WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is advancing a “contact group” with Middle East allies aimed at coalescing around a united policy for managing the Gaza Strip after the Israel-Hamas war, a Biden administration official and a senior Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken brought the idea to leaders from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Turkey when he visited the region earlier this month and got approval from each country to move forward with the initiative, the two officials said.
The US is asking regional stakeholders to play a role in the reconstruction and management of Gaza after the war, and hopes that the contact group will allow for ideas to be raised and advanced in a single forum, the administration official said.
The senior Arab diplomat said that the Biden administration hopes that through the creation of the contact group, it can unite the region around a post-war plan that can then be taken to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Among the ideas being discussed are changes to the Palestinian Authority that would weaken President Mahmoud Abbas’s grip on power, money to rebuild the devastated Gaza Strip and long-sought ties between Jerusalem and Riyadh.
“It would include the reconstruction of Gaza, reforming the PA, creating a pathway to a Palestinian state and a Saudi normalization agreement,” the diplomat explained.
Israel launched a massive counteroffensive, aimed at eliminating Hamas and freeing the hostages taken by the group on October 7, when terrorists rampaged through southern communities, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 253 people to Gaza, with 132 still being held.
Netanyahu has pledged to continue the war for however long it takes until “complete victory” over Hamas is achieved. He has all but rejected allowing the PA to return to Gaza, indicating that the security risk of doing so would be too great to justify even if it included Saudi Arabia normalizing ties with Israel.
Each country has been tasked with picking a representative on the contact group, with Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf being the US delegate, according to the administration official. The forum is expected to begin holding largely virtual working group meetings next month.
Among the top agenda items for the contact group is helping the PA transition to governing the Gaza Strip, with countries recognizing that Ramallah will have to undergo significant reforms first.
The US has been leaning hard on Abbas to cooperate with the effort, and the PA leader has given a conditional commitment to the Biden administration that he would be willing to restructure his cabinet, according to the senior Arab diplomat and a third official familiar with the matter.
Particular emphasis has been placed on coaxing Abbas to restructure the PA’s leadership hierarchy to transfer many of his powers to a new prime minister, who could then implement necessary reforms. Abbas would retain his title as president but take on a more ceremonial role, the US official and the senior Arab diplomat said.
While several names have been floated of figures backed by the West, the PA president has resisted taking concrete steps while the war in Gaza is ongoing.
The US has also been pushing for the establishment of a separate contact group with European partners to hold similar discussions regarding the “day after” in Gaza with a particular emphasis on funding, the administration official said, adding that the forum might also include an Israeli representative.
The official familiar with the matter was not particularly bullish about the initiatives, saying there was a risk that, like other forums, they would become mired in bureaucracy, with little powers of execution.
Much of the success of the contact groups hinges on a major scale-back — if not a complete end — to the war, as well as cooperation from Israel, two conditions that have not yet been met.
“They’ve discussed the idea of having President [Joe] Biden come to the region or invite leaders to the White House to make the final sell,” the senior Arab diplomat said, speculating that Netanyahu would have a harder time saying “no” under such conditions.
In a statement to The Times of Israel, a State Department spokesperson did not deny the existence of the contact group, saying, “We continue to engage with a range of stakeholders on many issues related to the Gaza conflict, including post-conflict issues.”
“We have nothing to share regarding private diplomatic discussions,” the spokesperson added.
As the State Department advances the contact group, the White House — led by Middle East czar Brett McGurk — has been more focused on the hostage file, believing that securing a deal is the key to winding down the war, the US official and Arab diplomat said.
The Associated Press on Sunday confirmed a New York Times report on a two-part plan for the release of hostages kidnapped from Israel and a pause in fighting of up to two months, citing two senior administration officials.
Like the Times, the AP report noted that CIA director Bill Burns is expected to discuss the contours of the emerging agreement when he meets on Sunday in France with David Barnea, the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel for talks centered on the hostage negotiations.
Burns heads to France for the high-level talks after McGurk visited the region last week for meetings with the above officials on the hostage situation.
Israel and Hamas remain very far apart, though, with the former determined to continue the war after any deal, while the latter will not agree to anything less than a permanent ceasefire.
If Burns sees progress in his talks in France, Biden is expected to dispatch McGurk back to the Mideast quickly to try to complete an agreement.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.