Candidate to govern Gaza calls on Hamas and PA to make concessions: 'Allow the strip to be revived'

Palestinian businessman Samir Hulileh, a candidate to serve as governor of the Gaza Strip the 'day after' the war, told Kan News on Wednesday that both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) will need to make significant concessions.

“The Authority needs to open the door and allow the Strip to be revived. It (the PA) is very weak and has failed to fulfill its role in recent times.”

Hulileh did not spare Hamas from criticism either. According to him, Hamas could take part in Gaza’s future government only if it disarms, with the weapons collected and handed over to the Palestinian police and other forces from countries such as Egypt.

“Hamas needs to think about the interests of the Palestinian people; they have a responsibility to hand over their weapons,” Hulileh stated. “If they do not agree to hand over their weapons, it will make Gaza’s reconstruction and stability more difficult.”

Hulileh also addressed criticism leveled at him by the PA, which saw the very proposal as an attempt to undermine its sovereignty and separate Gaza from the West Bank. He believes the PA’s criticism is part of the bargaining process over the day-after plan. Still, he will not take any step as Gaza’s governor without the PA’s official consent through a presidential decree from Mahmoud Abbas.

According to Hulileh, the discussion regarding the day-after scenario in Gaza involves a wide range of players: “There are those who will finance the Strip’s reconstruction, such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and others. There are those who will control the crossings into the Strip, those who are linked to the issue of weapons and Hamas, and those who will deal with the PA’s legitimacy in Gaza.”

Under the proposed plan, the Gulf states and the U.S. would invest massive sums in rebuilding the Strip and help establish an external government that would not operate under the PA.

However, for now, the plan exists only on paper and would be implemented only after Hamas and Israel reach a ceasefire agreement.

According to Hulileh, tens of thousands of Gazans already support the proposal: “They tell us – just stop the war and come.”

When asked if he would cooperate with other factions in Gaza that are in opposition to Hamas, such as the armed militia of Yasser Abu-Shabab, Hulileh clarified he would have no connection to him: “I do not like the way he runs things. I believe he will leave the scene just like other actors who have disappeared.”