'No Abbas, no Hamas'

Exiled Palestinian official: Arab states will support an independent leader in Gaza

Speaking to NY Times, former Gaza strongman Mohammad Dahlan says UAE, Saudi Arabia could send peacekeepers and pay for reconstruction if progress made on Palestinian statehood

Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter

Mohammad Dahlan during a TV interview on March 18, 2021 (video screenshot)
Mohammad Dahlan during a TV interview on March 18, 2021 (video screenshot)

An independent Palestinian leader backed by Arab peacekeepers could oversee the reconstruction of Gaza after the war between Israel and Hamas, a prominent Palestinian exile and former strongman said in an interview published Wednesday.

Mohammad Dahlan, the former Palestinian Authority Gaza security chief, told The New York Times that in his vision, “the leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates are open to supporting processes that are part of efforts leading to a Palestinian state.”

The potential new Palestinian leader would push PA President Mahmoud Abbas aside to a ceremonial role, and could invite countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia to send in troops and pay for a reconstruction of the Strip, said Dahlan, who many think is eyeing the job for himself.

But Israel would have to agree to a Palestinian state, he added. “The main Arab countries are really very keen to settle this conflict. Not the war, the whole conflict.”

“No Abbas, no Hamas,” said the former Fatah strongman. “New people in charge of the Palestinian Authority.”

As he has been for decades, Dahlan was openly critical of Hamas: “Relying on people suffering isn’t leadership. The Palestinian people want to live.”

Ismail Haniyeh, left, smiles as he celebrates with Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan in Gaza City on Saturday, March 17, 2007. (AP Photo, File)

Dahlan’s security force operated in Gaza with an iron fist after the Oslo Accords. A Gaza native, he was abroad when Hamas took over by force in 2007, and after moving to the West Bank he was expelled from Fatah in 2011 over claims that he murdered former leader Yasser Arafat through the use of poison.

His potential popularity as an alternative to Abbas has led to tensions with the Palestinian leader. In 2014, Dahlan was convicted in absentia by the PA for defamation and embezzlement.

In the UAE, where he moved after being pushed out of Fatah, he has been a top adviser to President Mohamed Bin Zayed, and has also stayed somewhat active in Palestinian politics. In 2017, he brokered a deal between Egypt and Hamas to keep fuel flowing to Gaza’s power plant, flexing his diplomatic muscle.

Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan sits during a meeting with US President Joe Biden (unseen) July 16, 2022, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Evan Vucci/AP)

Dahlan told The New York Times that he is trying to convince Hamas to step aside to let new Palestinian leadership take over.

In October, Dahlan told The Economist magazine that once Israel’s war on Hamas ends, the Strip should be governed by a technocratic government for two years, as it is an “illusion” that any single individual could take over.

At the end of that period, which he said he believed would unify the splintered Palestinian factions, there should be elections, based on a Palestinian state — even one without defined borders.

Israeli soldiers stand outside Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, November 22, 2023. (Victor R. Caivano/AP)

The issue of who will rule the Gaza Strip after Hamas has been particularly thorny.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the PA ruling Gaza after the war, citing its lack of condemnation for Hamas’s October 7 atrocities and financial support for terrorists and their families. But he has not suggested an alternative.

He has also stressed that Israel must maintain security control over the entire area west of the Jordan River, which would leave whatever Palestinian state could be created in that space as less than fully sovereign.

Abbas and other PA officials long ago accepted that their future state would be demilitarized, so there might not necessarily be a contradiction there.

However, the current makeup of Netanyahu’s coalition includes far-right elements who are even more adversarial toward the Palestinians than he is, pushing for mass displacement of Gaza’s residents and calling to dissolve the PA. Determined to keep his government intact, the premier has avoided even holding discussions regarding post-war strategy, let alone agreeing to concessions that would see Palestinian sovereignty boosted.

That stance puts Israel at odds with its allies, however.

In January, Netanyahu reportedly rejected a proposal from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken that would have seen Saudi Arabia normalize relations with Israel in exchange for Jerusalem agreeing to provide the Palestinians with a pathway toward statehood.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a meeting with National Unity leader Minister Minister Benny Gantz (not in frame), in Tel Aviv on February 8, 2024. (Mark Schiefelbein /AFP)

Last week, a top White House official said he does not have “any confidence” in Netanyahu’s government, specifically regarding its readiness to take “meaningful steps” toward the creation of a Palestinian state, The New York Times reported.

An NBC report also cited three administration officials who claimed the administration was looking past Netanyahu to try and achieve its goals in the region, with one of them telling the network that the premier “will not be there forever.”

But opposition to progress on Palestinian statehood appears to cross political camps since October 7, with some in the country’s peace camp disillusioned, while others argue such moves would be a reward for Hamas’s atrocities. Dovish President Isaac Herzog said in December that no Israeli “in his right mind” was considering progress on the wider peace process at the moment.

The US is also pushing Abbas to reform the PA, including moving to a more ceremonial role.

Earlier this month, senior ministers from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority agreed at a meeting in Riyadh to move forward with plans to present a joint political vision for rehabilitating the Gaza Strip and establishing a Palestinian state after the Israel-Hamas war.

The official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported that four top Middle Eastern diplomats reiterated calls for “irreversible” steps towards the recognition of a Palestinian state during talks.

Most Arab countries that participated in the meeting don’t want Hamas to be included in the political leadership of Gaza after the war, but they do believe that the terror group will manage to survive in some form and that a level of its acquiescence will be needed to successfully advance the rehabilitation of Gaza, a diplomat explained to The Times of Israel.

Following the October 7 attack, Israel vowed to eliminate Hamas, launching airstrikes and a ground offensive that has killed at least 28,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza. The figure has not been verified and is believed to include both civilians and Hamas members killed in Gaza, some as a consequence of the terror groups’ own rocket misfires.

The IDF has said that it has killed at least 10,000 Hamas terrorists in battle in addition to 1,000 who were killed inside Israel on October 7.

Jacob Magid contributed to this report. 

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