At a news conference, Netanyahu aired his long-standing grievances over the PA’s school syllabus, which he says fuels hatred of Israel, and its policy of giving salaries to families of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel.
Such an organisation should not take charge of Gaza, he told reporters.
Speaking to NBC News on Sunday, he was even more emphatic.
“We need a different authority. We need a different administration,” Netanyahu said. Asked what sort of body that would be, he replied: “I think it’s too early to say.”
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Abbas, told Reuters the Israelis were seeking to perpetuate divisions between the two Palestinian territories – the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza.
“Israeli attempts to separate Gaza from the West Bank will fail, and it will not be allowed, regardless of the pressures,” he told Reuters.
The PA used to run both the West Bank and Gaza but was ousted from the latter in 2007 after a brief civil war with Hamas.
While Western governments want to involve the PA in the future of Gaza, diplomats say, there is also concern that 87-year-old Abbas does not have sufficient authority or support of his people to take charge.
“Right now, there is no clear idea of what might happen in Gaza once the fighting stopped,” a Jerusalem-based diplomat said.
Source: CNA
