By Fouad Baker

The following article was submitted to Workers World on Jan. 29, 2025, by Fouad Baker, a Palestinian politician and human rights activist. The article was lightly edited.

The Trump plan to deport the Palestinian people from Gaza and the West Bank cannot be viewed in the same way as his rhetoric about purchasing Greenland from Denmark, merging Canada with the United States or controlling the Panama Canal and the Gulf of Mexico.

The plan to deport Palestinians is presented with high seriousness, and preparations for it are taking place behind the scenes to move the residents of Gaza to Egypt and from the West Bank to Jordan. This plan is based on communications between Donald Trump and his counterparts, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Jordanian King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein, as well as secret communications with other countries, such as Albania, Indonesia and some members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, especially Saudi Arabia.

Trump between two terms

During Donald Trump’s first presidential term, from 2016 to 2021, he altered the equations that Palestinians had established, which emphasized that no regional settlement could occur without resolving the Palestinian issue. Trump undermined this equation when he imposed the “Deal of the Century” in 2020, moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights to Israeli sovereignty in 1967.

He also signed the Abraham Accords, which are treaties and agreements to normalize relations with Israel, including with Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, (UAE), Morocco and Sudan, as well as forming a military alliance under the guise of so-called economic peace.

With his new term, since assuming office on Jan. 20, 2025, Trump has reintroduced the issue of resolving the Palestinian cause, this time with his desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize and end wars in the world. However, this also comes at the expense of the Palestinian people and their inalienable national rights, as outlined in international legal resolutions, including the establishment of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, the right to self-determination and the right of return as per [United Nations] Resolution 194.

Secret diplomatic moves

The new U.S. administration, alongside Israeli diplomats, has quietly begun seriously discussing Trump’s vision of deporting Palestinians. They are engaging with several Arab capitals to push this plan forward and apply heavy pressure, through the gateway of accepting Palestinians as short-term humanitarian refugees, pending the reconstruction of Gaza.

This plan involves a period of receiving Palestinians between six months to a year, with their return to Gaza in 2026 once the reconstruction is complete. The plan subtly includes, though not openly stated, the possibility that Palestinians may not return to their cities and villages, much like in 1948, when their departures were intended to be temporary, but they have not returned despite all international resolutions.

According to diplomatic sources, Israel is communicating with certain countries to accept Palestinians as refugees, specifically with Albania and Indonesia. The discussions are revisiting aspects of the 2020 Deal of the Century, particularly the integration of Palestinians displaced in 1948 into the countries that hosted them, such as Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

Israel has also opened dialogues with some members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to resettle 5,000 Palestinian refugees annually over a span of 10 years, totaling around 50,000 refugees.

Today, the Trump administration is striving to engage with Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel and to abandon its conditions related to the two-state solution and the Arab Peace Initiative. According to sources close to decision-makers in Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom has become more flexible in its approach to the Arab Peace Initiative, under the pretext that it cannot be implemented all at once, but rather gradually, starting with normalization with Israel, to open political dialogues and prospects related to the Palestinian issue.

The reconstruction dilemma

The new Trump administration has returned to its previous tactics from the first term, exerting economic pressure on the Palestinian Authority. It has cut aid and support for American development projects in the West Bank and plans to use the reconstruction of Gaza as leverage against Hamas.

The aim is to pressure Hamas not to reclaim authority over Gaza by stalling reconstruction efforts, holding back funds and donations from other countries and preventing them from being transferred to Gaza. The administration also seeks to control the reconstruction fund, which is currently being organized by some European countries and certain official Arab regimes that oppose Hamas’s control over Gaza.

According to technical experts, Gaza will require several years to rebuild, to erase the remnants of Israeli aggression and clear the rubble of destroyed buildings. In this context, the new Trump administration justifies the temporary humanitarian refugee status for Palestinians in Gaza for six months, while being fully aware that reconstruction would take at least eight years if it were to proceed — assuming there are no political obstacles or funding restrictions.

Possible scenarios

The scene of Palestinians returning to their homes in Gaza through the Netzarim checkpoint — now destroyed — illustrates the deep connection of the Palestinian people to their land, despite the widespread devastation. This shattered the illusion of absolute victory that Netanyahu spoke of.

Hamas, with a tactical move involving the release of the Israeli prisoner Arbel Yehud, achieved strategic success by securing the return of residents from northern Gaza. It has become increasingly difficult for Israel to resume the war, even if the ceasefire agreement from the past six weeks were to collapse, especially with the unsearched civilians walking through the Netzarim crossing.

Furthermore, the renewal of the war is no longer in the hands of Netanyahu or [Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich, who opposed the ceasefire agreement. The decision now lies with Trump, who seeks to rescue Israel from military defeat and turn it into a political victory by deporting Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank.

This plan would continue the annexation of Palestinian territories, normalize relations with Arab countries — specifically Saudi Arabia — and undermine the two-state solution. The true deal this time will be American-Saudi-Israeli.

The missing Palestinian role

Trump is attempting to replace the genocide that was inflicted on the Palestinian people with a political genocide. This time, it is not only aimed at the authority in Gaza, but also at the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah [on the West Bank].

By besieging the Jenin camp and confronting armed groups in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority seeks to present credentials to the new U.S. administration in an effort to maintain its political position and prevent its collapse.

In the absence of a unified Palestinian national strategy, Trump’s plan remains intact, and it is difficult to counter it. This first and foremost falls on the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority, which refrains from implementing the Beijing Declaration, calling for a meeting of the unified Palestinian leadership, and the PA’s failure to form a national unity government that includes everyone, thus avoiding collective responsibility in confronting the American-Israeli plans.

This calls for international efforts to confront the looming danger to the Palestinian cause, with the goal of pressuring the Palestinian Authority to implement the Beijing Declaration, form a national unity government that includes competent national figures, hold comprehensive Palestinian elections, rebuild Gaza and overcome external obstacles in order to block Israel’s questionable projects.

The Palestinian people have affirmed to the entire world, through the powerful scene of their return to northern Gaza, their unwavering attachment to their land and their rejection of the forced displacement plan, despite all the destruction and massacres committed against them.

No matter how much Israel tries to impose racist and colonial policies against them, the Palestinian people will resist until their last breath. As Israeli historian Ilan Pappe states in his book, “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine”: “[T]he olive tree has pierced the trees imported by Israel from outside Palestine and planted in Palestinian land to reinforce their narrative that they are the rightful owners of the land.”

Similarly, the Palestinian people will defy all these plans with their will and rejection of colonial projects and policies of fait accompli. They will invent new forms of resistance, as they have done in previous stages, and they will amaze the world with their diverse strategies.