Egypt can assist in Gaza peacekeeping if Israel agrees to Palestinian Authority civilian management of the enclave, former Israeli ambassador to Egypt Amira Oron said Sunday.
Jordan can also assist in training the PA to better fend off Hamas, all as part of a wider vision for the region, she told The Jerusalem Post in an interview.
Oron made her remarks at a conference held by the Coalition for Regional Security. A poll taken by the coalition last month showed that 72.5% of Israelis support a US-led initiative encompassing the return of Israeli hostages, Israeli-Saudi normalization, Israeli-Palestinian separation, and an Israeli-Sunni Arab regional security alliance against Iran.
With US President Donald Trump tossing out a plan for the relocation of Gazans while Gaza is being rebuilt – as both Palestinians and regional partners rejected the idea – the playing field for Gaza’s future is far from clear.
But if this broader vision is enacted, Oron said, “Egypt has a peacekeepers tradition. They have lots of peacekeepers in Africa, and many of their officers have served in Mali. If this [Egyptian peacekeeping in Gaza] happens under a UN framework, it will be even easier. But this will not all be so that Israel will say ‘you are doing a great job.’”
Jordan and Egypt involvement
Asked about reports that some Israeli officials might prefer UAE peacekeepers and not Egyptian peacekeepers, Oron said she was not against this per se, but nevertheless, “Egypt has a better military. The UAE is really more of an economic power. Egypt has a serious army.”
Jordan could also play a role, Oron said, adding that from 2005-2010, US Lt.-Gen. (ret.) Keith Dayton trained PA forces in Jordan, which then went on to combat Hamas in the West Bank during one of the more successful periods of the PA’s terrorist activity in coordination with Israel.
The experiment was mostly successful until 2013-2014, when PA President Mahmoud Abbas fired reformist prime minister Salam Fayyad, negotiations between Israel and the PA collapsed, and Hamas initiated the 50-day 2014 conflict with Israel.
This experiment was largely viewed as successful for the years that it ran, Oron said.
“The Dayton battalion was trained in Jordan,” she said. “We are not inventing anything new. Jordan and Egypt will train the PA forces for Gaza. They do capacity building. They are geographically in the right place, so you don’t need to get help from someone far away.”
It would be similar to the “capacity building in Erbil, Syria, which Turkey does,” she added.
Regarding Turkey, Oron said, another advantage of deepening Egyptian involvement in Gaza would be to shift the outside influence of Palestinians there away from Qatar and Turkey to Cairo – or from Muslim Brotherhood religious ideology to a more pragmatic and modern view of the world.
“The Egyptians don’t’ love Qatar,” she said. “There are also big tensions with Turkey. They have different ideologies than what Egypt believes. They confront them.”
This would all be part of a transition phase, with a gradual move in the direction of the PA having a monopoly on weapons in Gaza, Oron said.
“We have no interest in Hamas being strong,” she said. “We need to connect with the PA. The PA should have control over all weapons. There can be no militias. The idea of armed militias is a very hard idea for the Egyptians. It contradicts the idea of a state that is being managed and functions.”
“The alternative to Hamas is the PA,” she added. “I don’t understand why Israel is weakening the PA. It’s a national movement and not a religious movement. It is impossible to conduct negotiations with Sinwar and people like him. They believe in Dar al-Salam, so there is nothing to discuss.”
“We are lost without PA cooperation in the West Bank,” Oron said. “So, why are we so against the PA in Gaza? When there is a new administration in Gaza, there are and will be Palestinians connected to the PA.”
She did not claim there are no issues with the PA, nor that there will not be a price to working with them.
Nevertheless, she said, “if the PA shows it can improve and be efficient, and if the Palestinian public sees them building schools, and delivering food and water,” maybe they will be able to eventually oust Hamas from Gaza, not only military but also politically – something Israel has failed to do to date.
Rafah Crossing
In fact, the PA is already involved behind the scenes in opening the Rafah crossing.
The mechanism that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to as part of the current phase of the hostage deal is for a mix of the PA and a European force called EUBAM (European Union Border Assistance Mission) to administer the crossing.
“EUBAM and the PA at the Rafah crossing were happening even before this war,” Oron said. “They monitored and inspected people, and now everyone is bringing this back.”
“Now, all commercial goods being brought in are checked,” she said. “Now, it’s properly run, and this should continue,” whereas in some earlier prewar periods, inspections were negligent and allowed for mass smuggling of weapons and war materials for Hamas.
Regarding how long would it take for the PA to be ready to handle Hamas in Gaza if this entire vision moves forward, Oron said she would never want to sign on to an exact timeline, given the dynamic issues in play, but she would likely bet on close to four to five years – not decades or some indefinable period of time.
Rebuilding Gaza
Part of that question is connected to how long it would take to rebuild Gaza’s physical living spaces so that people can return from tents to permanent living quarters.
Neither Oron nor anyone else is sure how to answer this. Some think progress can be made over five years, while others think 10-15 years is more realistic, and it all depends on the amount and speed of outside donors, such as the Saudis and the UAE.
Regardless of how the rebuilding process progresses, it would make sense to involve the PA, Oron said.
“It’s already part of the PA’s territory, according to the Oslo Accords, specifically the Paris deal dealing with customs issues,” she said. “The PA is like a state and runs many things. Most of the world recognizes it as a state and sends ambassadors to reside in Ramallah. If Israel moves in this direction, it will be much easier with the Saudis, Jordan, and Egypt.”
“This physical problem in Gaza is very hard… Gaza is not at zero,” she said. “It is at negative-1000… We need to think about how to move them in order to put in new buildings. They were moved a huge number of times during the war.
There are old plans – one of which was to dry out some small parts of the sea around Gaza to grow its land area some more. [Defense Minister] Israel Katz [transportation minister at the time] spoke about an artificial island. But here you would need the political will.”
“Putting together interregional connections for the region – how does this come together if the PA is not a player? I don’t see how it comes together,” Oron said.
Moreover, “The PA in the West Bank is the biggest piece of the picture,” she said. “It is not destroyed. If you look at the West Bank, there is hope. We are talking about gradual moves.”
“Starting a pattern of Gazafication of Jenin is not good,” Oron said, warning about the possibility of endless IDF operations in the West Bank without a diplomatic horizon.
“We need a gradual branching out of the PA,” she said. “They won’t jump into being a state.”
“This is about security,” Oron said. “Becoming more regional is good. Israel cannot be alone. We will have a better economy working with the region. There are so many projects to frame the region, and they will also help us to overcome these obstacles.”