“Heroism is not always in attacking, but it may also be in patience and steadfastness. Courage is not always in fighting the apparent enemy only, but it is also - and especially - fighting the inner enemy, that is, that a person fights within himself despair, lethargy, and the love of comfort,” as the late nationalist thinker Michel Aflaq said.

With the fire of the holocaust extinguished, or with its flicker remaining dim under the ashes of the brazier, the greater jihad begins, which is the greatest challenge for those competing to impose sovereignty over the ruins, in the south and in the north, and in every place in the dismembered sector, riddled with wounds, and burdened with sorrows.

People return with the eagerness of lovers to the destroyed houses and the half-hanging houses, searching among the rubble for memories and the remains of loved ones who died in their beds while in their nightclothes, hoping to hear the echo of their voices and their last supplications and cries for help before they breathed their last.

The displaced return, light and heavy, walking and riding, carrying their pain and sorrow, their dreams, their joys and their sorrows, reliving their fear and terror that will never leave their memory.

The returnees rejoice, and our hearts rejoice with them, but their joy soon turns into sighs after a few moments, in the midst of the search for the house that has become a thing of the past.

It is the greater jihad in which souls overcome their desires, hearts mend what has happened between them, and resolve their matter, after the enemy is in front of us, the sea is behind us, and Trump threatens us after our prayers against him “May your home be destroyed” have turned against us with a counterstrike to destroy our homes and scatter our gathering, after he quarrelled with us and promised to entertain us; by sending us temporarily away from our land, until he finishes rebuilding our homes that he destroyed over our heads, so the real estate man and father of deals strikes again.

Fasten your seatbelts...

The Ministry of Health announced this morning, Wednesday, the death of the young man Osama Omar Abu Al-Haija (25 years old) as a result of the occupation’s bombing of the Cinema Roundabout area in Jenin last night.

Al-Quds correspondent in Jenin reported that the body of a young man was found dead in Jenin. He had been injured last night and the occupation announced his arrest, but it turned out that he had been left to bleed until he died.

The Israeli occupation continues its aggression on the city of Jenin and its camp for the ninth consecutive day, leaving 16 martyrs, dozens of injuries, and arrests, amidst widespread destruction of property and infrastructure.

The burning, demolition and bulldozing of citizens' homes and properties in the camp's alleys and neighborhoods continues.

The occupation forces demolished Hamza Mosque on Mahyoub Street in Jenin, while a drone bombed a site on the Cinema Roundabout, which resulted in the injury of a young man. The occupation forces prevented the ambulance from reaching him and arrested him, while they detained an ambulance in the industrial zone in the city, and obstructed the work of the ambulance crews on the main roundabout in the center of Jenin.

Two citizens were also injured after the occupation forces assaulted them near the Jalameh checkpoint, north of Jenin. A young man - whose identity is not yet known - was arrested at dawn today from the Al-Bayader neighborhood in Jenin.

Military reinforcements continue from the Jalameh military checkpoint to the city of Jenin and the surroundings of its camp, while the occupation yesterday, Tuesday, deployed small-sized equipment and bulldozers, in order to facilitate their entry into the narrow alleys of the camp, and to use them in road-paving operations and facilitating them.

The occupation bulldozers also opened roads deep inside the camp after demolishing citizens’ homes, bulldozing them, and widening the streets in the camp, while the occupation forces forcibly evacuated citizens from their homes in the eastern area of the camp, known as the Horse Roundabout.

The occupation destroyed the infrastructure and streets surrounding Al-Zahraa School, the camp square, Mahyoub Street, and the Al-Aloub and Al-Damj neighborhoods, causing widespread destruction and devastation.

Clashes took place at the Cinema Roundabout in the center of Jenin and in the Hisbah area, and the occupation forces severely beat a group of young men, while their vehicles were deployed in several areas of the city, such as the industrial area, Post Street, the main roundabout, and Yahya Ayyash roundabout.

The ongoing aggression on the city of Jenin and its camp has so far left 16 martyrs, dozens of injuries, arrests, and forced evictions of families, in addition to the destruction of more than 100 homes and their burning inside the camp, in light of the continued systematic destruction of the infrastructure, and preventing ambulance and civil defense crews from entering it.

Dr. Wissam Subaihat said in a statement that the Jenin Health Directorate will work today, Wednesday, to receive patients and visitors to general clinics, diabetes clinics, and children’s vaccinations, but they can arrive without risk.

This morning, Wednesday, the Israeli occupation forces began extensive demolition and notification operations in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem.

In Tulkarm, the occupation forces demolished tonight the house of the martyr Tamer Raafat Fuqaha, in the Shuwaika suburb, north of Tulkarm city.

According to local sources, a large number of occupation military vehicles, accompanied by a heavy bulldozer of the type "D10", stormed the suburb and headed towards the house of the martyr Faqha, and deployed snipers in the surrounding houses, before proceeding to demolish it.

In November 2024, the family of the martyr Tamer Fuqaha received a notice from the Israeli occupation army to demolish their one-story home, which had been evacuated earlier, and they were given 72 hours to object.

Faqha was martyred on May 4 of last year 2024, after the occupation forces surrounded the Badran family home in the town of Deir al-Ghusun, north of the governorate. The occupation accuses him of carrying out a shooting operation in November 2023 at the entrance to the town of Beit Lid, east of Tulkarm, which led to the killing of a soldier.

In the northern Jordan Valley, the occupation forces notified the citizen Shamekh Mustafa Daraghmeh to evacuate his home under the pretext of military training.

The occupation gave Draghmeh a week to evacuate, under the pretext of military training in the area.

In Hebron, the occupation forces demolished four houses without prior warning, along with all their furniture and contents, belonging to citizen Muhammad Aqtil, in “Khallet Taha” near the town of Deir Samet, with an area of 100 square meters, under the pretext of building within areas classified as “C.”

The occupation forces forced his son's family of 9 to forcibly evacuate him since the aggression on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, and prevented them from returning to him, forcing them to reside in a family home in the village of Kharsa.

In Jericho, the Israeli occupation authorities demolished five inhabited homes and several walls in the village of Al-Duyuk Al-Tahta, northwest of the city of Jericho, today, Wednesday. The owners were identified as: Ali Kaabneh and Saad Khawaja.

In Bethlehem, the occupation forces demolished a restaurant in the Al-Makhrour area in Beit Jala, which was built five years ago on an area of 3 dunams and belongs to the Jerusalemite citizen Mahmoud Ali Musa Sari, under the pretext of not having a license, while bulldozing the land, uprooting dozens of old olive trees, and demolishing stone chains estimated to be more than 100 years old.

In Salfit, the occupation forces demolished a house that had been inhabited for 5 years in the town of Deir Ballut, west of Salfit, owned by citizen Jawad Yaqoub Hadrous, and its area was approximately 150 square meters.

In occupied Jerusalem, the occupation municipality crews demolished the "Al-Taqwa Prayer Hall" in the village of Sur Baher, south of the city of Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem Governorate report monitored that during the year 2024, the number of demolitions and bulldozing operations in the Jerusalem Governorate reached (380) demolitions and bulldozing operations, including: (92 forced self-demolition operations) and (259 demolitions carried out by the occupation’s mechanisms), in addition to 29 bulldozing operations.

According to data from the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission, the occupation authorities issued 903 demolition notices against Palestinian facilities last year under the pretext of lack of permits, distributed in the governorates of Hebron with 180 notices, Jericho and the Jordan Valley with 140 notices, then Bethlehem with 126 notices, during which 20 notices were issued targeting the eastern Bethlehem wilderness.

During the past year, the occupation authorities carried out a total of 684 demolitions, during which they demolished 903 facilities in the West Bank, including the city of Jerusalem, and 4,332 people were affected as a result, including 2,320 children.

The demolitions were concentrated in the following governorates: Jerusalem with 190 demolitions, Hebron with 172 demolitions, and Bethlehem with 68 demolitions.

A young man died of his wounds after being shot by Israeli occupation forces on Tuesday evening, while they were besieging a house in the Artah suburb, south of Tulkarm, amid heavy gunfire.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society stated that its crews received the body of a martyr who had been injured in the Artah suburb and detained by the occupation forces, and he was transferred to the hospital.

According to local sources, special forces from the occupation army stormed the suburb and surrounded a residential building at its entrance, before being followed by reinforcements from the occupation military vehicles.

The sources added that the occupation forces surrounded the building, which includes a number of residential apartments, amid heavy gunfire, which led to the injury of a young man at the scene, where the occupation forces detained him until he died as a martyr from his injuries.

She added that the occupation soldiers demanded that the owners of one of the houses come out via loudspeakers, and they also demanded that a young man surrender himself.

The sources indicated that the occupation forces arrested the young man Mahmoud Amin Abu Hamdeh, a resident of Nour Shams camp, while he was in the Artah suburb.

The occupation continues its aggression on the city and camp of Tulkarm, amidst a large deployment of infantry patrols in various neighborhoods of the city and camp, and its transformation of a number of houses into military barracks and places for its snipers, who fire randomly at everything that moves.

British Minister of State for Development Annalise Dodds announced a £17 million aid package from her country to the Gaza Strip to support basic services and the health sector.

This came in a briefing she gave to the British Parliament on Tuesday, regarding the ceasefire agreement in Gaza and her country's aid to the Strip.

She explained that "despite the fragility of the ceasefire agreement, it is a source of hope for Palestinians and Israelis."

She said she saw aid trucks waiting on the Gaza border when she visited the area last December, adding that the trucks began entering the Strip after the agreement.

She pointed out that her country, through local partners in the region, distributed more than 200,000 food parcels in 130 points in the sector.

She announced a new British aid package for the Gaza Strip worth 17 million pounds, which will be distributed through UN organizations and partner health organizations.

She said the aid would ensure healthcare, food and shelter for civilians.

She pointed out that with the new aid package, British aid to the occupied Palestinian territories this year will exceed 129 million pounds.

On January 19, a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel came into effect. Its first phase will last for 42 days, during which negotiations will begin to begin a second and then a third phase, mediated by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States.

A leader in the Palestinian Hamas movement revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that the visit of the movement’s largest delegation to Cairo since the Gaza war on Tuesday included a meeting with the director of Egyptian intelligence, Major General Hassan Rashad, during which arrangements for negotiations on the second phase of the “truce” agreement with Israel were discussed, the first of whose three phases began on January 19, in addition to the future of the administration of the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas delegation, headed by Mohammed Darwish, head of the movement’s leadership council and head of the movement’s Shura Council, included the leadership council and the movement’s negotiating delegation, namely (Khaled Meshaal, Khalil al-Hayya, Zaher Jabarin, Nizar Awadallah, Mohammed Nasr, and Ghazi Hamad), according to a press statement by the movement on Monday, following the delegation’s arrival in Cairo.

