Israel ‘dictates’ pace of all activity in Gaza
Israel retains sweeping control over the “pace” and scope for all events unfolding in Gaza, whether it is prisoner exchanges or extracting bodies from underneath the rubble, says Sultan Barakat, a professor of public policy at Hamad Bin Khalifa University.
He told Al Jazeera that the same dynamics are likely to govern any reconstruction in the enclave, with Israel able to decide what can enter Gaza and which actors can operate there.
“So far, we haven’t really had any commitment for a grand reconstruction budget that talks about the annual budget that has been earmarked,” he said.
“But that requires Israel also to facilitate,” Barakat added, noting that financing and technical support remain constrained by Israeli decisions on access and movement.
New governing panel for Gaza marks ‘important progress’, but challenges remain
Sultan Barakat has described the announcement of a new technocratic body for Gaza as an important step forward, though he warned that the pace of implementation is unlikely to match the urgency of needs on the ground.
“The fact that they were able to put together this 15-member technocratic committee … is important progress, particularly because the head of this committee is a former senior civil servant from the Palestinian administration [Palestinian Authority], although he originally comes from Gaza,” he told Al Jazeera.
Ali Shaath, a former deputy minister in the PA, will lead the committee. The administrative body will be tasked with providing public services to the more than two million Palestinians in Gaza. “The fact that Hamas have approved him means that they’ve somehow papered over some of the differences with the PA, and I think that’s a step in the right direction.”
However, he also pointed out that the committee’s effectiveness will hinge on how far external actors – particularly the United States and leaders who have aligned themselves with Washington – are prepared to go in pressing Israel to allow tangible progress on the ground.
Trump has ‘no interest’ in European role in Gaza peace efforts
Nathalie Tocci, former EU special adviser to the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, says Trump appears to be sidelining Europeans in his Gaza peace plan.
“We have a US president who has no interest in a European role,” Tocci told Al Jazeera. “If he has to involve others, he would much rather have countries from the Gulf or Turkiye playing a role.”
While Tocci said Trump may include more European figures in Gaza’s Board of Peace, which Trump is chairing and is to be led by Bulgaria’s former foreign and defence minister, Nickolay Mladenov, she questioned whether such participation would be “meaningful”.
Europe is expected to play even less of an impact in other aspects of Gaza’s post-war transition, such as the deployment of an International Stabilisation Force and Hamas’s demilitarisation, she added.
“Europeans always played second fiddle to the United States because the United States wanted them to play second fiddle,” said Tocci. But “this is no fiddle at all. We’re not part of the orchestra”.
