The US peace envoy to the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt during his visit to Ramallah, Palestine - Photo Credit Jason Greenblatt official Twitter acount
CAIRO – 31 August 2017: The United States peace envoy to the Middle East, Jason Greenbalt, said on Wednesday that the Palestinian Authority (PA) should control the Gaza Strip. Greenbalt’s statements’ came during a tour conducted on the border between the Gaza strip and the Israeli border.
The peace envoy voiced the U.S. opposition to Hamas’ rule in the Gaza Strip and confirmed the support of the PA, according to Maan News Agency. "It is clear that the Palestinian Authority needs to resume its role in the administration of Gaza, as Hamas has substantially harmed the people of Gaza and has failed to meet their most basic needs," said Greenblatt.
Jason Greenblatt’s visit to Palestine and Israel started on August 24, and came as part of Trump administration’s attempts to re-launch the stagnant peace talks between Israel and Palestine. Earlier, in May 2017, the U.S. president, Donald Trump, visited Israel and Palestine with the aim to revive the stalled peace process. During his visit, Trump said that “the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were prepared to "reach for peace", even as he cautioned that a deal will not be easily achieved.
Since 2006, Hamas and the Fatah (the ruling party in the PA) have been involved in a more than a decade-long
, when Hamas won Palestinian legislative elections and a bloody conflict between the two groups broke out in 2007.
Palestinian frustrations have raised against the two parties, especially against the PA in the recent months as the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, passed devastating policies aiming to plunge the Gaza Strip deeper into a humanitarian crisis in an attempt to force Hamas to relinquish their authority.
These policies included halting medical referrals of patients who need to travel abroad to receive treatment and simultaneously cutting funding to the local medical sector, cutting salaries of PA Gaza based employees, discounting payments to former prisoners of Israel and reducing funding to Israeli fuel which exacerbated the already deteriorating situation in the Gaza Strip.
On Wednesday, the United Nations Secretary General,
, visited the Gaza Strip and demanded lifting the Israeli decade-long blockade describing the situation in the Strip as "one of the most dramatic humanitarian crises" he had seen. He also urged the Palestinian parties to end the division and to work towards achieving unity.
Furthermore, the U.N. in July
that “life for the average Palestinian in Gaza is getting more and more wretched,” and that for the majority of Gaza's residents, the territory may already be unlivable.
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