Security & Diplomacy
Who governs Gaza
The Palestinian Authority should have a role in Gaza after the war.
Hamas drove the Palestinian Authority out of Gaza by force in 2007. Every post-war plan has to say who governs instead.
What is at stake
The Palestinian Authority governs parts of the West Bank. Hamas drove it out of Gaza by force in 2007. Every post-war plan discussed by Israel, the United States and the Arab states has to name an administrator: a reformed PA, an Arab-backed body, local figures, or Israel.
The case for
- Somebody has to run Gaza day to day. Only a Palestinian body would be accepted by the people living there.
- The PA recognises Israel and coordinates on security in the West Bank. It is the only address Arab states and donors will fund.
- Without it, Israel runs Gaza's civil administration itself, with its own soldiers, its own budget and no end date.
The case against
- The PA pays stipends to the families of imprisoned and killed attackers, and teaches a school curriculum hostile to Israel.
- It pursues Israeli soldiers and officials in international courts while asking for territory.
- Handing Gaza back to the body Hamas expelled by force in 2007 will not hold.
Both sides get the same number of points at comparable length. That is a rule of this site, not a coincidence.
What the next Knesset could decide
The security cabinet sets the day-after framework: who handles the crossings, the aid and the civil administration. The government also decides whether to keep transferring the tax revenue Israel collects on the PA's behalf.