Washington and Israel consider Bremer-style U.S.-led administration for Gaza
The United States and Israel have discussed the potential for Washington to lead a temporary post-war administration in Gaza, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The “high-level” consultations have centred around a transitional government headed by a US official that would oversee Gaza until it had been demilitarised and stabilised, and a viable Palestinian administration had emerged, the sources said, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
According to the discussions, which remain preliminary, there would be no fixed timeline for how long such a US-led administration would last, which would depend on the situation on the ground, the five sources said.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, compared the proposal to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq that Washington established in 2003, shortly after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Paul Bremer III, a retired American diplomat, then led the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), from May 2003 until June 2004, following the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The authority was perceived by many Iraqis as an occupying force and it transferred power to an interim Iraqi government in 2004 after failing to contain a growing insurgency.
A US-led provisional authority in Gaza would draw Washington deeper into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and mark its biggest Middle East intervention since the Iraq invasion.
Such a move would carry significant risks of a backlash from both allies and adversaries in the Middle East, if Washington were perceived as an occupying power in Gaza, the sources said.
Other countries would be invited to take part in the US-led authority in Gaza, the sources said, without identifying which ones. They said the administration would draw on Palestinian technocrats but would exclude Islamist group Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, which holds limited authority in the occupied West Bank.
The sources said it remained unclear whether any agreement could be reached. Discussions had not progressed to the point of considering who might take on core roles, they said.
The sources did not specify which side had put forward the proposal nor provide further details of the talks.
In response to questions, a US State Department spokesman did not comment directly on whether there had been discussions with Israel about a US-led provisional authority in Gaza, saying it was not possible to speak to ongoing negotiations.
“We want peace, and the immediate release of the hostages,” the spokesman said, adding that: “The pillars of our approach remain resolute: stand with Israel, stand for peace.”
In an April interview with Emirati-owned Sky News Arabia, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he believed there would be a “transitional period” after the conflict in which an international board of trustees, including “moderate Arab countries”, would oversee Gaza with Palestinians operating under their guidance.
“We’re not looking to control the civil life of the people in Gaza. Our sole interest in the Gaza Strip is security,” he said, without naming which countries he believed would be involved. The foreign ministry did not respond to a request for further comment.
Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of the Hamas-run Gaza government media office, rejected the idea of an administration led by the United States or any foreign government, saying the Palestinian people of Gaza should choose their own rulers. The Palestinian Authority did not respond to a request for comment.
The United Arab Emirates, which established diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020, has proposed to the United States and Israel that an international coalition oversees Gaza’s post-war governance. Abu Dhabi conditioned its involvement on the inclusion of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority and a credible path toward Palestinian statehood.
The UAE foreign ministry did not respond to questions about whether it would support a US-led administration that did not include the PA.
Israel’s leadership, including Netanyahu, firmly rejects any role in Gaza for the Palestinian Authority, which it accuses of being anti-Israeli. Netanyahu also opposes Palestinian sovereignty. He said on Monday that Israel would expand its attacks in Gaza and that more Gazans would be moved “for their own safety”. Israel is still seeking to recover 59 hostages being held in the enclave.
Some members of Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition have called publicly for what they describe as the “voluntary” mass migration of Palestinians from Gaza and for the reconstruction of Jewish settlements inside the coastal enclave.
But behind closed doors, some Israeli officials have also been weighing proposals over the future of Gaza that sources say assumes that there will not be a mass exodus of Palestinians from Gaza, such as the US-led provisional administration. Among those include restricting reconstruction to designated security zones, dividing the territory and establishing permanent military bases, said four sources, who include foreign diplomats and former Israeli officials briefed on the proposals.
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