US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and former UK prime minister Tony Blair are leading the effort on behalf of the Trump administration, with the ex-British leader crisscrossing the region to hold meetings with various stakeholders. Each wants a say in the list of Palestinian technocrats who will serve on a transitional committee responsible for administering day-to-day affairs in Gaza. The Palestinian committee will be overseen by a Board of Peace headed by US President Donald Trump, whose other members have also yet to be finalized.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty announced earlier this week that the Palestinian ministers have, in fact, been selected and vetted, but a source familiar with the matter denied this and claimed that the top Egyptian diplomat made the comments as part of an effort to finalize the list of candidates his country prefers, as Cairo seeks to benefit financially from the reconstruction process.
Assembling both lists is a very difficult task, as approval is required from many governments in the region — from Egypt to Israel and the US; from Saudi Arabia to the United Arab Emirates; and from Qatar to Turkey — each seeking to advance a slightly different agenda in postwar Gaza, a source involved in the effort told The Times of Israel on Wednesday. (Read More)
