RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas met with Israeli activists in Ramallah on Thursday to discuss long-term peace after Israel and Hamas agreed a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal.
“I welcome the agreement signed today, the end of the war, and the release of the hostages,” Abbas told dozens of representatives from Israeli peace organizations assembled at the presidential palace in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
“A few months ago, (US President Donald) Trump had a plan to expel the Palestinians, but later he forgot about it,” he added.
“Nevertheless, we will remain in our homeland and establish a Palestinian state in Gaza, the West Bank, and east Jerusalem,” he said.
Speaking from a podium in the presence of Arab-Israeli Knesset member Ayman Odeh and the Palestinian Authority’s vice president Hussein Al-Sheikh, a jovial Abbas spoke to a friendly audience, sometimes exchanging smiles and jokes with activists.
Two power cuts momentarily left all attendees in the dark, an AFP journalist reported.
Among them was Iddo Ilam, an activist and refusnik who explained why he chose not to serve in the Israeli army, as Abbas gestured to him with two thumbs up.
“We are asking for a different future, peace between Jews and Palestinians,” said Rula Daoud, co-director of Standing Together, an Israeli grassroots movement aiming to bring together Palestinians and Jewish Israeli communities.
Absent from the conversation were the details of the ceasefire agreement struck early Thursday between Israel and Hamas — an adversary of Abbas’s Fatah party.
Abbas, in a rare interview with Israel’s Channel 12 network Thursday, expressed hope that peace would prevail between Palestinians and Israelis following the signing of a Gaza ceasefire agreement.
“What happened today is a historic moment. We have been hoping — and continue to hope — that we can bring an end to the bloodshed taking place in our land, whether in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, or East Jerusalem,” Abbas said.
“Today, we are very happy that the bloodshed has ceased. We hope it remains this way, and that peace, security, and stability will prevail between us and Israel.”
The deal is expected to free the remaining living hostages still held in Gaza within days, in a major step toward ending the two-year war that has killed tens of thousands and unleashed a dire humanitarian crisis.
The deal would also see Israel release nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and allow a surge of aid into Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has all but rejected the option of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) ruling over post-war Gaza.
Nonetheless, its vice president Hussein Al-Sheikh said on X on Thursday that the PA had conducted all preparations to govern the post-war Gaza Strip and oversee its reconstruction.
