In a report published by the American newspaper “The Washington Post” on Tuesday, the newspaper says that “in its plan for the day after the Israeli campaign to eliminate Hamas in Gaza, the United States hopes to pave the way for the besieged Palestinian Authority to take control, by encouraging the formation of a new government and launching training for its security forces.

The newspaper notes that so far, “Washington is stumbling over one of the first obstacles, which is convincing Israel to release the salaries necessary to prevent the authority from collapsing completely.”

It added, "In recent weeks, American officials have been moving in and out of the Muqata, the gated compound of 88-year-old Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, which is located in Ramallah in the de facto capital of the occupied West Bank."

Palestinian and American officials say that the Palestinians demanded changes and new faces in key positions to improve the bad situation of the authority, which is unpopular among the Palestinians, while looking forward to an expanded role in the Gaza Strip after the war.

The newspaper pointed out that initially, Palestinian officials rejected the idea of returning to power in Gaza, which has been controlled by Hamas since 2007, in the wake of the current brutal war on Gaza. But they have gradually become more receptive to seizing a rare opportunity to annex both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip under their rule.

The newspaper revealed that the administration of US President Joe Biden is talking with the Palestinians and members of the international community about “a new government and some new blood joining the ranks of the Palestinian Authority government alongside Abbas and under his leadership,” according to a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter. 

But Palestinian officials said they want to link any such efforts to a clear “political horizon” for Palestinian statehood, because they are skeptical that the United States can achieve anything while Israel’s current far-right government is in power.

The faltering American efforts to release $140 million in Palestinian tax money allocated to Gaza, which Israel has blocked since Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on October 7, did not strengthen the Palestinian Authority’s confidence in the American administration’s attempts.

On December 18, Reuters reported, “A number of senior American officials have continued to travel to the West Bank in the past few weeks to meet with Abbas, hoping that the Palestinian president, who is standing by as a spectator in the war between Israel and Hamas, will be able to reform the Palestinian Authority, which lacks sufficient popularity to manage the Gaza Strip after the conflict.

According to the newspaper, “Abbas is the architect of the Oslo peace agreements with Israel in 1993, which revived hopes for the establishment of a Palestinian state. But his legitimacy is constantly diminishing due to the construction of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Now, many Palestinians view his administration as corrupt, undemocratic, and disconnected from reality.” 

But in the wake of Hamas' attacks on Israel on October 7, Biden said he wanted to revive the Palestinian Authority, which Abbas has headed since 2005, to take over responsibility in Gaza once the conflict ends and unify the administration of the Strip with the West Bank.

Jake Sullivan, the US National Security Advisor, met with Abbas, becoming the latest senior US official to urge him to make rapid changes.

US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, told reporters after his meeting with Abbas, in late November, that they discussed the necessity of carrying out reforms to combat corruption and strengthen the role of civil society and the free press.

Three Palestinians and a senior regional official familiar with the talks told Reuters that Washington's secret proposals also include Abbas relinquishing some of his control over power.

Palestinian and regional sources said that the proposed proposals include appointing a deputy for Abbas, giving broader executive powers to the prime minister, and introducing new figures into the ranks of the leadership.

The US State Department said that leadership choices are a matter for the Palestinian people and did not clarify the steps necessary to renew the blood of the Palestinian Authority.

In an interview with Reuters in his office in Ramallah, the Palestinian President said that he is ready to renew the Palestinian Authority by including new leaders and holding elections, which have not happened since Hamas won the last elections in 2006 and expelled the Palestinian Authority from Gaza, on the condition that a binding international agreement is reached. It would lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state. This is something that was rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right coalition.

When asked about the American proposals, Abbas said in the interview, “The problem is not changing people and forming a new government. The problem is the policies of the Israeli government.”

Abbas may concede that his long rule is nearing its end, but he and other Palestinian leaders say the United States, Israel's main strategic ally, must pressure Netanyahu's government to allow the establishment of a Palestinian state that includes Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

An informed source in Washington told the agency that Abbas expressed in private conversations his acceptance of some American proposals to reform the Palestinian Authority. These proposals included injecting “new blood” with technocratic skills and granting the position of prime minister new executive powers.

American officials confirmed that they did not put forward any names to Abbas, but regional sources and diplomats said that some figures in Washington and Israel prefer Hussein Al-Sheikh, secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which includes factions far from the political Islam movement, to become a potential deputy and future successor to Abbas. 

Al-Sheikh, who also met with Sullivan in Ramallah, said that the brutal war in Gaza showed that the violent methods followed by Hamas do not work, and he expressed his support for the idea of talks.

The sheikh said in a rare interview with Reuters: “Doesn’t all of this and everything that is happening deserve a serious, honest and responsible assessment to protect our people and our cause?”

Four American sources, including two administration officials, said that Washington appealed to Jordan, Egypt and Gulf countries that have some influence on the Palestinian Authority to persuade Abbas to continue reforms quickly to prepare for what is coming.

The American sources said that Abbas pledged several times to reform his administration in the past few years and does not have much to offer about that, so senior American officials will continue the pressure and wait to see the extent of his implementation of that this time.

But American officials realize that Abbas is still the only realistic Palestinian leadership figure at the present time, despite his unpopularity among the Palestinians and his lack of confidence in Israel, which criticized his failure to condemn the October 7 attack, as a senior US administration official said, requesting anonymity. Because of the confidential nature of the talks, Biden's aides have quietly urged Israeli leaders to abandon their resistance to the Palestinian Authority's revival and leadership role in Gaza following the end of the conflict.

Another American source said, "This is the main focus of interest." American officials say that in the short term, Israel must release more tax revenues that it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority and that it froze in the wake of October 7 so that the Palestinian Authority can pay salaries.

Palestinian and American diplomatic sources said that talks about what will happen after the end of the war have intensified in the past few weeks, but no plan has been presented to Abbas.

International condemnation of the Israeli attack on Gaza escalated with the death toll rising to more than 20,000 people according to health authorities in Gaza, but Netanyahu insisted that the war would continue until it succeeded in destroying Hamas, returning the hostages, and protecting Israel from future attacks.

Sullivan said that the United States is also telling Israel that the Palestinian Authority's security forces must have a presence in Gaza after the war, as is already the case in parts of the West Bank. But Netanyahu said that there is a disagreement with his ally, America, regarding the Palestinian Authority’s rule of Gaza. He added that Gaza "will neither be Hamas-stan (ruled by Hamas) nor Fatah-stan (ruled by the Fatah movement.")

The Palestinian Authority was established after the Oslo Accords in 1993 and is controlled by the Fatah movement led by Abbas. It was supposed to be a temporary administration to move on the path to establishing an independent Palestinian state. Abbas has headed it for 18 years, but he did not achieve this.

American officials said they believe Abbas can restore some credibility among Palestinians if he can show that he is rooting out corruption, fostering a new generation of leaders, bringing in foreign aid to rebuild Gaza after the war, and mobilizing support abroad for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

In his interview with Reuters, Abbas called on the United States to sponsor an international peace conference to agree on final steps leading to the establishment of a Palestinian state. This meeting may be similar to the Madrid Summit in 1991, which US President George H.W. Bush called for in the wake of the 1990-1991 Gulf War.