A high-ranking Palestinian official and close associate of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has declared that the PA will sever its relationship with the United States should President Donald Trump move forward with his plan to assume control of Gaza and forcibly relocate its population.
Speaking from his office in Ramallah, Ahmed Majdalani, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Council, stated in an interview with The Times of Israel that should Trump’s proposal be implemented, it would constitute the “expulsion” of approximately two million Gazans and pose a fundamental “existential threat” to the Palestinian cause.
When asked multiple times whether this strong opposition indicated that the PA would break ties with Washington once again, Majdalani consistently replied, “Of course.”
“Why would we have ties if Mr. Trump sticks to this proposal?” he said.
Majdalani, a veteran minister within the PA, clarified that Ramallah remains open to working with Trump, provided he abandons the plan. He referenced remarks from key advisors to the US president, who have indicated a willingness to discard the idea should Arab nations propose an alternative framework for post-war governance in Gaza that excludes Hamas.
Nevertheless, the plan unveiled on Tuesday failed to specifically address these concerns, and the White House swiftly dismissed the possibility of any adjustments, reiterating its commitment to Trump’s original proposal.
“We have been listening to Mr. Trump’s advisers who have explicitly said that this is just a proposal — not an obligatory plan of action,” Majdalani said in a rare on-record interview with an Israeli news outlet.
The mere fact that he openly acknowledged the possibility of cutting ties with Washington so soon into Trump’s second term underscored Ramallah’s alarm over the president’s rhetoric concerning Gaza.
During Trump’s first term, the PA progressively distanced itself from the US after the president recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and unveiled a peace plan that would allow Israel to annex all its settlements while granting Palestinians only limited self-rule in a fragmented West Bank.
However, two senior Palestinian officials who spoke to The Times of Israel ahead of Trump’s return to office indicated that this time, the PA intended to take a different approach. They acknowledged that disengagement from Washington had resulted in the US completely bypassing Ramallah when it brokered the Abraham Accords, which facilitated normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab states.
Abbas rekindled ties with Trump by sending him a letter expressing well wishes after the then-Republican presidential nominee survived an assassination attempt last summer. Shortly after Trump’s re-election, the two leaders had what was described as a “warm” conversation—their first direct exchange since 2017—during which the president-elect pledged to bring an end to the war in Gaza.
Just two months later, Trump played a crucial role in brokering the ceasefire and hostage release agreement between Israel and Hamas, a deal that remains in place, though tenuously.
According to Majdalani, Ramallah was taken aback when Trump, mere weeks after securing the truce, unveiled his plan for the US to “own” Gaza and permanently relocate its population.
Majdalani is a longtime confidant of Abbas, who has entrusted him with numerous ministerial roles over the past two decades. Most recently, the PA president appointed him to oversee a fund responsible for implementing a politically sensitive reform—ending the controversial policy of providing financial stipends to Palestinian prisoners based on the length of their sentences.
Despite widespread unpopularity among Palestinians, Abbas signed the decree enacting that reform just days after Trump’s Gaza proposal was announced.
Trump revealed his plan in a joint press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who immediately embraced the idea. Majdalani argued that Netanyahu’s support was predictable, as the initiative aligned with what he described as the Israeli leader’s long-standing ambition to annex vast areas of the West Bank, thereby undermining the PA and eliminating the prospect of Palestinian statehood.
Majdalani pointed out that the broader Arab world has also denounced the US proposal, with Egypt and Jordan perceiving Trump’s suggestion that they absorb displaced Gazans as an “existential threat” to their national security.
Trump’s concept “is not the right way to achieve stability and peace and security in the region,” he asserted.
The PA had similarly rejected Trump’s 2020 peace initiative, refusing to engage with the US before or after its release.
That plan was shelved within months as Washington shifted focus to securing the Abraham Accords. While Trump’s aides hinted that elements of the initiative might resurface in his second term, the president himself refrained from reaffirming his commitment to it when asked last month.
Addressing why the PA chose to re-engage with Trump after a first term during which the US cut all aid to the Palestinians and shuttered their diplomatic missions in Washington and Jerusalem, Majdalani explained that the PA is “acting according to the political reality.”
During their conversation in November, “President Abbas expressed a willingness to cooperate with President Trump and his new administration,” said Majdalani, a senior official within the PLO—the international body representing Palestinians, which is largely controlled by Abbas.
“We are ready today and tomorrow to positively cooperate with Mr. Trump and his administration, if he renounces and forgets his idea about taking over Gaza and expelling of its residents en masse,” Majdalani said.
However, he made it clear that should the US proceed with the plan, cooperation would cease entirely. “We will defend our principles and our interests,” he asserted.
Asked why the PA has maintained contact with Washington despite Trump’s continued endorsement of the Gaza proposal, Majdalani pointed out that the US has yet to put the plan into action, dismissing it as merely “a proposal — not a plan.”
Trump has justified his idea by claiming that Gaza is unlivable, describing it as a “demolition site.”
“The question Mr. Trump should be asking is, ‘Who destroyed Gaza and made it uninhabitable?’” Majdalani said, referring to Israel’s prolonged military campaign aimed at dismantling Hamas following the October 7 attacks.
“The problem is not the existence of Palestinians in Gaza. The problem is the existence of the Israel occupation in Gaza. So the goal should be to remove the occupation, not the Palestinians,” he said, arguing that only a two-state solution could bring stability to Israel and the broader region.
“If [Trump] thinks that there will be regional peace with Israeli normalization alongside the mass expulsion of Gaza’s residents and the annexation of the West Bank, he is wrong,” Majdalani said.
When asked whether the PA might accept the temporary relocation of Gazans if it were done voluntarily and not by force, Majdalani rejected the notion outright.
“There is no such thing as voluntary emigration… in more accurate terms, it’s ethnic reasoning,” he stated. “For us, it is not acceptable to move the residents of Gaza — not temporarily and not permanently.”
“Gaza is not for sale in the first place. It is part of the Palestinian homeland… and the Palestinians in Gaza will remain on their homeland.”
{Matzav.com Israel}