{"id":15624,"date":"2024-01-10T10:26:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-10T15:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-houthi-attack-in-red-sea-is-shot-down\/10\/01\/2024\/"},"modified":"2024-01-10T10:26:00","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T15:26:00","slug":"israel-hamas-war-live-updates-houthi-attack-in-red-sea-is-shot-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-houthi-attack-in-red-sea-is-shot-down\/10\/01\/2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel-Hamas War Live Updates: Houthi Attack in Red Sea Is Shot Down"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As he toured the Middle East this week, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken sounded optimistic on the prospect of Arab governments joining together to plan for Gaza\u2019s future after the war, saying that he found them willing \u201cto do important things to help Gaza stabilize and revitalize,\u201d as he put it on Monday, during a stop in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

But, at least in public, Arab officials have been eager to distance themselves from discussions about how to rebuild and govern Gaza \u2014 particularly while Israeli bombs are still falling on more than two million Palestinians who are trapped in the besieged enclave. <\/p>\n

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Instead, they have stressed that Israel and the United States must implement a cease-fire, and then take steps toward a goal Arab states have pursued for decades: a serious pathway toward creating a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout a stable, independent sovereign nation for the Palestinians, nothing else matters, because it will not come up with a long-term solution for the conflict that we\u2019re seeing,\u201d Prince Khalid bin Bandar, the Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom, told<\/a> the BBC on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

And on Sunday, during a news conference with Mr. Blinken in Qatar, Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman said, \u201cGaza is part of Palestinian occupied territory, which needs to be under Palestinian rule and leadership.\u201d He added, \u201cThere is no peace in the region without a comprehensive and just settlement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Blinken, who since beginning his latest diplomatic mission on Friday has visited Turkey, Greece, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Saudi Arabia and Israel, has also stressed the importance of a pathway toward a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n

Officially, Arab governments have mostly dismissed the notion that they could participate in postwar planning before a cease-fire, arguing that this would be akin to helping Israel clean up its mess<\/a>. And they are reluctant to be seen participating in Israeli visions for Gaza\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

Palestinians receiving food in Rafah, in southern Gaza, on Tuesday.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Hatem Ali\/Associated Press<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mahmoud al-Habbash, a close adviser to the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, said that recent high-level meetings held by Mr. Abbas were narrowly focused on ending the war and addressing humanitarian concerns. He forcefully denied that they had touched on Gaza\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of these meetings, consultations, and efforts are aiming to cease the aggression,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But behind the scenes, Arab officials have engaged in more pragmatic discussions, in which they assert that the Palestinian Authority \u2014 which had long pursued a Palestinian state while being sidelined by successive Israeli governments \u2014 is the natural candidate to govern postwar Gaza. That stance has not changed despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu all but ruling out any governing role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza. <\/span><\/p>\n

On Monday, when Mr. Abbas met with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, it was partly to coordinate positions on Gaza, a Palestinian official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The official noted that Mr. Abbas was pressing for a united Arab position that supports a solution to the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict, rather than dealing with Gaza in isolation.<\/p>\n

And on Wednesday, Mr. Abbas plans to travel to Jordan to participate in a summit with Mr. Sisi and King Abdullah of Jordan to discuss the situation in Gaza, Jordan\u2019s state news agency reported.<\/p>\n

Mr. Abbas also hopes that a five-member committee \u2014 including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and the Palestinians \u2014 will convene in the future to further coordinate diplomatic efforts, the Palestinian official said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s taking place is consensus-building on the different pathways to the day after,\u201d said Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House, a London-based research organization, referring to how Gaza will be governed when fighting ends.<\/p>\n

Arab countries themselves have different views about what a future government in Gaza should look like, and how capable the Palestinian Authority is of taking over the enclave. Before the war, Gaza had been ruled for years by Hamas, the armed group that carried out the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel.<\/p>\n

Palestinian analysts say that the Palestinian Authority\u2019s ability to govern Gaza would hinge on achieving unity with Hamas, which they predicted would remain a critical part of Palestinian politics following the war \u2014 though Israel has repeatedly said it will not stop fighting until Hamas is destroyed. <\/p>\n

In 2005, when Israel withdrew all its troops and citizens from Gaza, it handed over power there to the Palestinian Authority. But Fatah, the political faction that controls the Palestinian Authority, lost a legislative election the next year to Hamas. In 2007, Hamas seized power in Gaza in a short and brutal civil war, dividing the Palestinians not only territorially, but politically.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbbas and the Palestinian Authority want to bring Gaza back under their administration \u2014 they believe the war has created a major opportunity for them,\u201d said Jehad Harb, a Ramallah-based analyst. \u201cBut without reconciling with Hamas, they will struggle to govern there. Hamas is a powerful force that will remain in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n

For some Arab states, mixed messaging on Gaza\u2019s future \u201creflects their fluid thinking, and for others, the desperation of choices,\u201d said Bader Al-Saif,<\/strong> a professor at Kuwait University.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no easy options there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Arab public opinion \u2014 deeply hostile<\/a> toward Israel and the United States, especially since the war began \u2014 is important, Mr. Al-Saif added.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny day-after scenario that doesn\u2019t meet the masses\u2019 quest for dignity and justice for Palestinians will eventually bite the different states of the region,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d keep that in mind if I were a policymaker.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2014 <\/span>Vivian Nereim<\/a><\/span> and Adam Rasgon<\/a><\/span> reporting from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Jerusalem<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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As he toured the Middle East this week, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken sounded optimistic on the prospect of Arab governments