The Hamas delegation's visit to Cairo coincides with statements by Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari on Tuesday at a press conference that mediators are continuing to prepare the atmosphere for the start of the second phase of negotiations, the day after the official Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported that Israel and Hamas had begun, through mediators, preliminary talks on the framework for the upcoming negotiations and that a meeting could be held in Qatar next week.

Taher al-Nunu, a leader in the movement and its advisor, told Asharq Al-Awsat, “The visit has several objectives, including discussing the implementation of the ceasefire and the exchange of prisoners, receiving the released prisoners on Saturday, and listening to their demands.”

Al-Nunu added that the delegation met with the Director of Intelligence, Major General Hassan Rashad, and during the meeting, they thanked the Egyptian leadership for its role in the negotiations and the entry of aid, and appreciated its position rejecting displacement. He pointed out that during the meeting, they discussed the future of the Gaza administration, and the movement stressed the importance of seeking to form a national consensus government or implementing the Egyptian proposal to form an independent community support committee. He continued, saying: “Hamas accepted the formation of the committee, while Fatah refused. We prefer the presence of a government, but if it is difficult, we can agree to form the committee,” denying that the visit was linked to any internal affairs of the movement.

However, Palestinian political analyst Dr. Ayman Al-Raqab said in statements to Asharq Al-Awsat that “the presence of the political bureau with this weight for the first time since the war in Cairo has a special significance, linked to the possibility of discussing the election of a head for the bureau after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, which is expected to take place before the end of the year.”

Other than this internal file, Al-Raqab believes that “the Gaza administration file and the negotiations arrangements for the second phase took up an important space on the negotiating table.”

Discussing the arrangements for the second phase of negotiations is necessary to complete any agreements related to the Palestinian issue, according to the assessment of the Palestinian political analyst specializing in Hamas affairs, Ibrahim al-Madhoun, to Asharq Al-Awsat. In addition, “the large delegation from Hamas will discuss the arrangements for the conditions of the released prisoners (and their next destination).”

"The movement's meeting in Egypt, specifically in Cairo, carries great symbolism and reflects Hamas's awareness of the importance of the Egyptian role, not only in the past stage, but also in managing the current and upcoming stage, as it represents the cornerstone in fortifying the Palestinian position," according to Al-Madhoun.

Regarding the future of the discussions on the management of the Gaza Strip that were sponsored by Cairo between Hamas and Fatah over the months of October, November and December without reaching solutions, Al-Madhoun said that “Hamas trusts the Egyptian role and is working to arrange any future details with Egypt, and agreed to the Egyptian initiative, which included the formation of a community support committee in which the movement does not participate, but the Fatah movement rejected this offer.”

In Al-Madhoun’s opinion, “Hamas is interested in the participation of everyone in any future Palestinian arrangements in Gaza. The factions must participate, most notably Fatah, Hamas, the Popular Front, the Democratic Front, the Reformist Movement, and others. There must also be a unified Palestinian position.”

He added: "Hamas is also interested in arranging and coordinating with the Arab depth, headed by Cairo. Perhaps the talk now in Cairo is important in this direction... Hamas is open and hopes that there will be a serious dialogue with the Arab countries, and that it will be invited to the Arab League to discuss these issues openly with the Arab depth."

According to a statement by Hamas on Tuesday, the delegation discussed in Cairo “the mechanisms for implementing the agreement (truce), the violations that occurred, and the necessity for the occupation to abide by everything that was agreed upon without procrastination or disruption.”

The efforts made in the context of arranging the Palestinian house and the options presented were also reviewed, especially forming a national consensus government or moving towards forming a community support committee.

In parallel with Hamas' visit, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry announced a meeting on Wednesday between Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Aati and Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization Hussein al-Sheikh and the Palestinian President's Advisor for Diplomatic Affairs Majdi al-Khalidi in Cairo.

The meeting is scheduled to discuss developments in the Palestinian territories, coinciding with the implementation of the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip.

This evening, Tuesday, two young men were injured by live bullets during clashes with the Israeli occupation forces in Al-Fawar camp, and others suffocated during clashes following the occupation forces’ storming of the town of Dura.

According to security sources, the occupation forces stormed Al-Fawar camp, and clashes took place with citizens during which live bullets and smoke bombs were fired, which led to two young men being injured by live bullets in their feet, and they were transferred to a hospital for treatment.

The sources indicated that a number of citizens in the town of Dura suffered from suffocation, after the occupation forces stormed the town and fired tear gas bombs.

The occupation forces continue their provocative raids on the city of Hebron, its towns and camps, and are tightening their measures and closing the entrances to these towns, in the context of tightening the noose on the citizens.

This evening, Tuesday, Israeli occupation aircraft bombed the vicinity of the Cinema Roundabout in the center of Jenin.

According to local sources, the occupation forces stormed the vicinity of the bombing site and prevented ambulances from reaching the site.

Earlier, the occupation forces detained an ambulance crew in the industrial area of the city.

The Israeli Army Radio announced that the Israeli Air Force carried out a raid on the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon.

Al-Hadath TV channel announced that an Israeli airstrike targeted Nabatieh.

The Ministry of Health announced that the Israeli raid this evening on Nabatieh resulted in the initial toll of seven people being injured.

It is noteworthy that the White House announced, on Sunday, the extension of the existing agreement between Lebanon and Israel until February 18, 2025, after Israel did not adhere to the deadline set for withdrawing its forces from the south.

The US statement explained that "the understanding supervised by the United States will remain in effect until the aforementioned date," without addressing additional details about the ceasefire, or referring to the role of France, which was a partner in the negotiations under the auspices of former US President Joe Biden.

For his part, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati confirmed Lebanon's commitment to continue working under the ceasefire understanding until February 18.

Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf and his US counterpart Marco Rubio expressed, on Tuesday, their countries' commitment to continuing coordination in the Security Council to consolidate the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip and ensure its sustainability.

This came during a phone call between them, according to a statement by the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to the statement, "Ataf received a phone call today (Tuesday) from Rubio, during which he renewed his congratulations to him on his appointment to this position."

According to the statement, the two ministers discussed "developments in the Middle East" and expressed "their commitment to continuing inter-coordination within the UN Security Council in order to consolidate the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip and ensure its sustainability."

On January 19, a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel came into effect. Its first phase will last for 42 days, during which negotiations will begin to begin a second and then a third phase, mediated by Egypt, Qatar, and the United States.

The agreement consists of 3 stages, each lasting 42 days, during which negotiations will take place to start a second and third stage under the auspices of Qatar, Egypt and the United States.

The two parties also "committed to accompanying the brothers in Syria and Lebanon towards achieving security and stability and preserving their sovereignty and national unity," according to the same source.

In Lebanon, a ceasefire began on November 27, 2024, ending an exchange of shelling between the Israeli army and Hezbollah that began on October 8, 2023, and turned into a full-scale war on September 23.

In Syria, on December 8, 2024, Syrian factions took control of the capital, Damascus, days after taking control of other cities, thus ending 61 years of bloody Baath Party rule and 53 years of Assad family control.

On another note, Attaf and Rubio praised, during the call, the "positive momentum witnessed in Algerian-American relations."

The two ministers agreed to "join their efforts to consolidate bilateral cooperation in priority areas such as defense, energy, agriculture, science and technology," according to the Algerian statement.

Algeria currently holds the position of a non-permanent member of the Security Council, and its term of membership will end on December 31.

Algeria, as a non-permanent member, also assumed the rotating presidency of the Security Council during the current month of January.

The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said that the full implementation of the Israeli Knesset legislation on the agency would be “catastrophic,” warning that reducing UNRWA’s operations outside a political process, and at a time when trust in the international community is extremely low, would undermine the ceasefire in Gaza.

Briefing the Security Council on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian issue, on Tuesday, Lazzarini stressed that “the Agency is essential to support the devastated population and to achieve a ceasefire. However, in two days, our operations in the occupied Palestinian territory will be disrupted, as legislation passed by the Israeli Knesset enters into force.”

He warned that the fate of millions of Palestinians, the ceasefire and the prospects for a political solution that would bring lasting peace and security are at stake.

He explained that "undermining UNRWA operations in Gaza would jeopardize the international humanitarian response. It would also degrade the capacity of the United Nations at a time when humanitarian assistance should be significantly increased. This would exacerbate the already catastrophic living conditions of millions of Palestinians."

He pointed out that the Israeli government claims that UNRWA services can be transferred to other entities, stressing that the agency's mandate to provide public services to an entire population is a unique mandate.

He also addressed the Israeli government's claim that UNRWA plays a negligible role in providing humanitarian aid in Gaza, explaining that UNRWA constitutes half of the emergency response, while all other entities provide the other half.

Palestinians know and trust UNRWA, Lazzarini said. For them, UNRWA is the doctors and nurses who provide health care; the workers who distribute food; and the mechanics and engineers who build and repair wells to provide clean drinking water.

Deprivation of education and health care

The UNRWA Commissioner-General said that ending the agency's operations in the occupied West Bank "would deprive Palestinian refugees of education and health care."

He added that in occupied East Jerusalem, the Israeli government ordered UNRWA to evacuate its buildings and cease operations by Thursday, "which would affect approximately 70,000 patients and more than 1,000 students."

He warned that "the ongoing attack on UNRWA harms the lives and future of Palestinians throughout the occupied Palestinian territory, and erodes their trust in the international community, thus jeopardizing any prospect of peace and security."

He pointed out that the legislation passed by the Knesset defies the resolutions of the UN Security Council and General Assembly, ignores the rulings of the International Court of Justice, and ignores the fact that UNRWA is the mechanism established by the General Assembly to provide assistance to Palestinian refugees, pending a political response to the Palestine issue.

“The implementation of this legislation makes a mockery of international law and imposes enormous restrictions on UNRWA’s operations,” Lazzarini said. “We are determined to remain and provide services until it becomes impossible to do so, without endangering our Palestinian colleagues, who face an exceptionally hostile working environment fueled in part by a vicious disinformation campaign.”

"The absurdity of anti-UNRWA propaganda"

“The Israeli government invests significant resources in portraying the agency as a terrorist organization, and its staff as terrorists or terrorist sympathizers,” the UN official noted. “The absurdity of the anti-UNRWA propaganda does not diminish the threat it poses to our staff, particularly those in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, where 273 of our colleagues have been killed,” he said.

