Will Palestinians support Trump's peace plan? | Insiders on Background

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Well as the war in Gaza approaches its two-year anniversary there's suddenly a prospect of peace.

It might be a slim prospect but Donald Trump's peace plan does look like bringing everyone back to the negotiating table at least.

Hamas has expressed a willingness to release all Israeli hostages and even transfer power if certain conditions are met.

There will still be enormous difficulties here.

Hamas will want Israeli forces out of Gaza completely.

Israel won't want that.

Hamas will want some ongoing role in a transitional authority, and that won't be acceptable to Israel or the US.

But there is now at least some space for negotiation, a willingness to talk.

Now before Hamas responded to Donald Trump's proposal, I spoke to the Palestinian Authority's Deputy Foreign Minister, Omar Awadallah, for a sense of how the Palestinian people and the authority itself feel about this plan.

I'm David Spears on Ngunnawal Country at Parliament House in Canberra.

Welcome to Insiders on Background.

Dr.

Omar Awadala, thank you so much for joining us.

Look, can I start by asking, do you support this peace plan?

Hi, and thank you for having me.

Actually, we welcomed this plan because this plan is about ending the war, ending the famine, man-made famine by Israel, and this will stop the forcible transfer of our people, and those were our priority since the beginning of this aggression against our people and genocide.

So we welcome the effort of Mr Trump, but we believe that there is a lot of things that we need to discuss and to have details on that plan.

This plan needs many action plans to be implemented, but what is clear in that plan is that this war should stop immediately.

That's why we are supporting this line and we've been supporting this since the beginning of this war.

Adding to that, we went to the Security Council, to the General Assembly, to all the international community to stop this war on our people.

But is it fair to say

you support some elements of the plan, most specifically the ceasefire, but there are other elements you're not supporting?

It's not like this, but we have the plan.

We welcome that plan.

We believe that we need to engage and work on it.

We think that this plan is part of so many other plans, including the recognition, the latest recognition of some respected countries, countries including Australia, including Canada, including the UK, including France, some other countries.

Adding to this that there is a roadmap and plan that was adopted and endorsed by the international community and the General Assembly of the United Nations, which New York Declaration, which speaks clearly about how to implement the the two-star solution, should so this plan should be linked to other plans to have a peace in the region and security and prosperity.

So it's not about whether we are accepting some elements of this plan or all the plan.

The plan is was clear about so many actions that has yet to be defined, timelined, other issues that still needed in that plan, but the clear in that plan about the dialogue, about

the statehood of the Palestinian people, about the future of Gaza, about

the end of this genocidal war against our people.

I mean, you touch on it there.

There is no time frame under this plan for Israeli forces to leave Gaza.

Is it possible that Israeli forces could remain for quite some period of time in Gaza?

That's why also that plan needs some guarantees, actually.

And we believe that if the President Trump himself is the one who is following this plan, then there is a guarantee in a way or another that the American President himself.

But if we leave it to the Israelis, the Israelis, they never be committed to any of the agreements.

They broke the ceasefire that

came up on January this year.

So we cannot leave it to the Israelis to to set the time frame or any details.

So

you want President Trump to have some sort of timeframe in there as to when Israeli forces are out of Gaza?

Yes,

it should be there, actually.

Yes.

You mentioned the moves by Australia and others to formally recognize Palestinian statehood.

Just explain to us what role that has played in the Palestinian Authority and other Arab states backing this plan.

I think

the recognition is something not symbolic.

I think that all the damage that we saw after the recognition of Australia and other countries by recognizing the right of the Palestinian people to exist and to have the right to life and

adding to this the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people, I think that helps a lot, even the American administration, to come up with the current plan that we saw days ago.

So the recognition is,

in a way or another, is a tangible and irreversible step toward implementing the Tuster solution, the solution that we think the only viable solution that can bring peace and security.

And this means that supporting the declaration of New York, a roadmap for ending the war in Gaza and the war in the Middle East at large, in a way or another, is a contribution for peace.

And we do believe that Australia did that part in that contribution.

Adding to this, if we want to link recognition to some actions, including that Israel should be held accountable for the crimes that Israel is committing against our people.

