Gaza: Extraordinary Meeting of League of Arab States Announced

The Arab League Council will hold an extraordinary meeting at the level of foreign ministers on Sunday, December 8, at the request of the State of Palestine. According to Palestinian Ambassador to the Arab League Muhannad Al-Aklouk, “the meeting follows the decision of the joint Arab-Islamic summit held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in November 2024.” During the summit, Arab and Muslim leaders took a united stance in demanding an immediate halt to Israeli military operations and respect for the rights of the Palestinian people.

While Israel is honoring a truce with Lebanon and has scaled back military operations in Gaza, the two rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas are mobilizing to retain control of the territories and find an agreement to form an “Administrative Commission to govern the Gaza Strip after the end of the war.”

According to the London-based pan-Arab news agency Al Araby al Jadeed, the agreement in principle was reached during discussions in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, between delegations from Fatah, the party of President Mahmoud Abbas (pictured), President Mahmoud Abbas’ party in power in the West Bank, and Hamas, in power in Gaza.

According to the tentative agreement, the so-called “joint commission” would govern the Gaza Strip “with the Palestinian government (the Palestinian National Authority, PNA, based in Ramallah) as a reference point” and would be “responsible for all sectors of the Palestinian population’s life (health, economy, education, agriculture, services, and vital facilities), including relief work and the aftermath of war and reconstruction.” At the state level, the “commission” will be formed by national consensus, after which the President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, will issue a decree appointing the commission.