He added that the campaign sets a precedent for governments to accuse a UN entity of terrorism as a pretext to suppress human rights.

He warned that "the political attacks on the agency are motivated by a desire to strip the Palestinians of their refugee status, and thus change the long-established parameters of a political solution. The goal is to deny the Palestinian refugees the right to self-determination and erase their history and identity."

He explained that the ceasefire in Gaza must be followed by a political transition that includes an orderly end to UNRWA's mandate and the handover of its public services to capable and willing Palestinian institutions.

The UNRWA Commissioner-General said they had a clear choice: either allow UNRWA to collapse due to Knesset legislation and the suspension of funding by major donors, “or we can instead allow the agency to gradually end its mandate within the framework of a political process.”

Lazzarini took the opportunity to stress the agency's long-standing commitment to impartiality, adding: "We will also continue to take all necessary steps to investigate credible allegations against the agency and its staff."

The Security Council called on the Knesset to resist the implementation of the Israeli Knesset legislation, to insist on a real political path forward that defines UNRWA’s role as a provider of education and health care, and to ensure that the financial crisis does not abruptly end UNRWA’s life-saving work.

A message from a young Palestinian

The UN official concluded his briefing by reading a letter he received from a young man from Gaza, who said: “I am writing to you from the ruins of a home that was once a place of warmth and life. Now, I spend my days searching for basic necessities, like flour to feed my family. What truly breaks me is my helplessness in front of the children. Their innocent eyes search for the safety that I cannot provide, and the answers that I do not have. Here I die a thousand times every day thinking about everything I cannot do for them.”

Unlike the author of that letter, “we are in a position to do something,” Lazzarini told the Security Council members. “It only requires your decisive action and your leadership.”

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Aati confirmed on Tuesday that his country rejects all attempts at displacement and "uprooting peoples from their lands," noting that his country hosts more than 10 million refugees.

This came during his speech at the Universal Periodic Review session on human rights in Egypt, at the International Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, the text of which was published by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Facebook.

Egypt has previously participated in all review rounds held since the establishment and activation of this mechanism, in 2010, 2014, and 2019, according to the same source.

Regarding the human rights file, Badr Abdel-Ati said: “During its last review session in 2019, Egypt received 372 recommendations, of which 301 were accepted.”

He added: "The state institutions have intensified their efforts over the past 5 years to implement the recommendations they accepted, and the Egyptian delegation will review in detail during the session the tireless efforts made in this regard."

Regarding the refugee file, Abdel-Ati said: “The Egyptian state institutions have spared no effort in ensuring that foreigners residing on its territory enjoy their rights, and have borne great responsibility on behalf of the international community for many years by hosting huge numbers of (irregular) immigrants and refugees.”

He explained that his country "is currently hosting 10 million and 700 thousand foreigners (refugees and irregular migrants) from 62 nationalities (he did not specify them)."

He added: "Egypt is keen to ensure that they enjoy all basic services and integrate them into Egyptian society, and not force them to remain in refugee camps or centres."

Abdel-Ati continued: "I say it frankly: Our ability to absorb and continue to endure is at stake, especially in light of the weakness of international support that is not commensurate with the amount of pressures placed on us."

In this context, he stressed Egypt's adherence to "its firm position rejecting all attempts at displacement, or encouraging the transfer or uprooting of peoples from their lands, whether temporarily or long-term," considering that this "threatens stability and undermines the chances of peace and coexistence among peoples."

Abdel-Ati did not mention a specific category of those concerned with the displacement efforts, but his statements come after US President Donald Trump called on Saturday for the transfer of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to neighboring countries such as Egypt and Jordan, citing the “lack of suitable places to live in the Gaza Strip” as a result of the Israeli genocide that has lasted for more than 15 months.

On Sunday, Egypt confirmed, in a statement by the Foreign Ministry, its rejection of "any infringement on the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, whether through settlement or annexation of land, or by evacuating that land of its owners through displacement or encouraging the transfer or uprooting of Palestinians from their land, whether temporarily or long-term."

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi also stressed in a press conference on Sunday that "Jordan's rejection of displacement is constant and unchangeable and is necessary to achieve the stability and peace that we all want."

Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said on Tuesday that the two-state solution is the "only way" for the Palestinian people to obtain their rights.

This came at a press conference in Doha, in response to a question about US President Donald Trump's call to transfer Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt and Jordan.

Al-Ansari added that "Qatar's position has always been clear regarding the necessity for the Palestinian people to obtain their rights," stressing that "the two-state solution is the only way forward to achieve this goal."

The two-state solution means two states, Palestinian and Israeli, and it is the subject of Arab and international consensus, but Israel and the United States refuse to accept and implement it.

On Saturday, Trump called in statements to reporters to transfer the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip to neighboring countries such as Egypt and Jordan, citing the "lack of habitable places in the Gaza Strip" as a result of the Israeli genocide that lasted for more than 15 months with American support.

On Sunday, Egypt confirmed, in a statement by the Foreign Ministry, its rejection of "any infringement on the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, whether through settlement or annexation of land, or by evacuating that land of its owners through displacement or encouraging the transfer or uprooting of Palestinians from their land, whether temporarily or long-term."

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi also stressed in a press conference on Sunday that "Jordan's rejection of displacement is constant and unchangeable and is necessary to achieve the stability and peace that we all want."

The United Nations also rejected the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring countries, as its spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said during a press conference on Monday: “We will be against any plan that leads to the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, or leads to any kind of ethnic cleansing.”

On Monday morning, tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians began returning from the south and center of the Strip to the Gaza and North Governorates from the Netzarim axis via Rashid coastal pedestrian streets and Salah al-Din (east) streets for vehicles after undergoing a security inspection.

The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations confirmed that Israel will cut off all contacts with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and any body acting on its behalf, after the Hebrew state repeatedly accused the UN agency of undermining its security.

Danny Danon said before a Security Council meeting on the matter that "Israel will end all cooperation and communication with UNRWA or any party acting on its behalf."

For his part, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said today (Tuesday) before the UN Security Council: “The continued attack on UNRWA harms the lives and futures of Palestinians throughout the occupied Palestinian territory. It undermines their trust in the international community and jeopardizes any prospect of peace and security.”

Today, Tuesday, journalist Nagham Al-Zayet was injured by shrapnel from the occupation's bullets, while covering the occupation's aggression in the eastern neighborhood of Tulkarm.

Journalist Suhaib Abu Diak, who was accompanying her and a group of journalists, said that the occupation soldiers fired live bullets directly at them while they were standing at the Shahid intersection east of the city, which led to colleague Nagham being injured by bullet fragments in her right hand, and she was treated at the Red Crescent Center in the city.

The occupation forces had obstructed the work of journalists while they were covering the Israeli aggression on the city and its camp, and chased them and fired sound bombs at them, specifically in the western neighborhood, the northern entrance to the camp, and the eastern neighborhood.

In another context, Tulkarm Governor Abdullah Kamil announced, based on direct instructions from President Mahmoud Abbas, the opening of a number of dignity and emergency relief centers for families who were forcibly displaced by the occupation forces from Tulkarm camp.

Medical sources announced today, Tuesday, that the death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen to 47,354, the majority of whom are children and women, since the start of the Israeli occupation aggression on October 7, 2023.

The sources added that the number of injuries has risen to 111,563 since the beginning of the aggression, while thousands of victims are still under the rubble.

It pointed out that 48 dead arrived at hospitals in the Gaza Strip, 37 of whom had their bodies recovered, and 80 injuries arrived at hospitals, as a result of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip during the past 48 hours.

The sources explained that a number of victims are under the rubble and on the roads, and rescue teams are still unable to reach them.

Julia Sebutinde, the current president of the International Court of Justice, has been accused of plagiarizing parts of her dissenting views in the court's advisory opinion on the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

In July of last year, a panel of 15 judges found that Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territory was “illegal,” and that its “near-total segregation” of people in the occupied West Bank violated international laws on “racial segregation” and “apartheid.”

While most of the judges agreed, Sebutinde rejected the court's findings, stating that the case should be settled through negotiations between the parties.

Palestine scholar Zachary Foster pointed out the alleged plagiarism in a post on X on Sunday, January 26, 2025.

In a dissenting opinion section, Sebutinde wrote: “Territorially, the name ‘Palestine’ was vaguely applied to an area that for 400 years before World War I had been part of the Ottoman Empire.

“In 135 CE, after crushing the second Jewish rebellion in the province of Judea or Judah, the Romans renamed that province “Syria Palestina” (or “Syria Palestina”). The Romans did this as a punishment, to spite the “Yehudim” (Jewish residents) and erase the connection between them and their province (known in Hebrew as Judah).

The name "Palestine" was used in reference to the people known as Philistines who were found along the Mediterranean coast.

The three sentences appear to be taken, almost verbatim, from a December 2021 article by Douglas J. Feith at the Hudson Institute.

Feith, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a conservative, Likud-leaning think tank, was undersecretary of defense for policy in the administration of President George W. Bush from July 2001 to August 2005, setting U.S. strategy for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

During that time, Feith was in charge of a key Pentagon office that produced "inappropriately written intelligence assessments prior to the March 2003 invasion alleging links between al-Qaeda and Iraq that were contradicted by the U.S. intelligence consensus."

In 1996, Feith co-wrote a policy paper for then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that suggested that Israel consider removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and engaging militarily with Syria using proxy forces.

Faith's Hudson Institute article is not cited in the bibliography for Sebutinde's dissenting opinion.

Foster noted in his article that Sebutinde also quoted several sentences from the Jewish Virtual Library, changing a few words.

“When the distinguished Arab-American historian, Professor Philip Hitti, testified against the partition of Mandatory Palestine before the Anglo-American Committee in 1946, he said, ‘There is no such thing as “Palestine” in history; not at all,’” Sebutinde wrote.

A very similar line on the Myths and Facts page of the Jewish Virtual Library reads: “When the distinguished Arab-American historian, Professor Philip Hitti of Princeton University, testified against partition before the Anglo-American Committee in 1946, he said: ‘There is no such thing as “Palestine” in history, ever.’”

The name "Palestine" was used in reference to the people known as Philistines who were found along the Mediterranean coast.

The three sentences appear to be taken, almost word for word, from a December 2021 article by Douglas J. Feith at the Hudson Institute.

