How does the Palestinian leadership deal with the Trump administration?

He treated the Palestinians as a minority that does not have the right to self-determination, recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. He imposed the facts of settlement and annexation of land, and closed the US consulate in Jerusalem that had been there since 1844. He closed the PLO office in Washington, and attacked UNRWA in preparation for its closure to get rid of the refugee issue and remove the file from Israel's responsibility, in addition to his recognition of the Golan Heights under Israeli sovereignty, and removed the status of occupied territories from the West Bank. In contrast, the Joe Biden administration and the Democrats did not back down from any of Donald Trump's decisions, which are considered to be a reversal of facts and the stripping of rights. The international reaction came in rejection by holding an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council, where 14 out of 15 members rejected Trump's decision to determine the fate of Jerusalem. The emergency session was more like an international rebuke session against Trump, after representatives from (China, France, Britain, Russia, Italy, Uruguay, Ukraine, Bolivia, Egypt, Japan, Senegal, Sweden, Ethiopia and Jordan) spoke, rejecting Trump’s decision to consider Jerusalem the capital of Israel for several reasons, the legal violations of the decision and its inevitable negative effects. First: A unilateral act that is in clear violation of the agreements signed between the two parties (specifically Article 7 of the Interim Agreement of 1995 “No party shall take steps that would preempt the outcome of the final status negotiations, which determined Jerusalem, borders, settlements, refugees, security and water.” Second: Trump’s decision is in clear violation of the United Nations resolutions preserving the right of the Palestinian people to East Jerusalem and all the territories occupied in 1967, including (Resolution 242 of 1967, Resolution 253 of 1968, Resolution 267 of 1969, Resolution 298 of 1971, Resolution 476 of 1980, Resolution 478 of 1980, and the latest Resolution 2334 of 2016), all of which declared the measures taken by Israel to change the status of Jerusalem invalid. All of these resolutions and others view East Jerusalem as an occupied city, and affirm the right of the Palestinians to the 1967 lands, and that determining its fate comes through negotiations between the Israelis. And the Palestinians, and any unilateral action that would change the legal and administrative status of Jerusalem is considered null and void. On top of all that, he came up with what he called the “Deal of the Century,” a strategic mistake, as the businessman believed that money deals could bring security and stability to the region by neutralizing the Palestinian side of the equation.

Now that Donald Trump is back in power and the genocide supported by Democrats continues, the question is how will the Palestinian leadership deal with the Trump administration? It is imperative to learn from the lessons of the past; the boycott adopted by the PLO did not serve Palestinian interests. After Donald Trump’s victory in the presidency, the PLO must adopt a pragmatic approach that focuses on national interests and established rights, and strengthens its position as an active player in the region. President Abbas’s congratulations to Trump are an important traditional diplomatic move to open channels of communication and show goodwill in accordance with the basic rule of diplomacy, which is to build international alliances rather than create hostilities in foreign policy.

Internally, this requires preparation at the national level, starting with the necessity of forming a team specialized in diplomacy and foreign policy that is able to deal consciously and nationally without concessions with the new American administration, a team that is fluent in Trump’s language, and here we do not mean only English, but the language of the Harvard School of Negotiation in making deals and mapping innovative solutions based on a purely profit base, which opens constructive channels of communication that serve the interests of the Palestinians. The Palestinians will not be able to deal seriously with this administration without strengthening national unity by forming a national consensus government that rises to the political challenges with a national spirit, which strengthens the Palestinian position internally, regionally, and internationally. Under the new American administration, pragmatic communication with Washington is essential, with a focus on continuing efforts to end the war and ensuring that Gaza remains part of the Palestinian state without any transitional or partial solutions that are specific to the Gaza Strip as a separate entity. Any change in US policy towards Palestine requires careful preparation by a specialized Palestinian team that rises to the level of the Palestinians’ previous experience with the Trump administration, which focused on security dealings, which led us to the Abraham Accords of normalization that ignored the Palestinian side as a key player in maintaining stability in the region.

The Palestinian leadership is required to benefit from the previous experience with the Trump administration, which proved that dealing with security or economic issues in isolation from political and legal issues and excluding Palestinians does not contribute to real peace. Everyone realizes that the Trump administration and its history are a major challenge, and from previous experience, the Palestinians must transform these challenges into opportunities. This requires review, evaluation, and preparation to confront the pragmatic commercial scenario adopted by Trump through deals that will often return in a regional form based on interests, far from values, international law, or rights. This requires a Palestinian team that masters soft power, speaks in a national diplomatic language, and the power of logic, and does not accept submission to a commercial or security solution path far from a political path that guarantees Palestinian rights. In the event that Trump revives the "regional deal of the century", taking into account the international coalition led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We must deal with caution to ensure the achievement of realistic solutions, as the goal of the Palestinian people in the right to self-determination is not merely recognition of the state, but rather achieving full sovereignty that guarantees the end of the occupation, defining the borders of the state, freedom, and independence.