AXIOS: Arab officials held secret meeting to discuss plans for post-war Gaza
Senior national security officials from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority secretly met in Riyadh 10 days ago to coordinate plans for the day after the war in Gaza and discuss ways to involve a revitalized Palestinian Authority in governing there, three sources with knowledge of the meeting told Axios.
According to Axios, Saudi Arabia's national security adviser Musaed bin Mohammed al-Aiban, hosted the meeting in Riyadh. The sources said the other participants were the Palestinian General Intelligence Service director, Majed Faraj, and his Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts.
Two sources told Axios that some of the participants briefed the U.S. and Israeli officials about the meeting and its contents.
The sources said that the Saudi, Egyptian and Jordanian security chiefs told Faraj the Palestinian Authority needs to conduct serious reforms that will enable it to revitalize its political leadership.
One of their requests was that if a new Palestinian government is formed, the new prime minister will receive some of the authority that in recent years was centralized under Palestinian President Abbas.
One source said that the Saudis, Egyptians and Jordanians stressed that these reforms are needed for the Palestinian Authority to return to governing Gaza after a post-war transition period.
Saudi Arabia's national security adviser said at the meeting that the kingdom is still interested in moving forward with normalization with Israel in return for practical and irrevocable steps by Israel that would create a path towards a Palestinian state, even if such a state won't be established immediately.
Axios pointed out that the Saudi Arabian and Jordanian embassies in Washington declined to comment. Palestinian and Egyptian officials didn't respond to requests for comment.
