Brussels Talks Seek to Shape Postwar Gaza — EU to Train 3,000 Palestinian Police

Delegations from more than 60 countries met in Brussels to discuss reconstruction, security and governance in the Gaza Strip, and proposals to reform the Palestinian Authority tied to a U.S. peace plan recently approved by the U.N. Security Council.

France and Saudi Arabia co-chaired the Palestine Donor Group meeting, which focused on institutional changes that Washington says must precede broader international support. Organizers said the Brussels gathering was not a fundraising event; a separate donor conference in Egypt is being planned to raise money for Gaza's reconstruction.

The European Union — the Palestinian Authority's largest financial backer — is stepping up its role in planning Gaza's postwar governance. The 27-nation bloc plans to train 3,000 Palestinian police officers and has secured a pledge of 100 French officers to support that effort. EU officials say they hope to recruit from roughly 7,000 Gazan police who were previously paid by the Palestinian Authority, and are exploring training venues in neighboring countries.

The U.S. plan envisages Israeli forces gradually ceding territory to a mix of these police officers and an International Stabilization Force. The plan also proposes a Board of Peace with ultimate authority over Gaza and a technocratic, apolitical committee of Palestinian professionals to run day-to-day civil administration.

EU diplomats are pushing for that technocratic committee to draw largely from the Palestinian Authority led by President Mahmoud Abbas. While Abbas retains formal authority in limited areas of the West Bank, he is increasingly marginalized, deeply unpopular with many Palestinians and faces obstacles to asserting influence in a postwar Gaza.

European Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica emphasized that financial support will be tied to reforms: the PA would be expected to end its so-called martyrs' fund, revise school textbooks and undertake other institutional changes. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot described the donor meeting as aimed at "reforming the Palestinian Authority, to strengthen it in order for the Palestinian Authority to be in charge when the time comes."

"Palestinians have to be the ones who are leading and owning the processes that are happening in Palestine," said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.

Any proposed Board of Peace or technocratic committee has yet to gain broad support among Palestinians. If these bodies are perceived as instruments of the U.S. or Israel, prominent Palestinian figures may decline to participate. Hamas denounced the U.N. resolution that endorsed the U.S. plan, saying it would advance Israeli interests.

What’s at stake: The Brussels talks highlight growing international debate over who will govern Gaza after the war — a contested question that balances security, donor conditions and Palestinian political legitimacy. How reforms are framed and who is seen as having ownership will likely determine the feasibility of a Palestinian Authority role in Gaza.