Question: ...A year and half after the last Israeli withdrew from Gaza, the UN system still refers to Gaza as an Occupied Palestinian Territory. The only people who are not Palestinian in Gaza currently are UN people. Do you mean that Gaza is occupied by the UN?Since that absurd press conference the UN continues to refer to Gaza as "occupied" but usually puts it in context of being a part of the "OPT" - "Occupied Palestinian Territories," lumping it with the West Bank.
Spokesperson: Definitely not.
Question: So who is it occupied by?
Spokesperson: Well…
Correspondent: I think there are some Israeli soldiers on the border…
Question: Not borders, who is Gaza occupied by?
Spokesperson: Traditionally, this is the terminology we have used. Yes?
Question: But the situation on the ground changed since Israel withdrew from Gaza.
Spokesperson: I will look into this.
Correspondent: Thank you.
This was made explicit by a statement made Friday on behalf of UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon:
This position is often reiterated by the PA, most recently by Saeb Erekat today. He lashed out at Tzipi Livni for saying "Gaza is today a problem for anyone who seeks peace, and therefore can never be part of a future Palestinian state." Erekat retorted that the "Palestinian state" would include Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem and that any attempts by Israel to separate the two is just a ploy to stop a Palestinian Arab state from being established.
Asked whether the Secretary-General would visit Gaza, the Spokeswoman said that there were no plans for such a visit at this point. Asked about the fuel cuts in Gaza, she noted that the Secretary-General had already expressed his opinions about the need to lift the restrictions on Gaza. The Secretary-General sees Gaza as part of a single Palestinian territory, she added.
If the PA wants to continue to consider Gaza as part of its territory than it is obvious that they must take responsibility for Gaza.
It is an indication of the puerility of the PA leadership that they cry about Israeli actions in Gaza while they do not take any responsibility for the territory themselves. They keep negotiating with Israel - with the approval of the world - pretending that cosmetic changes on the ground in Nablus are enough to show that they can control their people and territory.
They want to be treated as if Gaza doesn't exist but they insist that Gaza belongs to them.
Obviously, any negotiations, secret or not, while Gaza is an active terror base are a waste of time - or worse, they are an exercise in wishful thinking that will force Israeli concessions while the PalArabs get off scot-free.
It is time for the PA to be forced to make a choice: include Gaza and take responsibility, or abandon Gaza and try to negotiate a state in the West Bank. This game must end.