As Israel destroys Hamas, discussion has already begun regarding future governance in Gaza.
President Biden said on “60 Minutes” regarding Gaza that “there needs to be a Palestinian Authority. There needs to be a path to a Palestinian state.”
In a Fox News interview, former CIA Director and retired Gen. David Petraeus was more specific: After Israel dismantles Hamas, he said, some Palestinian group will be needed to govern Gaza. One candidate, he suggested, is the Palestine Liberation Organization-dominated Palestinian Authority.
Supporting Palestinian Authority governance in Gaza would be a deadly mistake.
The Palestinian Authority has ruled parts of the West Bank for nearly three decades. For a dozen years before it was replaced by Hamas in 2006, it also ruled parts of Gaza. The Palestinian Authority’s track record shows that its tactics differ from Hamas’, but it nevertheless accomplishes the same result: murdering Jews.
For the non-Arab world and especially the West, the Palestinian Authority tries to pretend otherwise. Eight days after Hamas committed the worst act of mass murder against Jews since the Holocaust, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, WAFA, reported that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas “stressed that Hamas’ policies and actions do not represent the Palestinian people, and the policies, programs and decisions of the PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization] represent the Palestinian people as their sole legitimate representative.”
Hours later, however, the Palestinian Authority realized that even this anodyne comment undermined its message to the Arab world. A revised WAFA report about Abbas’ statement —
