Saudi Arabia seeks leading role in reform of Palestinian Authority, wants Israel to release funds in return – report

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has approached the U.S. Trump administration to expand its role in the efforts to reform the Palestinian Authority (PA), while requesting Israel to release frozen funds in return, Israel’s i24 News reported Wednesday.

Saudi Arabia offered to take on a “broad and significant role” in the process of implementing the broad reforms in the PA that the U.S. and European Union have demanded from the Palestinian leadership to enable it to take over the administration of the Gaza Strip in the future.

In return for taking on this leading role, Saudi Arabia reportedly wants to see progress toward the release of clearance funds that Israel has frozen and is refusing to transfer to the PA, arguing that despite claims to the contrary, the PA still pays funds to Palestinian terrorists responsible for murdering Israelis.

The U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement states that once the PA undergoes reforms and the reconstruction of Gaza has advanced, “conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood.”

However, according to a report published on Wednesday by Lt.-Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, “The PA continues to lie and reward terrorists in ‘Pay-For-Slay'.” 

“The critical mass of the reports, amplified by [Israeli Foreign] Minister Sa’ar, eventually forced the PA and Abbas to admit, in November 2025, that the PA payments to the terrorists had indeed continued,” Hirsch argued. 

According to the PA, it has taken steps that include reducing the number of terrorists receiving salaries to “only” slightly over 1,000, while claiming that it has also begun changing the educational content in its schools to reduce incitement and antisemitism. 

Speaking at the weekly PA government meeting in Ramallah, cabinet leader Mohammad Mustafa said the PA is “determined to unify Palestinian institutions in Judea and Samaria and in the Gaza Strip, and to address the economic and security challenges despite the constraints imposed by the occupation.” 

"The government will take all necessary steps to establish a sovereign Palestinian state,” he added. 

The PA, which has been run as a quasi-dictatorship by its President Mahmoud Abbas for over a decade, also noted that it established a constitutional committee as well as a committee tasked with preparing a new elections law.  

The last elections were held in 2007 and resulted in a victory by Hamas and its subsequent takeover of the Gaza Strip. Candidates for the coming elections will be required to recognize the PLO and the Oslo Accords, according to i24 News. 

Senior PLO official and Abbas’s designated successor, Hussein al-Sheikh, reportedly recently concluded a visit to Saudi Arabia as part of a new effort to mobilize regional and international support. 

Saudi Arabia has long been an important backer for the PA, but has refrained from taking an active role so far. The kingdom hosted a conference focused on reforms in the PA in 2024, which reportedly descended into a heated shouting match when al-Sheikh complained about the lack of political and financial support for the PA. 

The foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed (ABZ), reportedly slammed the PA in response, calling the Palestinian leadership “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,” arguing that senior PA officials were “useless” and that “replacing them with one another will only lead to the same result.” 

Once seen as close allies, the recent divergence in the regional strategy of Saudi Arabia and the UAE can also be seen in their approach to the PA. 

According to i24 News, the UAE recently halted a transfer of some $US100 million in financial assistance over the lack of progress in the reforms, highlighting ongoing frustrations. 

Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, announced on Sunday that Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman “directed the intensification of air, sea, and land aid efforts in response to the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip through the Saudi Campaign to Support the Palestinian People.” 

According to the Saudi Press Agency, the kingdom “has operated an air and sea bridge to provide relief to the brotherly Palestinian people” and delivered “more than 7,600 tons of food, medical, and shelter supplies” as well as signed agreements with international organizations “to implement relief projects inside the strip worth $90.35 million.”