinians and to the P.A. needs to pay people who provide essential services like health care and security in the West Bank, which is vital to Israel’s own security,” he said.
The P.A., under its “pay for slay” policy, pays monthly stipends to convicted terrorists and the families of slain terrorists. The so-called Martyrs’ Fund is a cornerstone of P.A. law, granting terrorists or their next of kin the right to receive payments as long as they live. Israel says the payouts encourage terrorism and Israel offsets an equivalent amount from taxes that Israel collects on behalf of the P.A.
Ramallah has been paying stipends for years, but the issue came under a spotlight following the murder of Taylor Force, a U.S. citizen killed by a Palestinian who went on a stabbing rampage in Jaffa in 2018. Congress passed the Taylor Force Act, which officially halted American aid to the Palestinian Authority as long as terror stipends were being paid out.
Blinken also accused the Jewish state of “expanding official settlements and nationalizing land at a faster clip than any time in the last decade, while turning a blind eye to unprecedented growth of illegal outposts.”
The diplomat charged that violent attacks by “extremist settlers” against Palestinian civilians in Judea and Samaria have reached “record levels.”
The Israel Defense Forces recorded 663 instances of violence by Jews against Palestinians in Judea and Samaria last year, a 34% decrease compared to 2023 when 1,005 incidents were recorded. Meanwhile, Israel recorded thousands of terrorist attacks committed by Palestinians in 2024—including many in Judea and Samaria.
Blinken emphasized that Israelis “must abandon the myth that they can carry out de facto annexation [of Judea and Samaria] without cost and consequence to Israel’s democracy, to its standing, to its security.”
“We sincerely hope the parties will be prepared to make tough choices going forward, and yet, the unimpeachable reality is that up to this point, they’ve either failed to make these difficult decisions or acted in ways that put a deal and long-term peace further from reach,” he said.
A month and a day after the Hamas-led massacre of 1,200 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Blinken said Gaza must be handed over to the P.A. The solution “must include Palestinian-led governance and Gaza unified with the West Bank under the P.A.,” he said on Nov. 8.
U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby has insisted that the Biden administration’s policies were geared towards backing an authority that “has the support of all Palestinians so that they can effectively help with post-conflict governance, particularly in Gaza.”
At the same time, the State Department refused to rule out Hamas retaining power or joining a P.A.-led governing body for the Gaza Strip.
“Palestinians’ voices and aspirations must be at the center of post-crisis governance in Gaza, unified with the West Bank under the P.A.,” a U.S. government spokesperson told JNS, adding, “Ultimately, the future of Palestinian leadership is a question for the Palestinian people.”
An opinion poll published late last month showed that nearly two-thirds of Palestinians in Gaza, as well as in Judea and Samaria, prefer Hamas terrorists be part of, or even lead, a Palestinian governing body that would control the Strip after the current war with Israel concludes.
Israel is seeking the destruction of Hamas’s governing capabilities and has rejected Ramallah’s involvement due to its support for terror.
Netanyahu said during an interview that aired on May 9 that Israel is seeking to establish a rule “by Gazans who are not committed to our destruction, possibly with the aid of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and other countries that I think want to see stability and peace.”