Feith, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank, was undersecretary of defense for policy in the administration of President George W. Bush from July 2001 to August 2005, where he developed U.S. strategy for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

During that time, Feith was in charge of a key Pentagon office that produced "inadequately written intelligence assessments prior to the March 2003 invasion alleging links between al-Qaeda and Iraq that were contradicted by the U.S. intelligence consensus."

Missing citations

In 1996, Feith co-wrote a policy paper for then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that suggested that Israel consider removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq, and engaging militarily with Syria using proxy forces.

Faith's Hudson Institute article is not cited in the bibliography for Sebutinde's dissenting opinion.

Middle East Eye has contacted the ICJ and Faith for comment.

Foster noted in his article that Sebutinde also quoted several sentences from the Jewish Virtual Library, changing some words.

“When the distinguished Arab-American historian, Professor Philip Hitti, testified against the partition of Mandatory Palestine before the Anglo-American Committee in 1946, he said, ‘There is no such thing as Palestine in history; not at all,’” Sebutinde wrote.

Foster highlighted four sentences from the dissenting opinion borrowed from the Jewish Virtual Library. The site was not mentioned in the Ugandan judge's citations.

The Jewish Virtual Library is part of the American-Israeli Cooperative Project, which says it "provides facts about the Arab-Israeli conflict" and combats "the delegitimization of Israel."

Dissenting voice

Sebutinde became president of the International Court of Justice earlier this month, challenging the court’s decision to appoint its former president, Nawaf Salam, as Lebanon’s next prime minister. In January of last year, the ICJ issued an interim ruling calling on Israel to refrain from obstructing aid deliveries to Gaza and to improve the humanitarian situation. It also ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent genocide in the besieged enclave and to punish incitement to genocide, among other orders.

Sebutinde, described by Israeli media as “pro-Israel,” was the only judge on the 17-member panel to vote against all six measures adopted by the court. Israeli Justice Aharon Barak also voted against several of the measures.

The dissenting opinion prompted Uganda to distance itself from Sebutinde.

“The position taken by Justice Sebutinde is her individual and independent opinion and does not in any way reflect the position of the Government of the Republic of Uganda,” a government spokesman said in a statement at the time.

They added that Kampala supports the Non-Aligned Movement's position on the war, which was adopted at a summit in the Ugandan capital. The Non-Aligned Movement condemned Israel's war on Gaza and its killing of civilians.

Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari announced today, Tuesday, that the first batch of humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip yesterday, through the Erez (Beit Hanoun) crossing, as part of the ongoing airlift to support the Palestinians in the Strip.

Al-Ansari's statements came at a time when hundreds of thousands of forcibly displaced people in the central and southern Gaza Strip continue to return to their homes for the second day, in the northern Gaza Strip via Rashid Street on the coastal road in the western Gaza Strip and Salah al-Din Street in the east.

"Difficult logistical challenges"

The Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed in a press conference in Doha that communication with the administration of US President Donald Trump is ongoing regarding the Palestinian issue and related regional issues, noting that negotiations on the second phase of the ceasefire agreement will begin on the 16th day of the start of the implementation of the agreement.

The spokesman pointed out that Qatar is closely monitoring the entry of aid into the Gaza Strip, despite the difficult logistical challenges it faces in this regard.

He added that Qatar had reached an agreement between Hamas and Israel to release the detainees, including Ehud Arbel and others, before Friday. He also revealed that Hamas had provided information about the prisoners, and that the issues that were hindering the return of the displaced to the north had been resolved.

Al-Ansari also said that the Qatari-Egyptian security committee responsible for inspecting cars and vehicles crossing to the north continues its work, but its role is limited to technical aspects only.

Regarding the Rafah crossing, the spokesman explained that there is currently no specific date for its opening due to the logistical challenges facing the process.

The spokesman stressed that Qatar and the mediating countries continue to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire agreement and are making every effort to ensure that both parties adhere to the agreement, noting that there has been no breach that could lead to escalation or failure of the agreement.

A high-ranking official source denied, on Tuesday, what was reported by the media about a phone call between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and American President Donald Trump.

He stressed that any phone call by the President of the Republic is announced in accordance with the custom with heads of state, especially with regard to a call at this level and at this critical time that the Middle East region is going through, and in light of the special importance that this represents in light of the distinguished relations that bring together the presidents of the two countries.

Earlier today, US President Trump said that he spoke with the Egyptian president about transferring Palestinians from Gaza, indicating that he had not backed down from the idea of transferring Palestinians out of the Strip, according to what was reported by news agencies and media outlets.

The US president said he told his Egyptian counterpart that he would like to have them "live in an area where they can live without turmoil or revolution... When you look at the Gaza Strip, it has been hell for many years," he said.

Cairo and Amman renewed their position rejecting any Israeli or other plans to transfer the residents of the Strip, considering it a second displacement campaign, after President Trump announced his intention to speak to the leaderships of the two countries about the possibility of transferring the people of Gaza.

In this regard, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Aati expressed his country's concern yesterday, Monday, regarding the displacement attempts targeting people in neighboring countries. He pointed to the deteriorating political and humanitarian conditions in the region, including conflicts, political crises and the negative effects of climate change.

He also stressed that these factors contribute to the growth of waves of displacement and migration, leading to an increase in the flow of migrants to Egypt, which already hosts more than 9 million migrants, refugees and people in refugee-like situations.

In turn, Hanfy Gebaly, Speaker of the Egyptian House of Representatives, stressed the House’s categorical rejection of any arrangements or attempts to change the geographical and political reality of the Palestinian issue, noting that the proposals to displace Palestinians are not limited to threatening the Palestinians alone, but rather represent a grave danger to regional security and stability.

The Egyptian statements came in conjunction with the Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi’s renewal, yesterday, Monday, of the Kingdom’s rejection of any talk about the displacement of Palestinians, stressing that Jordan will continue to confront it.

Safadi said in a briefing before the House of Representatives that all talk about an alternative homeland for the Palestinians is rejected, stressing that his country will not accept it and will continue to confront it. He added that Jordan is for Jordanians, Palestine is for Palestinians, and the solution to the Palestinian issue is on Palestinian soil, according to his words.

It is noteworthy that US President Trump had told reporters that Egypt and Jordan should receive more Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, after the Israeli war caused the death of more than 47 thousand Palestinians, and turned most of the Strip into rubble.

Since yesterday evening until Tuesday morning, the Israeli occupation forces have arrested at least (25) citizens from the West Bank, including former prisoners.

The Commission of Prisoners' Affairs and the Prisoners' Club reported that the arrests were distributed across the governorates of Tulkarm, Hebron, Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem.

They pointed out that the occupation arrested dozens of citizens while continuing its military operation in the Jenin and Tulkarm governorates, amidst abuse, destruction of infrastructure, and vandalism and demolition of citizens' homes.

The occupation forces continue to carry out field investigations in several towns, in addition to the widespread abuse, attacks and threats against citizens, as well as acts of vandalism and destruction in citizens' homes.

This Tuesday afternoon, the Israeli occupation forces forced citizens at the eastern entrance to Jenin camp to evacuate their homes.

Local sources reported that the occupation forces raided homes in the area known as Al-Hisan Roundabout, east of the camp, and forced citizens to evacuate their homes, in preparation for demolishing parts of them.

The occupation bulldozers continue to open roads deep inside Jenin camp, specifically in the area known as Mahyoub Street.

Bulldozing and destruction of infrastructure continue in the Al-Hawashin and Al-Aloub neighborhoods.

The occupation continues to send military reinforcements from the Jalameh checkpoint to the city of Jenin and its camp, while drones continue to fly in the skies of the camp.

For the eighth consecutive day, the occupation continues its aggression on the city of Jenin and its camp, leaving 16 martyrs, dozens of injuries and arrests, and the forced evacuation of families, in addition to the destruction and burning of 100 homes inside the camp, in light of the continued systematic destruction of the infrastructure, and preventing ambulance and civil defense crews from entering it.

Just as it is the Hajj season, the huge crowds of displaced people were overflowing like a huge human flood and crossing Rashid Street on foot, hastening their steps towards Gaza City and its north, amidst the chants of thanks to God, while convoys of cars and vehicles passed through Salah al-Din Street, where the number of returnees was estimated at about 300,000.

Yesterday was a memorable day when the displaced people, who left northern Gaza by an unjust Israeli decision, under artillery shelling, tank fire, starvation, displacement and ethnic cleansing campaigns, decided to return to the most affected area in the Strip, amid mixed feelings between sadness over the destruction and devastation that the situation has reached, and the loved ones they have lost, and the joy of returning to cling to the land and soil of Gaza, as this means a lot to them, how could it not, when Gaza is their destination, the cradle of their civilization and the symbol of their pride, amidst a tremendous determination to build, inhabit and live despite the lack of homes and tents, but their great will is the most prominent bet on their survival and steadfastness, despite all the harsh and difficult conditions in the northern Strip.

The historical and legendary scene of the return of the displaced to the northern Gaza Strip shattered Israel’s illusions and wishes to displace our people and expel them from their land. The return of thousands of displaced people from our expelled people is a living embodiment of the ability of this great people to liberate the land and the holy sites and achieve the dream of return, despite the occupation and its extremist leaders who were disturbed by yesterday’s scene, in which our people raised the slogan (all roads lead to Gaza).

Our great people have foiled the displacement plan and the military generals’ plan, which reflected to everyone the manifestations of managing the challenge and steadfastness through steadfastness in the position of not giving up a single grain of the homeland’s soil, and responding in the best way to the statements of US President Donald Trump and members of his administration from the White House poles, which are consistent in their content with the Israelis’ orientations aimed at displacing and expelling the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, as this was announced publicly by the extremist Minister Smotrich, who admitted yesterday that he is working on developing a plan in cooperation with Netanyahu to displace the residents of Gaza, stressing the need to appoint an offensive chief of staff for the army to implement this mission completely and without hesitation, to prevent Hamas from controlling the Strip, and his return to the idea of encouraging the migration of the people of Gaza, and his opposition to the idea of stopping the war and resuming it after the end of the first stage of the ceasefire agreement.

The people of the Gaza Strip who returned today to northern Gaza say: Even if our hands and feet are cut off, we will march to you without fatigue or weakness. Peace be upon the homeland, and we say yes, for Palestine is not just a land, but rather an identity, a history, and an ongoing struggle for truth and dignity. Its people, who were falsely and slanderously described as terrorists, are the same people who presented the world with models of patience, sacrifice, and love of life.

Palestine continues to write a bright history that will not forget that this people is the owner of the land, and it is they who deserve to live with dignity, freedom and justice.

