JERUSALEM (AP) — The Palestinian Authority is heading into a U.N. conference next week hoping to revive a long-defunct peace process.
The authority, the Palestinians’ internationally recognized representative, faces a difficult task. It is deeply unpopular at home, weakened by years of Palestinian infighting and conflict with Israel and struggling for international relevance.
Nonetheless, Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa told journalists in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday that next week’s gathering of diplomats and world leaders in New York provides the perfect place to revive peace efforts.
“We hope that this will be a new beginning for relaunching a serious, time-based, just peace track,” he said.
The conference, set to begin on Tuesday, is aimed at renewing support for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians. While any declaration would be largely symbolic, Mustafa said a large show of international support would underscore the authority’s relevance.
“We still want to see this leading to bilateral negotiations between us and Israel that will resolve the standing issues,” he said.
A renewed push
The last round of substantive peace talks broke down well over a decade ago, and the odds of them resuming are slim – particularly while the war in Gaza rages on. Israel’s hardline government is dominated by ultranationalists who oppose Palestinian independence, and U.S. President Donald Trump has a history of siding with Israel against the Palestinians.
Still, Mustafa’s comments were a sign that the Palestinian Authority, which administers semi-autonomous pockets in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, is making a renewed push to become a player in postwar Gaza. Hamas militants ousted the Palestinian Authority when they took control of Gaza in 2007.
Ahead of next week’s conference, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wrote a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, the implementation of an Arab reconstruction plan and for the Palestinian government to take control of the strip. The letter condemns the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that triggered the war and calls for a release of all hostages still held in Gaza.
An uphill battle
But with the Trump administration seemingly disinterested and Israel opposed to Palestinian statehood, the obstacles are steep.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now says Israel and facilitate what he refers to as the voluntary emigration of much of its population to other countries. The Palestinians and most of the international community reject such plans, viewing them as .
The U.N. says the conference is geared toward reimplementing the vision of two independent Israeli and Palestinian states side by side. Mustafa said Thursday that progress had to begin with negotiating a ceasefire in Gaza.
“The main principles for Gaza governance and security in the future,” Mustafa said Thursday, are “one land, one government, one law, and one gun.”
“We hope that we will be able to achieve that. It’s going to be quite challenging, as you can imagine. It is easier said than done.”
Will France recognize a Palestinian state?
There is speculation that France, which is co-chairing the conference with Saudi Arabia, may use the summit as an opportunity to recognize a Palestinian state on 1967 borders, said Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Abbas called on all states “who believe in the two-state solution” to do so in his letter to Macron.
It’s a step that several European nations .
Macron in a post on X commended Abbas’ letter but did not say whether France would recognize a Palestinian state.
While recognition is important, it will be largely symbolic if not accompanied by moves to end Israeli settlement expansion, stop the destruction of Gaza and strengthen Palestinian sovereignty, said Lovatt. The Palestinians seek a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.
“Europeans now face a moment of truth: Are they serious about salvaging progress on the ground, or merely interested in the political optics as has too long been the case?” asked Lovatt.
