By Ali Sawafta and Suleiman Al-Khalidi

RAMALLAH (Reuters) -Driven out of Gaza two decades ago by Hamas, strapped for cash and headquartered in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority’s hopes of running a future Palestinian state have long seemed bleak.

Its prospects, however, appeared to brighten briefly on Monday when U.S. President Donald Trump announced a plan to end the Gaza war that hinted at a future role for the PA and its 89-year-old leader President Mahmoud Abbas, who hasn’t faced an election since 2005.

Yet the terms laid out in Trump’s 20-point plan require the PA to carry out difficult reforms before it can run Gaza again, setting a tricky path for its return to the territory where Israel has said it can play no role and where it faces opposition from its l

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