As the Hamas-Israel ceasefire continues, political leaders of the Palestinian group have expressed cautious optimism about the new United States administration’s ability to continue to pressure Israel to the negotiating table, even as President Donald Trump and his team have made widely-condemned claims during his first weeks in office about “cleaning out” Gaza and Israel’s “biblical right” to the occupied West Bank.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Basem Naim, a Hamas leader based in Doha, said the group was “interested to meet with anyone who can help us achieve our goals, which are the goals of our people”. He cited statehood, self-determination, and the right of return for Palestinians who fled or were forced out of their homes after the Nakba in 1948 – when Israel was created on the majority of historic Palestine – or subsequent wars.
This includes the Trump administration, Naim said. “If there is any chance to meet with any party, including the Trump administration, to discuss in detail how we can achieve such goals, I think there would be no veto within the movement and no objections.”
“In politics, it is not about liking someone or not liking someone” Naim added, in reference to the US president. “It is about the interests of all parties.”
Naim’s comments followed similar sentiments shared by Hamas’s senior official, Mousa Abu Marzouk, in an interview with The New York Times on January 20. Abu Marzouk said that the group was “prepared for a dialogue with America”, and praised Trump as “a serious president”, crediting him with ending the Israel-Hamas war.
The comments appear to signal an overture by Hamas to a US administration, which they hope will deploy a more bullish approach to the conflict even as it remains staunchly pro-Israel.
Short-term ceasefire, long-term strategy
Naim welcomed Trump’s intervention in ceasefire talks that had languished under President Joe Biden, and expressed confidence that the agreement would hold. “We are committed to the deal and exerting maximum efforts to give this deal a chance to succeed,” he told Al Jazeera.
He also noted that the strategic alliance between the US and Israel was “so strong that we haven’t witnessed any serious differences between Republicans and Democrats”.
“Despite this, we still hope that the current administration can make a change and shift to a new American approach towards the Palestinian question,” he added. “If this happens, I’m sure we are ready to cooperate with any party who is ready to do it.”
Naim may voice cautious optimism, but he is also concerned about Trump’s long-term plans, citing the comments about Israel’s “biblical right” to the occupied West Bank by Trump’s nominee to be US ambassador to the United Nations, Elise Stefanik, as “disappointing” and “dangerous”.
He warned that the situation in the West Bank, where Israel has carried out deadly raids following the ceasefire in Gaza and settler violence has reached new levels of intensity, as extremely volatile.
“We are talking about a very radical, extreme political group of people,” he said. “If nothing happens from above – and especially from the United States, from the Trump administration – on this group of people, I think it is a matter of time before we see the next explosion.”
“When it comes to the current situation, change in the United States has helped in reaching a ceasefire agreement,” he added. “President Trump stated clearly that he wanted to see an end to this war before inauguration day and he exercised pressure on the situation to see an end to it.”
But Trump’s apparent support for more Israeli land grabs in occupied territory and the prospect of a formal annexation of the West Bank were deeply troubling, Naim said.
“When it comes to the long-term strategy… I think it is very dangerous if we are looking for stability and security and prosperity in the region.”
“If Trump is planning to stand firmly behind the promises he made, that he wants to see an end to all these wars and that he is looking for peace and stability and normalisation, I’m sure he is aware and his team is aware that a war in the region does not serve these goals,” Naim added.
“If he is really planning to achieve stability and security in the region and to concentrate on other issues, he has to exercise pressure on Netanyahu and his racist government and coalition to stop this madness, to stop behaving as a rogue state, or as a state above the law.”
“Personally, I believe he will do it,” he added.
‘Not going anywhere’
Sultan Barakat, a political analyst and public policy professor at Qatar Foundation’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University, told Al Jazeera that Hamas emerged from the 15-month war proving its resilience despite Israel’s all-out military efforts to eradicate it.
“They are not going anywhere,” Barakat said, adding that this has made the group an ongoing political reality Trump cannot avoid.
Hamas, for its part, recognises Trump’s decisive role over his predecessor, while understanding that his administration does not necessarily signal an improvement.
“It’s not about him being better for the Palestinians. But I think that they saw the difference he made when he entered the negotiations, the pressure he was able to exert,” said Barakat. “With Biden, for 15 months, they were fed lots of promises, and many red lines that Israel crossed with no consequences.”
“They do see him as a serious person who said ‘Stop’,” he added. “But it doesn’t mean that he’s going to be on the side of the Palestinians.”
Barakat stressed that there were other moments in the past in which Hamas felt optimistic about US policy towards Palestine, including in 2017, when the group amended its charter and removed language explicitly calling for Israel’s destruction.
But the United States “failed them”, Barakat added. While the current ceasefire agreement was a first step, he added, the second and third phases of the deal, concerning reconstruction and governance in Gaza, remained vague.
Still, Trump was able to break through a stalemate.
“With Biden, they reached the very bottom of what is expected of a world leader. And not only the Palestinians, I think everybody involved in the process felt the same,” Barakat said. “He introduced many red lines and they were all crossed. He couldn’t do anything.”
Barakat, who was involved in negotiations between the US and Afghanistan’s Taliban, under the first Trump administration, noted that a similar dynamic played out at the time.
“When you have someone who comes in and says, ‘You do this, and we don’t know what he said to the others, but they did it,’ that on the surface is worthy of admiration,” he added. “They admire him. But they don’t trust him moving forward.”