Glory kneels to you, the returning displaced people who cling to the land and its value... Congratulations to Gaza for you.

Trump’s arrogant statements or balloons about displacing Gazans to Egypt and Jordan were not the first, and they will not be the last. However, they cannot be ignored. At the very least, they carry within them a condescending view that reveals a concept that is endemic to reckless American policy that the Palestinians are nothing more than “a group of terrorists and an invented people,” as Republican presidential candidate Gingrich once said, and which was repeated at the time by Netanyahu’s and Trump’s protégé, American billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who said, “Read the history of those who call themselves Palestinians, and listen to what Gingrich said that the Palestinian people are invented.”

Trump's balloons, which intersect with the calls for Israeli fascism, do not only target the fate of our Palestinian people, but they also constitute an aggression against Arab national security, including an attempt to revive the "alternative homeland" policy in Jordan, which imposes the necessity of not only responding with firm positions to nip such conspiracies that target the fate of the Arab region and controlling its wealth for the benefit of Israel, which Trump himself considered to have a small geography that does not match its capabilities, thus calling for more control over Arab land, as he previously offered the occupied Golan Heights to it, and did not reject Israeli expansion into Syrian territory after the fall of the Assad regime.

These statements, despite their recklessness, confirm a number of facts, foremost of which is that Israeli expansionist ambitions are limitless and will not stop at the borders of annexing the West Bank or displacing our people from it and from the Gaza Strip, but rather extend east and south to various Arab capitals. The second fact is that the Palestinian people’s resistance to these expansionist ambitions constitutes a shield to defend not only the rights and destiny of the Palestinian people, but also the destiny of the entire Arab region. The third fact, which is confirmed by the will of the Palestinians regarding the extent of their attachment to their land and their belonging to every spot in it, was demonstrated by the queues of hundreds of thousands who waited for two days on Rashid Street and the so-called “Netzarim” junction, knowing full well that they will return to the ruins of destroyed homes, unfit water and electricity networks, and even schools, hospitals and roads that are not qualified to provide any service. The Palestinians have learned the lesson of the Nakba, as they imbibed it after the defeat of June 1967. However, today, as they are the owners of their fateful decision, they realize that survival and protecting the land are the essence of resisting the racist Zionist project. Finally, the fourth truth is that betting on Trump and refraining from formulating a national vision supported by the Arabs and the international community as a basis for any political movement, while waiting for what the author of the first deal of the century will present, will only lead to further self-erosion. Formulating a national vision has its internal requirements and requires comprehensive and bold reviews from everyone. Without it, we will remain ineffective, and the enormous sacrifices will go down the drain.

This is a final statement for the people whose adherence to their rights is only made more steadfast by the crimes and bloody plots of the fascist government in Tel Aviv. Every citizen of this people, who has been subjected to open genocide for more than sixteen months, has the right to be considered the true hero. Yes, the people are the leaders as long as the leadership appears to be alienated from their ability to endure in order to advance towards their national rights, which are achieved to the extent that the links of the Zionist settlement project are broken one by one, not surrendered to. The national project is an interconnected chain whose essence is survival, steadfastness, and a unified national leadership capable of supporting it to achieve this.

The big question, which I have always repeated in all my previous articles, is: Is what the dominant leadership is doing in the face of the major risks and challenges facing our people commensurate with those existential risks and challenges? Here, an open message must be directed to the president in his capacity, as well as to the Palestinian leaderships of all stripes.

It was natural to disagree about the effectiveness of what the resistance did on October 7, especially in terms of the correctness or misjudgment of the repercussions resulting from it, and the regional and international positions towards it, especially in terms of adopting the Zionist narrative and trying to Daeshize the resistance by mobilizing the "Hasbara" system, which quickly disintegrated in the face of the persistence of the fascist genocide committed by the leaders, army and society of the occupation. Unfortunately, this dismantling of the organized Zionist propaganda was not achieved through a Palestinian political, diplomatic and media effort that stems from a unified vision of a Palestinian discourse capable of dismantling the lies of that crumbling narrative. The narrative that the Palestinians won with was expensive, with what it included of scenes of victims, the blood of children, women and elderly people, and their destroyed homes, which the young men and women, journalists and female journalists of Gaza excelled in conveying to the peoples of the world in all parts of the universe, causing qualitative transformations in international public opinion, and even what can be considered a global uprising in awareness and demonstrations that swept the cities and capitals of the world. The hand triumphed over the awl. However, the Palestinian discourse remained scattered, so much so that the Hamas leadership delayed until March 2024 to convey its narrative about October 7. The UN Secretary-General preceded it when he considered that October 7 was nothing but the result of long-standing injustice and aggression that lasted for more than seventy-five years, while the Arab and even Palestinian leaderships remained silent in front of Macron during his visit to the region, as he called for the establishment of a regional alliance to eradicate Hamas and the resistance, as they had previously done with ISIS, in absolute bias towards the narrative of the fascist Zionist right, which was paving the way with that narrative to commit the most heinous crimes of genocide.

Once again, the direct response to the nonsense of Trump and the advocates of transfer in Israel comes at the hands of the people of the Strip who have always pledged to themselves in the songs of their revolution and uprisings, “We swear to God we will not leave.” But is such a pledge and the will to survive alone enough to defeat the displacement plans?

In a meeting I had with the martyr leader Ismail Haniyeh in March of last year, whom I bear witness before history that he was keen with his molars on unity and moving towards a realistic vision that would break all the artificial obstacles to its achievement, especially with regard to the unity of the national decision in the PLO, and moving towards a transitional government of consensus. This was from a position of awareness that the most difficult war would begin after the ceasefire, and that the Tel Aviv government would try to blackmail the Palestinian people in the dilemma of reconstruction and before that relief and shelter to achieve what it failed to accomplish through the crimes of genocide that imposed global isolation on it, especially among the peoples of the world and the international courts that are now pursuing the criminals of this genocide everywhere and for the first time in their history.

The open letter that should be addressed to the President and the Central Committee of Fatah: Why all this entrenchment and insistence on not implementing what was signed by all factions in Beijing, including the delegation of the Central Committee of Fatah headed by the Deputy Chairman of the movement? At a time when this declaration, which was supported by the People's Republic of China and many countries of the world, has also received unprecedented popular support? Is there still anyone in the leadership of the national movement and the Palestinian political system who believes that he can monopolize national decision-making and authority, or exclude others, no matter how powerful and influential he is?

In this context, we need the support of all Arab brothers to achieve such unity, as the danger of transfer is imminent and not just Kahanist delusions. This danger threatens their interests and national security, and is not limited to our brothers in Egypt and Jordan. Protecting Arab national security requires, among other things, making more efforts to strengthen and restore the unity of the Palestinian people and their comprehensive national institutions, on whose rock Trump’s nonsense, arrogance, and denial of our people’s right to remain and self-determination on their homeland, the homeland of our fathers and grandfathers, will be shattered.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians are streaming together, in a continuous, massive march from their displacement sites, from the south and center of the Gaza Strip, towards Gaza City and to the northern areas of Jabalia, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia, to the sites of destruction and devastation, but they insist on their choice to return to their destroyed homes, which the occupation deliberately blew up and bombed, with the aim of displacing, deporting and displacing them.

On the morning of Monday, January 27, 2025, tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, poured into the streets in a march towards the north, as if their march and insistence on returning, since the implementation of the ceasefire decision and the implementation of the steps of the truce deal that began at dawn, carried the good news of their right to return to their homes.

As if it is the day of freedom, the day of return, the day of victory, an amazing people, presenting the opposite image, as if they are responding collectively, by them, by the people of Palestine in Gaza, responding collectively to the statements of US President Trump in his demand to displace the people of the Gaza Strip towards Egypt and Jordan, that they are heading from the south of the Gaza Strip, from the Egyptian-Palestinian border towards the north of the Strip afflicted with destruction, killing and deprivation, they are heading to Gaza, and from there to Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia, which are completely destroyed, and yet they insist on returning to live on the ruins of their destroyed homes, by erecting a tent on their ruins, to start a new life, a defeat for the colony program that aimed to empty the Gaza Strip of its people and people through deliberate killing, and a systematic displacement program.

Indeed, they are making the dawn of steadfastness and perseverance, heralding the dawn of freedom, heralding the continuation of life towards the land and above it, towards the understanding and saying of their late poet Mahmoud Darwish, “On this land there is that which is worth living for,” and here they are making life and dignity to be a model for the rest of the components of their tormented, displaced people.

The Palestinians are paying the price of their freedom and independence, they are paying the price of their legendary steadfastness, with the choice of survival and steadfastness, and thwarting the plans of the colony’s generals, and its expansionist colonialist program and project, to establish their free, independent homeland on the land of Palestine, on the entire land of Palestine.

The people of Jabbarin, as described by their late leader Yasser Arafat, who restored their lost identity, and unified their struggle, jihad, organizations, and independent national identities with the factions within the framework of the Palestine Liberation Organization after he led and sparked the Palestinian revolution before the year of occupation in 1967, and became, on a Palestinian, Arab, and international level, the sole legitimate representative and the real, actual leader of the Palestinian people’s march towards Palestine, and achieved this with the first step, after the first Intifada in 1987, and hundreds of thousands returned with him to Palestine as a result of the Oslo Accords in 1993, and here is the march of his people renewed and leaping a step forward as a result of the Hamas movement’s initiative and the October 7, 2023 operation, which is considered the fourth step and station in the Palestinian struggle.

We, the sons of Jordan, and the Arabs, Muslims and Christians, are proud of them. We are proud that we and them are in one trench, for the sake of Jordan’s security, stability, progress and pluralism, and for the sake of the freedom of Palestine as its people deserve, in freedom, dignity and return.

Since Donald Trump arrived at the White House for the second time, the rapid changes at all levels, international, regional and local. In light of that, Trump’s inauguration speech was a horrific display full of hatred and focus on national greatness and divine promise, like the emergence of any new historical trend, opinions vary about its meaning.

He attacked the previous administration, immigrants, and broad segments of Americans, along with Latin Americans and the rest of the world.

Trump took his inspiration from Hitler’s first radio address in 1933, where he attacked the old order and promised a new era of national greatness wrapped in the term “peace.” Trump has revisited this vision using the term “golden age,” but in practice it serves a growing fascist vision with economic dimensions in the face of today’s crisis of the capitalist system.