So Australia took that bold decision, that clear decision, that Israel cannot continue of what they are doing against our people in Gaza and in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and to take some actions, including some consequences, sanctions, urban embargo,

preventing the terrorist settlers to enter Australia and other countries, to prevent extremist and terrorist ministers to enter also your respected country, is something actionable that can bring fruits to all this formula.

And we believe that the upcome,

the upcoming plan that came up by

Mr.

Trump is a fruit of all this momentum that we built together with our friends in Australia.

Nonetheless, just hours after it was announced, Benjamin Netanyahu declared to the Israeli people that he would not agree to a Palestinian state.

Does that concern you?

Actually, Netanyahu is a war criminal.

He's wanted to the International Criminal Court.

So it's not Netanyahu that can dictate his conditions over the international community.

Now there is 160 states recognizing the state of Palestine.

So it's not up to Netanyahu.

And if we want to leave it to Netanyahu, Netanyahu, he wants to continue with with his genocidal war against our people, and he doesn't care about hostages on prisoners in Gaza or in all the occupied Palestinian territory.

So it's not up to Netanyahu, it's up to the international community to impose their rightful

approach

consistent with international law and with international legitimacy and with the roadmap that the international community agreed after the New York Conference and the New York Declaration.

Let me turn to what's required under this plan on the Palestinian side.

One of the most important elements is for Hamas to surrender its weapons and play no governing role.

Do you expect that Hamas will agree to that?

We accepted this plan.

We welcome this plan.

We believe that anyone that wants the end of this plan should consider this plan in a way or another.

We believe that.

But

will Hamas agree to this?

I think that before that, Hamas accepted that they will have no role in controlling Gaza, or they accepted the Arab-Islamic plan, where it was clear also about Hamas Wuban and Hamas' presence in Gaza and their role in the day after.

So it's nothing new that Hamas will not govern in Gaza because the only legitimate government is the PLO itself and its government that will govern in Gaza and will have security in Gaza because we have one principle that this is a Palestinian land, one land, one state, one government, one law and one gun.

But it's it's one thing for you to say that.

We have not heard Hamas say that though have we?

We're still waiting for that.

I'm not representing Hamas so I don't know what Hamas is going to take which decision.

But as I said, we want to stop this war immediately.

Well, how much support do you believe there is amongst the Palestinian people for Hamas?

I don't know actually.

As I said,

I'm not a supporter of Hamas.

I don't know how much there are there, people that still think that Hamas is

to be supported in the Palestinian the Palestinian society, but Hamas is a political movement, is a faction of the Palestinian faction.

So there they will be have so many Palestinians that they think still think that Hamas is a party that they should be there and part of the Palestinian society and the Palestinian political system.

And isn't this part of the problem?

Because also, while Palestinian people, many of them may feel that way, there's also

concern about the Palestinian Authority.

It is seen as corrupt.

Mahmoud Abbas was elected some 20 years ago on a four-year term and is still there.

Do you think the Palestinian people trust the Palestinian Authority?

I think that the Palestinian people, they support the legitimate and the sole representative of the Palestinian people is the PLO.

and the President Mohammed Abbas and the Palestinian government because what we are doing is trying to provide our people with all services and the needed things.

We tried to

have elections in Palestine.

Unfortunately, Israel did not give us any permission to have elections in East Jerusalem, and that was the reason why we stopped the election at that time.

Now we are talking about elections, but we need to stop the war and we promised the international community, including our good friends in Australia, that we will be having elections after one year of ending this war, because now it's impossible to have any kind of elections without Gaza, and Gaza is out and offline, unfortunately.

But now, if the war is stopped,

we started the process.

We have a constitutional committee working toward preparing for elections and all of this.

Once the war is stopped, we will be having elections within one year to renew our political system and to renew and to develop our institutions within the state of Palestine.

And how else, beyond the election that

you've talked about there, how else will the Palestinian Authority reform?

What does change mean to you, for the Authority?

Actually, you know, the reform in the Palestinian government and the Palestinian Authority is a Palestinian priority because reform for us means developing, upgrading, updating, changing, building institutions, consolidating institutions.

We started with so many institutions.

We started with the security apparatus.

We are working for a transparency in the financial system.

So, I think the idea of corrupted Palestinian authority is an Israeli talking point because they are not ready to engage in any kind of peaceful.

And the line of the current Israeli government and the main line of Mr.

