Ramallah, February 24 (RHC)-- The Palestinian Authority has roundly dismissed Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s so-called “day after” plan for Gaza, noting that such plans are doomed to fail.   The spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said on Friday that “Gaza will only be part of the independent Palestinian state with al-Quds as its capital.”

He added that Netanyahu's proposal was doomed to fail, as were any Israeli plans to change the geographic and demographic realities in Gaza.  “If the world wants security and stability in the region, it must end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and recognize the independent Palestinian state with al-Quds as its capital,” Abu Rudeineh noted.

The senior Palestinian official stressed that Netanyahu's so-called day-after plan for Gaza aims to perpetuate the Israeli regime's occupation of Palestinian territories and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Moreover, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said in a statement that the plan amounts to the official recognition of the re-occupation of the Gaza Strip and the imposition of Israeli control over it.  The ministry emphasized that the so-called post-Gaza war plan is aimed at prolonging the genocidal war on Gaza and trying to buy more time to implement the regime’s plot to forcefully displace Palestinian people.

Netanyahu presented the plan to his cabinet on Thursday night, which calls for the enclave to be administered by “local officials” and stressed that Israel will only permit reconstruction of Gaza if the strip is “demilitarized.”   The document also demands setting up a buffer zone inside Gaza, and maintaining security control over the strip.  It calls for Israeli control of the Gaza–Egypt border as well.

“Reconstruction plans will be carried out with the financing and leadership of countries acceptable to Israel,” it states.   The plan also calls for a complete dismantling of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, and its replacement with other international agencies.