Hence, his administration has drawn up a distorted policy in the Middle East characterized by political hypocrisy, fascism, extremist ideological tendencies, in addition to trade deals, complete bias towards Israel and the idea of transfer. This policy has not only ignored Palestinian rights, but has also strengthened Israeli hegemony, while providing illusions through figures such as Mike Boulos and Jason Wefkoff. At the same time, US policies under the Trump administration have shown the absence of any real interest in supporting the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, which deepens Palestinian suffering and pushes towards the liquidation of the cause.

False promises and middlemen

In my view, Mike Boulos, the Lebanese billionaire and father-in-law of Tiffany Trump, played a role in promising the Palestinians that there was a real chance for a breakthrough under the Trump administration. These promises followed a well-worn American pattern of selling the Palestinians illusions, whereby illusory economic or political solutions are promoted without any real commitments. Likewise, Jason Levkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, sought to promote a mediation role with the Palestinians, even expressing a desire to visit Gaza. But in reality, these initiatives do not conflict with the administration’s policies, which seek to perpetuate the Israeli occupation and promote settlements in the West Bank, in addition to the annexation and annexation projects.

The Israeli hegemony project within the American strategy

The alliance between the United States and Israel is based on deep strategic interests, including religious and cultural determinants, which makes the idea of establishing an independent Palestinian state incompatible with American orientations. Israel represents a strategic base for Washington in the region, and thus strengthening its power serves American interests. In this context, the Trump administration’s support for Israeli settlements, the transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem, and its recognition of it as the unified capital of Israel were steps that confirm that Washington sees continued Israeli hegemony as a long-term strategic option.

Approval of the decision of the Israeli occupation government to extend the presence of the occupation army in Lebanon after the expiration of the period according to the armistice agreement falls within this context, on the one hand.

On the other hand, it is also clear that Trump's agenda has completely excluded Jordan from its calculations. It is an economic siege that Trump wants to impose on Jordan to push it to conform to his political project in the region and receive Palestinians from Gaza on its lands, a project that Jordan officially put a brake on during President Trump's first term in the White House, and now the attempt is being made again under the policies of waving threats by cutting off aid.

On the other hand, the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Hagaby, and the US ambassador to the United Nations have clearly reflected these policies. Hagaby, a hardline evangelical, believes in the so-called “biblical right” of the Jews to the West Bank and refuses to call the Israeli communities there “settlements.” The US ambassador to the United Nations has likewise emphasized this right in her statements, reflecting the depth of ideological influence in US decision-making.

Ideological dimension and electoral influence

Trump’s policies cannot be separated from his electoral base, which is largely made up of Christian Zionists or evangelicals. These groups see support for Israel as a religious and ideological duty. For them, the “Greater Land of Israel” is part of their faith, which explains the unconditional support Israel enjoys from these circles. This opposing influence has played a major role in pushing the Trump administration to adopt policies that serve the Israeli project in its entirety at the expense of Palestinian rights.

Since taking office, Trump has also lifted sanctions on settlers, lifted a ban on bomb shipments to Israel, and called for the forced transfer of Palestinians with a proposal to “evacuate areas.”

Lack of interest in establishing a Palestinian state

If we look at Trump’s policy realistically, it becomes clear that his administration did not see any real interest in supporting the establishment of an independent Palestinian state or enabling the Palestinians to determine their fate, as all previous administrations did. The American interest focused on strengthening Israeli hegemony, whether through political steps such as the “Deal of the Century” that completely ignored legitimate Palestinian rights, or through normalizing relations between Israel and Arab countries such as the UAE and Bahrain, in addition to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which is currently the top priority in the circle of American pressure to sign a normalization agreement with Israel.

The illusion of development and the mentality of deals

Trump approaches international issues, including the Palestinian issue, with a “transactional mentality.” Rather than focusing on achieving justice or addressing the political roots of the conflict, Trump views the region as a place for economic gain. His statements about Gaza as a “great tourism investment opportunity” are just one example of this narrow, commercial outlook, which minimizes the importance and reality of the Palestinian people’s suffering and turns their cause into a commercial project.

US Policies Towards Gaza and the New Initiative

At the same time, a recent statement by Trump emerged clarifying his vision for the post-war period in Gaza, where he suggested that Egypt and Jordan receive Palestinians from Gaza, saying: “We want to clean this place up completely,” which reflects his fascist thinking and further disdain for the Palestinian cause, and his insistence on turning it into another file far from the historical and political rights of the Palestinian people. These statements are in line with American trends that have no real intention to achieve peace or establish a sovereign Palestinian state or empower our people in their right to self-determination.

Trump’s policies towards the Middle East, especially the Palestinian issue, reflect a strategic approach that serves Israeli hegemony and the American role in the region that it seeks for various strategic considerations, while offering false promises to the Palestinians through political hypocrisy. In light of this reality, it has become necessary for us Palestinians to unite our ranks according to a clear strategic vision and work to rearrange internal, political and diplomatic priorities to confront the growing challenges, including overcoming the illusions associated with any positive role for a biased American administration that is a partner to Israel.

There is no doubt that the statements of US President Donald Trump about the displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan were not a coincidence or just empty and absurd statements or a slip of the tongue. In my opinion, these statements by the president of the largest country in the world have consequences, especially since since the first day of Trump’s inauguration, he spoke with complete frankness about Gaza and its geographical location and its beautiful sea, as a prelude to seizing the Strip by looking at it as a contractor, and as an economic and investment project.

In my opinion, this trend was revealed by the WikiLeaks leaks when they quoted the speech of US Vice President J.D. Vance, when he spoke about an American mandate for Gaza for 100 years with a contract similar to the status of Chinese Hong Kong with Britain.

I believe that these statements are dangerous and controversial, and reveal the policy and plans of US President Donald Trump towards Gaza and the region. They are a continuation of his previous diabolical project during his first term, and what was called the “Deal of the Century” at that time, the aim of which was for the Zionists to tighten their grip from the Euphrates to the Nile and achieve the dream of a greater state of Israel. Therefore, I believe that what is coming with Trump will be worse, and he will work to impose a new reality by force.

Therefore, it is urgently required to unify the solid Arab position, especially from the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, to confront these plans that target the Palestinian existence, and bring down the Palestinian state project, thus ending the Palestinian issue completely.

Also, a unified, firm, and unambiguous Palestinian position is required, stating that there is no place for the Palestinians other than their homeland and land, and that they will not accept displacement under any pretext or excuse, and that it is time for the international community to pressure Israel to recognize the Palestinian presence on this land and the right to establish a Palestinian state on the borders of June 4, 1967, with Jerusalem as its capital, and to oblige it to implement all laws and treaties approved by international legitimacy that recognize the rights of the Palestinian people and their just cause, foremost among which is their right to self-determination and national independence.

It is truly unfortunate that during a truce period, we see scenes of violence no less violent than those during the genocidal war, for very trivial, strange and reprehensible reasons and pretexts, such as those related to the kidnapping of an Israeli woman whom Israel considers a civilian, while the Jihad movement considers her a military woman, meaning that Jihad wants 50 prisoners in return for her, while Israel wants…

Only 30 were released. Accordingly, Israel halted its withdrawal from the Netzarim camp and prevented hundreds of thousands of displaced persons from crossing to their homes, or more precisely what remained of their homes. These hundreds of thousands cannot return to the places they came from, because they brought their tents with them, so they remained in their lines waiting, and spent two nights in the open, and endured the screams of their children from hunger and cold. Is there any human, animal or imaginary logic that links the fate of one individual human being to the fate of half a million people?

If the issue was a matter of disagreement on paper and the table, of bickering, threats, procrastination and blackmail, we would say it is okay, but for the issue to jump to the point of applying torture to half a million displaced persons for more than 48 hours on the outskirts of a ruined, destroyed military area, with no water, no toilets, no restaurants, and no shelter to protect them from the cold and frost in the last part of the forty days of winter in Palestine, this is more than a person can bear and endure, especially when he knows that the reason for this is a soldier named “Erbil Jews.” Imagine half a million names like hers, as each of the displaced persons also has a name, a family, and an address. Imagine if we made a list of their names, how much time would it take us to write it, how much ink would we need, and how many notebooks?

Some will think that it is because she is Jewish or Israeli, and this is of course not true. Her Israel has deliberately killed her colleagues in resistance captivity more than once, and only coincidence is responsible for her remaining alive and well, and her family, along with the rest of the families, knows the true position of Netanyahu, along with Ben Gvir, who submitted his resignation, and Smotrich, who will soon submit it, on the subject of the truce and exchange.

The real reason for this stubborn obstinacy, or stubborn obstinacy, lies in the feeling of defeat, a complex and complicated defeat, the kind that enters the body and eats away at the bones and the greatness, exacerbated by Hamas’s treatment of the kidnapped female prisoners, who laugh out loud all the time, clean, radiant, with their hair uncovered, and braided in the most beautiful way possible, and with this Hamas has defeated “civilized democratic” Israel. With this, the worst day for Netanyahu, his government and his society has become Saturday, when three kidnapped people are handed over in exchange for a hundred prisoners or more, and for this reason he and his army go to prevent the Palestinians from rejoicing by force. With the resistance’s ability and patience and the people’s steadfastness and trust in this leadership, the morning of return has turned into a day of resurrection.

A constitutional and judicial crisis in Israel over the appointment of Judge Yitzhak Amit as President of the Supreme Court is due to Justice Minister Yariv Levin's rejection of the appointment, which has led to escalating tensions between the executive and judicial branches in the country.

Potential impacts of this crisis may include:

1. Suspending the work of the Supreme Court: The court can cancel laws passed by members of parliament if it finds that they conflict with the country’s basic laws.

2. Escalation of political tensions: This crisis could lead to internal unrest and disrupt efforts to reach peace agreements.

3. Impact on public confidence: This may lead to a loss of confidence in the institution of the Supreme Court and the judiciary in general.

Netanyahu and Justice Minister Yariv Levin's insistence on changing the judiciary is due to several reasons:

1. Restoring the balance between powers: The Israeli government sees the judicial amendments as aimed at restoring the balance between the executive, legislative and judicial powers. They believe that the Supreme Court interferes too much in political affairs and puts minority rights ahead of national interests.

2. Appointing judges: The proposed amendments give MPs greater power to appoint judges, which would increase the government’s influence in this area. This could help appoint judges whose orientation is in line with government policies.

3. Reducing the powers of the Supreme Court: The amendments aim to limit the powers of the Supreme Court to issue rulings against the legislative and executive branches. This could reduce the court’s ability to strike down laws passed by the Knesset.

