Palestinian Authority (PA) officials have reportedly predicted that President-elect Donald Trump will “destroy Iran” and that weakening Iran will effectively collapse the remaining Hamas terrorist organization. That’s what it means.
Mohammad Hamdan, general secretary of the PA’s ruling Fatah party, reportedly said on Dec. 19 during a meeting with the newspaper and other PA officials in Nablus, about an hour south of the West Bank city. He made this comment to the New York Post. In Jenin, Western-backed PA forces this month launched a security operation against armed militants linked to Hamas.
The Post first reported the conversation on Monday.
“We are confronting the ideology of Hamas. Our problem is Hamas’s ties to regimes outside Palestine,” Hamdan told the Post, referring specifically to Iran.
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Palestinian security forces stand guard at the funeral of Ibrahim Kadumi, a Palestinian Authority official who was killed in an armed clash between Palestinian security forces and armed groups in Jenin refugee camp, on December 27, 2024, in Nablus, West Bank. (Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket, Getty Images)
He added: “Now that we know that President Trump and the ruling government in Israel plan to destroy Iran, Hamas has no choice but to become Palestinian.”
On December 6, a group of about a dozen militants stole two PA vehicles and paraded them through the streets of Jenin waving Hamas and ISIS flags, the newspaper said.
Since then, PA forces have killed at least three militants in West Bank towns and vowed to arrest or “eliminate” the rest responsible.
Fatah suffered a crushing defeat in the 2006 elections, resulting in rival Hamas seizing control of the Gaza Strip, tightening the grip of Islamic extremists and launching repeated attacks on Israel.
The turning point came on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists launched a coordinated attack from Gaza into southern Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages.
Since then, Israel has annihilated Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and the Palestinian Authority, backed by the United States and other Western governments, appears poised to resume control of Gaza once the war ends.
“Hamas rejects international legitimacy, which means UN resolutions,” Hamdan said. “The world cannot accept a situation in which state parties do not accept international resolutions.”
Hamas and other Islamic extremists have increasingly distrusted the PA, accusing it of working closely with Israel in past security attacks on Jenin.
The Jewish state has cracked down on Jenin in the past, long considered a terrorist stronghold. Pennsylvania security forces had little presence in the area until recently, until a new security operation began this month.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as supporters of the Fatah movement rally ahead of the 60th anniversary of Fatah and support Palestinian Authority security operations in the Jenin camp for Palestinian refugees, December 29, 2024. A large banner depicting the (JAAFAR ASTIYEH/AFP via Getty Images)
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At least three members of the PA security forces, including an intelligence captain, were killed in armed clashes with militants, according to the Associated Press. Pennsylvania has arrested dozens of people.
The paper said the PA leaders they met condemned Israel’s expansion of settlements in the West Bank, but said they supported the Jewish state’s right to exist.
Hamdan also said in the post that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who condemned Israel and the United States at the United Nations General Assembly earlier this year, “remains in favor of a pragmatic relationship with the United States to achieve the aspirations of the Palestinian people.” He told the paper. But the Secretary-General also argued that failures in US foreign policy in the Middle East were responsible for the spread of Islamic extremism.
Palestinian security forces march with the body of Ibrahim Kadumi, a member of the Palestinian Authority who was killed in an armed conflict between Palestinian security forces and armed groups in the Jenin refugee camp, in Nablus, West Bank, December 27, 2024. . (Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images/LightRocket, Getty Images)
“Look at what happened in Syria. First the US declared the rebels al-Qaeda, and then (last week) a US delegation visited Syria,” Hamdan told the Post. “And before that, it was when the Americans made a deal with the Taliban in Afghanistan. I believe it was created.”
On the issue of post-war Gaza governance, one Israeli official told the Post that the PA remains an option, but that “corruption” and “terrorist financing” against Israeli settlers in the West Bank must be stopped. He said there is.
However, the official acknowledged that the PA may have a “historically unprecedented opportunity” to return to control of the Palestinian territories.
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The PA’s opposition to Hamas could be a unique lever to “participate in next-day talks,” the Israeli official added.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
