US Secretary of State Antony Blinken brought the idea to leaders from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Turkey when he visited the region earlier this month and got approval from each country to move forward with the initiative, the two officials said.
The US is asking regional stakeholders to play a role in the reconstruction and management of Gaza after the war, and hopes that the contact group will allow for ideas to be raised and advanced in a single forum, the administration official said.
The senior Arab diplomat said that the Biden administration hopes that through the creation of the contact group, it can unite the region around a postwar plan that can then be taken to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Among the ideas being discussed are changes to the Palestinian Authority that would weaken President Mahmoud Abbas’s grip on power, money to rebuild the devastated Gaza Strip and long-sought ties between Jerusalem and Riyadh.
“It would include the reconstruction of Gaza, reforming the PA, creating a pathway to a Palestinian state and a Saudi normalization agreement,” the diplomat explained. READ MORE