4. Supporting democracy: Netanyahu and his allies believe that the judicial amendments will strengthen democracy in Israel by achieving a greater balance between powers and supporting businesses.

5. Criminal Cases: There are accusations that Netanyahu is seeking to exploit pressure on the judiciary to freeze or cancel his trial on corruption charges, which the prime minister denies.

Levin has been holding up the election process for a Supreme Court president for more than a year, in an attempt to prevent the appointment of Yitzhak Amit. Israel’s justice minister, who led the judicial coup behind the scenes, boycotted a meeting of the Judicial Appointments Committee in protest that the Supreme Court had forced him to hold the meeting. This boycott would make it difficult to administer the justice system and appoint additional judges.

Following the election, Levin wrote to the court administrator, saying: “I do not recognize Yitzhak Amit as president of the Supreme Court, and the procedures by which he was elected are fundamentally flawed and illegal.”

These reasons reflect the political and social tensions in Israel and illustrate the complexity of the current situation.

The constitutional and judicial crisis in Israel due to the appointment of Judge Yitzhak Amit as President of the Supreme Court may lead to a street split, if the disputes between the executive and judicial authorities continue. This crisis led to an escalation of political and social tensions in the country before the war, and now the division has increased, widening the gap between the different parties, and the lack of recognition of the judiciary is the beginning of the division. Will Netanyahu succeed in dismissing Levin? Or will the circle of civil war expand?

* Specialized in Israeli affairs

Dr. Saeed Shaheen: Trump's statements about displacement come in the context of completing the projects that he failed to achieve during his first term

Mohamed Gouda: Trump's statements come within the framework of a larger plan aimed at liquidating the Palestinian cause by imposing a new reality by force

Sari Samour: Trump's statements may aim to explore different reactions and test possible solutions that serve Israeli interests

Nizar Nazzal: Palestinians face a real danger that requires comprehensive action to confront it, unify efforts and work to thwart displacement plans

Firas Yaghi: Trump is trying to reformulate the concept of the Palestinian issue according to a new vision that focuses on reducing the population of Gaza in line with Kushner’s vision

US President Donald Trump’s statements about the displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egypt and Jordan have sparked controversy and concern, amid warnings that they carry deep political and strategic dimensions that reflect the Trump administration’s orientations. Do these statements come within the framework of a larger plan aimed at liquidating the Palestinian cause by imposing a new reality by force? Or are they merely an attempt to explore international and regional reactions?

In separate interviews with “I”, writers, political analysts, specialists and university professors believe that Trump’s statements are not random, but may reflect a systematic policy aimed at changing the demographic map of the region. Since the first day of his inauguration, Trump has spoken about Gaza as an economic and investment project, not as a humanitarian and political issue. This vision is consistent with the plans of the extreme Israeli right, in preparation for implementing the “Greater Israel” project.

They stress that Egypt categorically rejects any projects aimed at settling Palestinians on its territory, while Jordan faces great sensitivity towards the settlement issue due to the presence of a large number of Palestinian refugees on its territory.

They believe that the Palestinian people, who have stood firm in the face of genocide and ethnic cleansing, will not surrender to threats of displacement. The Palestinian cause is an issue of existence and identity, which will not be easily abandoned and will remain alive, and no one will be able to eliminate it.

Trends rooted in the principles of Christian Zionism

Dr. Saeed Shaheen, Professor of Political Media at Hebron University, confirms that US President Donald Trump’s statements regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict reveal his orientations rooted in the principles of Christian Zionism, which he clearly adopts.

Shaheen believes that these principles form the basis for Trump's political behavior, pointing out that everything he issues reflects the tendencies of the extreme American far right, and serves the demands of biblical Zionism aimed at displacing the Palestinians, exploiting the state of Palestinian division and Arab dependence on the United States.

Shaheen believes that Trump's recent statements about displacing Palestinians to Jordan and Egypt come in the context of completing the projects that he failed to achieve during his first term, most notably accelerating the pace of normalization between Israel and Arab countries through the Abraham Accords.

Shaheen points out that the ultimate goal of these projects is to completely liquidate the Palestinian cause, by promoting normalization and swallowing up more Palestinian and Arab lands.

According to Shaheen, these plans also aim to implement the vision of the extreme Israeli right, represented by figures such as Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, which seeks to empty the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem of Palestinians, in addition to displacing the Palestinians inside Israel, stressing that these policies seek to change the demographic balance that is in favor of the Palestinians.

In a related context, Shaheen warns that these statements may threaten the sovereignty of Arab countries such as Jordan and Egypt, pointing out that Trump’s implementation of his plan, which is in line with the aspirations of the extreme Israeli right, may lead to tension in relations with these two countries, and perhaps destroy them completely, stressing that the matter depends on the extent of Jordan and Egypt’s ability to confront these plans and thwart them.

Shaheen points out that these statements may represent an opportunity for the Palestinian situation to achieve national unity, stressing that confronting these crazy plans requires ending the Palestinian division and strengthening cohesion between the various parties.

Shaheen praises the role of regional and international initiatives, such as the outcomes of the Moscow, Algiers and Beijing meetings, in strengthening Palestinian reconciliation, stressing that the Palestinians’ success in confronting these policies will depend largely on their ability to overcome their differences and unite their ranks.

Shaheen stresses that the US administration, in light of the influence it enjoys regionally and internationally, constitutes a dangerous tool in implementing plans to liquidate the Palestinian cause.

Shaheen stresses that confronting these policies requires collective action from Arab and Islamic countries, in addition to the cohesion of the Palestinian ranks, to confront any attempts aimed at undermining Palestinian rights and seizing more land.

Serious implications of Trump's statements

Writer and political analyst Mohamed Gouda warns of the dangerous repercussions of US President Donald Trump’s statements, in which he called for the displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Egypt and Jordan, stressing that these statements are not just a slip of the tongue or passing statements, but rather reflect a systematic policy aimed at changing the geographical and political reality in the region, and completing the project that Trump began during his first term under the name “Deal of the Century.”

Joda points out that Trump's statements come within the framework of a larger plan aimed at liquidating the Palestinian cause, by imposing a new reality by force, and redrawing the demographic map of the region.

"Since the first day of his inauguration, Trump has talked about Gaza, its geographical location, and its beautiful sea, as if he viewed it as an economic and investment project, not as a humanitarian and political issue," Joda says.

Jodeh asserts that these statements reveal dangerous trends that were previously revealed through WikiLeaks leaks, where US Vice President J.D. Vance spoke about a project to impose an American mandate on Gaza for 100 years, similar to the situation that Hong Kong was in under British rule.

Joda stresses that such plans aim to weaken the Palestinian presence, bring down the Palestinian state project, and end the Palestinian cause completely.

Regarding Egypt and Jordan's position on these statements, Joda confirms that Cairo considers itself a guarantor of regional stability, and categorically rejects any projects aimed at settling Palestinians on its lands, whether in Sinai or elsewhere.

"Egypt always affirms its support for the two-state solution and its rejection of any plans that threaten its national security or change the demographic map in the region," Joda said.

"Such statements may lead to tension in relations between Cairo and Washington, especially if Egypt feels American pressure in this direction," Joda added.

As for Jordan, Joudeh points out that Jordan faces great sensitivity regarding the issue of settlement, as it is home to a large number of Palestinian refugees. Jordan also rejects any steps that add a new burden on it, and this may push it to take a tough stance towards the United States.

"King Abdullah II reiterates his rejection of such solutions that violate the national rights of the Palestinian people, and I expect that American sanctions will be imposed on Jordan as a result of its rejection of Trump's calls," Jodeh said.

Joda explains that Trump's statements aim to continue the policies of liquidating the Palestinian cause, by marginalizing the rights of Palestinians to return, self-determination, and statehood.

"These statements reinforce the Palestinian feeling of mistrust in the international community, and ignite more anger towards American policies, especially after previous decisions such as moving the American embassy to Jerusalem," Joda said.

Joda believes that such statements may lead to a reorganization of regional alliances, as countries affected by these ideas, such as Egypt and Jordan, come together to confront them. They will also weaken the calming efforts in Gaza, and may lead to greater escalation in the region as a result of popular anger and resistance to these projects.

He calls for a unified Arab position, especially from Egypt and Jordan, to confront these plans targeting the Palestinian existence.

"A solid and unified Arab position is required to confront these dangerous statements, which aim to completely end the Palestinian issue," Joda said.

Joudeh stresses the need for a unified and firm Palestinian position that rejects any form of displacement and affirms the right of the Palestinians to their land and homeland.

Joudeh stresses that the time has come for the international community to pressure Israel to recognize the Palestinian presence on this land and the right to establish a Palestinian state on the borders of June 4, 1967, with Jerusalem as its capital.

"Israel must be obligated to implement all laws and treaties approved by international legitimacy, which recognize the rights of the Palestinian people and their just cause, foremost among which is their right to self-determination and national independence," Joda said.

Joudeh warns that Trump's statements, if not met with decisive responses from Egypt, Jordan and the international community, could undermine efforts to achieve peace and exacerbate the humanitarian and political conditions in Palestine and the region as a whole.

Joda confirms that what is coming with Trump will be worse, and he will work to impose a new reality by force, which requires firm positions from all concerned parties.

A kind of "political fetish"

Writer and political analyst Sari Samour asserts that US President Donald Trump’s recent statements about Jordan and Egypt’s demand to receive Palestinians can be considered a kind of “political sleuthing,” noting that they may not necessarily express an actual plan, but may aim to explore different reactions and test possible solutions that serve Israeli interests.

Samour explains that the main goal of these statements is to push the various parties, especially the Palestinians, to present proposals that would primarily satisfy Israel.

Samour says: “Trump sees himself as more Israeli than the Israelis, and puts Israel’s interests above all else, which is reflected in the nature of his approach to dealing with the region.”

Samour points out that the absence of clear plans or complete visions for what comes after the statements is a prominent feature of these proposals.

Samour believes that "even Israel itself lacks a clear vision for the day after, which is evident in its previous failures, whether at the level of proposals or procedures, such as remaining in Netzarim, but Israel was forced to withdraw from it."

Samour stresses the danger of using the reconstruction file as a pressure card and political blackmail against the Palestinians, warning against linking the reconstruction of Gaza to conditions that harm the Palestinian national identity and resistance, and even the entire Palestinian existence.

“This point in particular represents a major future threat, as Gaza’s need for reconstruction could be exploited to force Palestinians to accept plans aimed at undermining their national rights,” Samour says.

