UN offers to help Palestinian Authority in governing Gaza Strip

GAZA CITY: The UN has offered to help the Palestinian Authority (PA) establish its governance of the Gaza Strip.
Nikolay Mladenov, UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said he made the proposal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during a meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Mladenov said he is willing to send a UN delegation to Gaza to enable the government of Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah to take over various ministries.
The envoy welcomed Hamas’ declaration last week to dismantle its “administrative committee” that ran Gaza.
PA spokesman Yousef Al-Mahmoud on Monday said the government will hold its weekly Cabinet meeting in Gaza City next week.
Hamdallah and other ministers will arrive in Gaza next Monday “to start the handover process,” Al-Mahmoud added.
The prime minister wrote on his Facebook page that he will “head to the beloved Gaza Strip next Monday, heading the government and alongside all commissions, authorities and security bodies.”
He last visited Gaza in March 2015 to discuss rehabilitating the territory’s infrastructure with Hamas and other factions in the aftermath of Israel’s 2014 onslaught.
Abbas had carried out a series of punitive measures against Gaza, including cutting off services and withholding the salaries of civil servants, as a means to pressure Hamas to dissolve its ruling committee.
Mladenov said: “Without the important role of Egypt… the understandings would have never been reached.”
He added: “Enabling the government to perform in Gaza is an important step to lift the blockade.”
Mladenov said once the consensus government starts functioning, he will brief leaders of the international community on developments on the ground.
“It’s important in this crucial moment to get benefits out of the Cairo reconciliation understandings,” he added.
“The Palestinians witnessed 10 years of internal division, therefore we shouldn’t lose this opportunity.”
Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, particularly the issue of “severe” electricity shortages, “would take time” to resolve, Mladenov said.
Hamas spokesman Abdulatif Al-Qanoun said the party welcomes Hamdallah’s decision to come to Gaza and hold his weekly Cabinet meeting there.
“Hamas wishes success to the consensus government in all its missions, duties and responsibilities, and hopes that the government will withdraw all the punitive measures which had been taken against Gaza and its people,” Al-Qanoun added.