Netanyahu, that he came with his government to suppress any aspirations of the Palestinian people to statehood.

So, they are using this corruption and other issues by undermining the Palestinian government just for political reasons because they don't want to engage in any political or peaceful solution to achieve the two-state solution.

So

you don't think this is a view of the Palestinian people as well, that there is corruption that needs fixing?

I think that the issue of reform is a Palestinian priority.

The idea that we are corrupted is an Israeli idea.

This is not the view of of the Palestinian people, in your view.

They've got no problem.

I doubt that the Palestinian people are thinking that the Palestinian Authority is corrupted.

Unfortunately, we've been for more than 12 months.

We don't have any salaries because Israel is blocking and having economic blockade, and they are stealing our own tax revenues.

More than $3.2 billion, Israel is stealing.

So there is no money.

for this, as you call it, or as some people are calling it a corrupted government.

This government, they have no money to give salaries for the Palestinian people to have money for corruption.

And just coming back to the plan itself, are you comfortable ultimately with a demilitarized Palestinian state that has a buffer zone between Gaza and Israel?

No, we're against any buffer zones for sure because the resolution Security Council Resolution 2735

that that adopted the ceasefire at

in in May

actually last year was clear about that no decrease in geography or demography in Gaza.

So Israel is trying to do all of this just to create buffer zone.

If they want buffer zone, they can build it inside Israel, not in Palestine, first of all.

Secondly, on the issue of demilitarizing of the Palestinian state, we have a doctrine in Palestine.

We want to build school, but not to buy a tank.

This is our doctrine in Palestine.

But at the same time, if our people are protected, internationally protected, and we have protection forces according to the Security Council peacekeeping mission in Palestine, and we have peace in the region, and we have

a a security structure in the region that provides security for the Palestinians and for all, without any kind of attack on sovereignty, on geography, on demography, so no need for a a militarized state then.

In that case, if we are protected, no need for that.

And we will follow suit with our doctrine that it is better to build a school or a hospital rather than buying a tank.

And in terms of the sort of security presence that may ultimately be there, would you be inviting

Arab states in the region or those further beyond, perhaps even Australia, to take part, to play some role in security in Gaza?

Actually, the the New York conference about the peaceful settlements of the question of Palestine, we had a whole round table about security, and we said that we are ready to invite a peacekeeping mission or stabilization mission to Palestine, not only to Gaza and to the West Bank, because settlers here

are terrorizing us in the occupied Palestinian territory,

supported by the Israeli occupying army.

So we need peacekeeping mission, but this peacekeeping mission or civilization mission should come by the invitation of the Palestinian government and by a Security Council resolution.

So we needed to invite.

Who would you be looking to invite at the moment?

We are ready to invite any country that's ready to engage in a goodwill with us and protecting our people from the brutality that Israel is doing against us.

But will this ultimately be a transitional authority that makes some of these decisions before you do get to the point of having an elected Palestinian government?

I think this also about the transitional committee, we had in the Arab Islamic plan of reconstruction of Gaza, we had something about transitional committee in Palestine for a limited period of time.

But in all cases, the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people will always stay the PLO.

No one can represent the Palestinian people but the Palestinian people.

So we will invite if there there is a need, and there is a need actually to protect our people in Gaza and in the West Bank.

So just finally, I mean, you've seen peace plans come and go.

What confidence do you have that this plan, this Donald Trump plan, is actually going to end this war?

Because Mr.

Blunt, Mr.

Trump himself,

when he was the president-elect in January,

this year, he stopped the war actually, but Israel broke that ceasefire at the beginning of this war, at the beginning of this year, actually.

So we think that Mr.

Trump can impose this plan, especially on the ending the war, on Israelis, because, as I said, that releasing the hostages and prisoners, the end of the war,

stop the famine, and entering the aid is an international priority now, and it's been there for two years at least.

Trump is ready for this, and with the engagement of our brothers, the Arabs and Muslims, and other players, international players, they are ready to engage to end this war.

And we believe that the guarantee is Mr.

Trump himself.

Dr.

Omar Awadala, thank you so much for joining us.

You're most welcome.

Thank you.

And if you have any thoughts on this conversation, do drop us a line, insiders at abc.net.au.

We'll have more on this on Sunday morning.

Hope you can join us for Insiders, 9 a.m.

on ABC TV.

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