Regarding the impact of Trump's statements on American relations with countries in the region, such as Egypt and Jordan, Samour confirms that the two countries receive significant American aid, which makes them vulnerable to Washington's pressure and blackmail.

"It is not possible to predict how Egypt and Jordan will respond to these proposals, especially in light of the continued American pressure," Samour says.

However, Samour stresses that the real bet in confronting these plans must be on the Palestinian people, specifically the people of Gaza, who are supposed to reject any attempts to pass these plans.

He says: "Trump's statements, if implemented, represent a clear threat to the Palestinian existence, and are not limited to Gaza only, but may extend to the West Bank."

Samour believes that these statements were supposed to be an incentive to unite the Palestinians in the face of common threats, but he regrets the lack of a unified national strategy so far.

“Despite the bloodshed in Gaza, we have not yet seen a joint national program to address what is happening,” Samour says. “We hope that Trump’s statements will sound a warning bell that will encourage everyone to come together and develop a unified national plan, but unfortunately the indicators do not suggest that.”

A project agreed upon between the Trump administration and the occupation government

Nizar Nazzal, a researcher specializing in Israeli affairs and conflict issues, warns of the danger of US President Donald Trump’s statements regarding the displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, stressing that they are not just random statements but rather reflect a comprehensive project agreed upon between the US administration led by Trump and the ruling class in Israel, headed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Nazzal explains that Trump's statements regarding the displacement of the people of the Gaza Strip to Sinai or Jordan come within a major political plan that seeks to liquidate the Palestinian cause through the forced or voluntary displacement of the population.

Nazzal points out that these statements are in line with the ambitions of the extreme Israeli right, which seeks to keep the geography of historical Palestine free of Palestinians in favor of the Israelis, considering that Trump is offering Netanyahu the “great gift” in this context.

Nazzal believes that Trump, who is known for his nature as a businessman and comes from the heart of capitalism, deals with the Palestinian issue with the logic of deals, believing that the solution to the issue can only be achieved through the complete displacement of the Palestinians and granting Israel complete control over the historical Palestinian lands.

Nazzal confirms that these ideas are not new, but rather an extension of previous projects such as the “Deal of the Century,” which spoke of establishing an isolated Palestinian entity in Sinai.

Regarding the people of the Gaza Strip, Nazzal explains that Trump’s statements indicate an American-Israeli agreement to displace the residents of the Strip as a first step, in preparation for moving to talk about displacing the residents of the West Bank.

Nazzal points out that this approach reflects a comprehensive plan to empty the Strip of its people, using the pretext of rebuilding Gaza or finding temporary solutions, while the real goal is to implement the forced displacement project.

He stresses that this plan poses a major demographic threat to neighboring countries, especially Jordan, which currently has a large percentage of the population of Palestinian origin, reaching 70 percent.

Nazzal explains that the displacement of more Palestinians to Jordan will greatly affect the demographic balance within the Kingdom, posing a threat to its stability.

As for Egypt, Nazzal believes that the Egyptian state will stand firmly against this project, given the threat it represents to Egypt’s national and strategic security, stressing that Egypt, with its strong army and accumulated diplomatic experience, is capable of confronting any attempts targeting its security, pointing out that Egypt will not allow the establishment of an isolated Palestinian entity on its lands in Sinai.

Regarding relations between the United States and Arab countries, Nazzal explains that Trump’s statements may lead to a diplomatic drought between Washington and Egypt, but it is unlikely to reach the point of rupture. As for Jordan, the relationship between the two countries will remain, given the extent of their common interests, despite the possibility of limited tensions.

Nazzal points out that Trump's statements coincide with his efforts to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which reflects an American-Israeli desire to provide assurances to the Saudi side regarding the solution to the Palestinian issue that the displacement will be temporary until reconstruction is completed, even if that is at the expense of Palestinian rights.

Nazzal believes that Trump's statements do not only relate to the Gaza Strip, but also to the residents of the West Bank, as he spoke clearly about Jordan, which indicates an intention to expand the circle of displacement in the future.

On the Palestinian level, Nazzal points out that Trump's statements reflect an imminent danger to the Palestinian people, which requires a comprehensive mobilization to confront it.

Nazzal stresses that the Palestinians categorically reject any plans aimed at forcibly or voluntarily displacing them, pointing out that the gradual return of the displaced to the northern Gaza Strip, despite the circumstances of genocide, reflects the will of the Palestinians to cling to their land and their refusal to leave it.

Nazzal stresses that the Palestinian people realize that this displacement project represents an existential threat to them, whether in Gaza or the West Bank, and that confronting these plans requires national cohesion and a unified position, pointing out that the current Palestinian division constitutes a major obstacle to confronting these challenges.

Nazzal stressed that the Palestinians are facing a real and serious danger that requires comprehensive action to confront it, calling for unifying Palestinian efforts and working to thwart these plans that aim to liquidate the Palestinian cause.

Nazzal points out that the coming years will be very difficult for the Palestinians, in light of the presence of a biased American administration that seeks to impose radical solutions to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, ignoring the national and historical rights of the Palestinian people.

Pressure from the Jewish lobby in the United States

Writer and political analyst Firas Yaghi warns that US President Donald Trump’s statements, in which he called for the displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to countries such as Egypt and Jordan, come as part of pressure from the Jewish lobby in the United States, especially the Zionist right, which fully supported Trump in the last elections.

Yaghi points out that these statements reflect the Trump administration’s orientations towards the Palestinian issue, but they remain part of plans that are not yet clear, but all their indications suggest that they are not in line with international legitimacy decisions and the concept of the two-state solution.

Yaghi explains that Trump has previously spoken about the possibility of transferring Palestinians to other countries, including Indonesia, and not just Egypt and Jordan.

Yaghi describes Trump's recent statements as "impudent" and aimed at imposing agendas that undermine the sovereignty of Arab countries, especially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Arab Republic of Egypt.

Yaghi says: "Trump is trying to pressure the two Arab countries, but their rejectionist position was clear. The Palestinian people, who have stood firm in the face of genocide, ethnic cleansing and daily killing, will not surrender to Trump's threats."

Yaghi believes that Trump is trying, through his statements, to reformulate the concept of the Palestinian issue according to a new vision, focusing on reducing the population in the Gaza Strip, in line with the vision of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who sees Gaza as an area that can be transformed into a resort for multinational companies or for investment in oil and gas in the Mediterranean.

"Kushner envisions Gaza with a small population working as laborers, while the area is transformed into an economic project serving the interests of multinational external powers," he says.

Yaghi asserts that the systematic destruction carried out by Benjamin Netanyahu's extremist government in Gaza was aimed at making the area uninhabitable, as a prelude to introducing the idea of displacing the population and rebuilding the area according to the American vision.

He says: "Trump is talking about rebuilding Gaza, but he wants to transfer the Palestinian population, which is completely unacceptable. The Palestinian people are the original inhabitants of this land, and he will not leave it under any circumstances."

Yaghi points out that the Arab countries, especially Jordan and Egypt, have categorically rejected any attempts to displace the Palestinians, saying: “Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi stressed that Jordan is for the Jordanians and Palestine is for the Palestinians, and this is a clear and unambiguous position. Egypt has also rejected displacement from the beginning, because it realizes that this means liquidating the Palestinian cause.”

Yaghi asserts that these statements by Trump will not lead to tension in relations between Arab countries and the United States, because they have not yet been presented as an official plan, but they will be met with strong Arab rejection if they are discussed in the Arab League, and even the Arab peoples will confront them, and just as the settlement conspiracies and military alliances have fallen, Trump’s conspiracy will fall.

Yaghi stresses that the Palestinian people, especially in the Gaza Strip, have made great sacrifices to remain on their land, and will not submit to any displacement attempts.

Yaghi says: “Whoever wants to displace the people of Gaza must know that they have given more than anyone else has given before in order to cling to their land, and the vast majority of the Palestinian people will remain clinging to their land.”

Yaghi believes that Trump is trying to frighten Arab countries through his statements, but he will not succeed.

He says: "Trump speaks as if he is a strong man who can impose what he wants, but we saw how Jordan and Egypt categorically rejected these ideas, and the Palestinian people are the ones who decide their fate, not Trump or any external force."

Yaghi asserts that all previous attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause have failed, and that Trump will go as others have, but the Palestinian people will remain and the Palestinian cause will remain alive, because immigration is not included in the Palestinian dictionary. Whoever dreams of returning and works for the return cannot immigrate, neither voluntarily nor by force.

Carried on every grain of soil of the pure land of Gaza, and on every moment of pain and tragedy they endured on the path of suffering and the long road of Calvary, the tortured return, after about fifteen months of the war of extermination that destroyed the crops and the people.

Light and heavy, walking and on every lean camel, their hearts filled with faith and their tongues filled with supplication, the Gazans return to life, like a phoenix rising from the ashes to soar again, spreading their dreams, healing their wounds, and renewing their determination to continue on the path, despite the tragedy that has befallen hearts over the loss of loved ones on a difficult mountainous journey, as has been the story of the Palestinian since the first years of the Nakba, whose horrors were reproduced by the descendants of its perpetrators against the descendants of its victims.

The displaced return, cheering and glorifying God, as if they were on the pure plain of Arafat on the greatest day of Hajj, performing their rituals in the exodus to their homes, after having made sacrifices, not sacrifices, from the bottom of their hearts, for the loss of their fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, grandfathers, and grandmothers, who were forced to leave under the belts of fire and heavy American bombs.

Those who have returned endure the pain of their hearts and are patient with the hardships that befell them on the path of suffering. Some of them have passed away and their souls have flown on the path of Calvary, and some of them are still suffering from their pain, which will never leave their bodies nor be forgotten.

“My brothers and all my family died, but I have no share in being martyred with them,” said the 80-year-old woman, lying on the sand, after her strength had failed her from the effort of walking the Via Dolorosa… a phrase that sums up the store of pains that swell in the hearts of those who are patient from the resounding tragedy.

"It's the Palestinians, stupid," a phrase borrowed from former US President Bill Clinton's saying, "It's the economy, stupid," referring to the reasons for the strength and resilience of a superpower.

The million-strong return of Gazans yesterday is the natural response to the call for genocide incited yesterday by a journalist on an Israeli television channel, who was astonished by the scenes of the returnees, saying: “We should have eliminated two million Palestinians in Gaza.” It is also a quick response to the calls for displacement and the crimes of cleansing that were lightly uttered by the real estate man and dealmaker, who has returned to the White House once again, who harasses stable countries, just as he harasses his female victims, whom he has tried in vain to silence and buy their silence.