WASHINGTON
\nUS President Joe Biden\u2019s national security adviser will meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Friday about the war in Gaza and ensuring that the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7 is never repeated, senior U.S. officials said.
\nThe adviser, Jake Sullivan, will discuss \u201congoing efforts to revamp and revitalize\u201d the Palestinian Authority and reining in \u201cextremist settler violence\u201d against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, said one of the officials, who declined to be named.
\nSullivan said on Thursday that governance of the West Bank and Gaza Strip needs to be connected under a refurbished Palestinian Authority.
\nThe official said U.S.-trained Palestinian security forces had performed \u201cincredibly well\u201d in preventing violence instigated by Hamas in the West Bank after the Oct. 7 attack, and there were a number of personnel there that could form \u201csome sort of a nucleus\u201d for a future force in the months following Israel\u2019s military campaign.
\n\u201cThis is something we\u2019re discussing with the Palestinians and with the Israelis and with regional partners. And it very much remains a work in progress,\u201d the official said. \u201cThat is one idea of many.\u201d
\nBiden remained strongly committed to a two-state solution, but that could not happen as long as Hamas remained the dominant power in Gaza, the official added.
\n\u201cThe Palestinian Authority will look to ultimately have a role there, and that is something we are talking about with them,\u201d the official said, adding that Washington was working to ensure that it was prepared for \u201cevery possible contingency.\u201d
\nThe goal was to see a foundation put in place for an enduring and lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
\nSullivan told Israel\u2019s Channel 12 television that he also spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Israel shifting from high-intensity military operations in Gaza to a more precise and targeted phase.
\nSullivan declined to give details or a timeline, but he called the conversation constructive and said there was a \u201cwide degree of convergence\u201d on strategic objectives and steps needed.
\nPalestinians, meanwhile, have complained of a rise in Israeli settler attacks in the occupied West Bank, with some 275 people killed since Oct. 7.
\nThe White House said Sullivan\u2019s talks in the region had also been focused on resuming a humanitarian pause in fighting to allow for the release of more hostages held in Gaza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON US President Joe Biden\u2019s national security adviser will meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah on Friday about the war in Gaza and ensuring that the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7 is never repeated, senior U.S. officials said. The adviser, Jake Sullivan, will discuss \u201congoing efforts to revamp and revitalize\u201d the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374774,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-374758","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n