Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said in closed meeting of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Israel is preparing for the day after Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Kan Reshet Bet reported.
According to the report, Netanyahu said at the meeting, “We are preparing for the day after Abbas. We need the Palestinian Authority. We cannot allow it to collapse. We also do not want it to collapse. We are prepared to help it financially. We have an interest in the [Palestinian] Authority continuing to work.”
He added that, “In the areas which it manages to act, it does the work for us. And we have no interest in it collapsing.”

When asked by an MK about the Palestinian Authority Arabs’ goals for an independent state, Netanyahu repeated a single sentence, “We need to eliminate their aspirations for a state.”
Abbas, 88, is in the 19th year of a four-year term as President of the PA. He has refused to hold elections for nearly 20 years and has not yet named a successor. Earlier this month, it was reported that Abbas’ condition has deteriorated and he is no longer able to fulfill all of his duties.