The Palestinian Authority is not participating in Gaza ceasefire talks because it is not a party to the conflict, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' adviser on international relations and his special envoy, Riyad al-Maliki, said in an interview with Sputnik.
"We are not really party to the current crisis. And since the discussion is about a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, then we are not a party," al-Maliki said.
At the same time, he emphasized that the Palestinian administration would become a key participant in the negotiations once the discussion focused on the restoration of the enclave after the conflict is over.
"We will be the party, the official party, to discuss who will manage the Rafah crossing. We will be the party that will discuss the reconstruction of Gaza, that's for sure," al-Maliki added.
The Palestinian Authority does not intend to take responsibility for Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel and other actions taken by the movement, he added.
"We are not going to take responsibility for what happened on October 7 or later, but we, as the legitimate authority of the entire Palestinian people, will not go away. And we will certainly insist on playing a key role when it comes to all activities related to organizing life post-conflict," al-Maliki said.
The Palestinian official accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of using the Gaza ceasefire talks in Doha and Cairo to avoid responsibility and place the blame entirely on Hamas.
"[Netanyahu] is really using these negotiations as a sham to simply demonstrate that he allegedly wants to make a deal, while Hamas does not want to negotiate … He is using these negotiations as a 'bridge' to simply run away from his duties and place all the responsibility on others, for instance, on Hamas," he said.
Last week, Doha hosted Gaza ceasefire talks involving Qatar, Egypt, the United States and Israel. Hamas refused to attend, citing lack of specifics on the terms of the truce. After the talks, the US, Egypt and Qatar said in a joint statement that their mediators had presented to both parties a bridging proposal on a ceasefire and the release of hostages based on a relevant UN Security Council resolution and the principles laid out by US President Joe Biden in May.