Sally Ibrahim
The New Arab / March 20, 2025
Trump’s plan, echoing the 1948 Nakba, has drawn strong condemnation from all Palestinian factions, who argue it seeks to entirely erase the Palestinian cause.
Gaza – Recent news of former US President Donald Trump’s plan to resettle displaced Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to Syria, after suggesting other places like Somaliland and Egypt, has ignited rapid widespread anger and rejection unanimously among Palestinians.
According to US and Israeli media outlets, the Trump administration and Israel attempted to engage the post-Assad Syrian government through intermediaries to explore its stance on accepting Gaza residents as part of a resettlement scheme designed to “empty the Strip of its population.”
But a senior Syrian official said told outlets the country is not aware of any such outreach, while the Israeli prime minister’s office declined to comment to the press about the report.
Trump’s plan, echoing the 1948 Nakba, has drawn strong condemnation from all Palestinian factions, who argue it seeks to entirely erase the Palestinian cause.
‘To liquidate the Palestinian cause’
Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif Qanou told TNA that this latest scheme is “a systematic attempt to liquidate the Palestinian cause from its roots.”
He added that displacing Palestinians in Syria will “erase their right to return, reducing them to a humanitarian issue with no political or national significance.”
“Any attempt to implement this plan will be met with violent resistance. The Palestinian people will not accept becoming new refugees in Syria or anywhere else,” he warned.
For his part, Ahmed Helles, a Fatah Central Committee member, denounced the resettlement plan, similarly describing it as an attempt to erase the right of return.
“If Palestinians leave Gaza, they will never return. This is the real goal: to end the Palestinian cause,” he argued to TNA.
Helles further warned that this displacement plan could also target residents of the occupied West Bank, since it was “a declaration of war against the Palestinian people.”
“This plan will not pass. The Palestinian people will not leave their land. Displacing Palestinians from Gaza to Syria is a violation of international law and the Geneva Convention. No one has the right to force people to leave their land,” the Fatah member opined.
‘They want us to become refugees forever’
Within Gaza, residents were outraged, fearing the plan would sever their connection to their homeland.
Mahmoud Hamad (47) sat among the ruins of his home in the Zeitoun neighbourhood in Gaza City, watching his children play amid the rubble. He told The New Arab, “Seventy-five years after Nakba, they want us to become refugees again! Displacing us in Syria means we will never return to our land. We don’t want to become pawns in a political game. We will stay here even if we die under bombardment.”
Hamad’s home was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike six months ago. Since then, his family has been living in a makeshift tent nearby.
His wife, Rania, tries to shield their children from the harsh reality, but the trauma is impossible to escape. “Every night, the children wake up screaming,” Hamad said. “They’ve seen death with their own eyes. Now, they want to uproot us completely and send us to a war zone in Syria? It’s madness,” he added.
Throughout Israel’s 15-month-long genocidal war on Gaza, Hamad refused to flee to the southern regions despite the surrounding destruction.
“I did not accept internal displacement in my country. How can they expect me to leave my land altogether? If America wants to displace us, let them kill us all, but we will not accept asylum in any country, whether Arab or foreign,” he stressed.
On Al-Wahda Street in Gaza City, Abdullah Sharaf, a 55-year-old vegetable vendor, said to TNA, “How could they even think of sending us to Syria? Has Gaza become such a problem? We are not a problem; we are the owners of the land. They want to get rid of us, so the [Israeli] occupation can take everything without resistance.”
Sharaf’s stall was partially destroyed in the last round of Israeli airstrikes. Despite the damage, he continues to work every day to support his family of seven.
“I wake up every morning knowing that my stall could be bombed again, but at least I am working on my land. How do they want to take us to a country already suffering from war and destruction? We barely survive here in Gaza, but at least we are on our land. No one asked us if we wanted to leave. We want to live with dignity in our land, not exile,” he added.
In al-Nuseirat refugee camp, Yousef al-Helou, a 42-year-old father of five, believed the plan illustrated “a new catastrophe” facing Palestinians.
“If we leave Gaza, we will never return. The occupation will close the doors behind us. We live in difficult conditions, but at least we live on our land and among our people. We don’t want to become refugees again,” he said to TNA. “What is happening is ethnic cleansing in disguise. If we leave Gaza, we lose our land and our right of return. The occupation seeks to impose a new reality through force and displacement.”
Al-Helou blamed internal Palestinian divisions for weakening resistance to such plans. “If there were national unity, our confrontation with Trump would be stronger,” he said. “But despite everything, we will not accept or surrender, and we will remain in our land no matter the cost,” he explained.
The only solution
While Palestinians reject the resettlement proposal, many argue the solution lies in achieving a just resolution to the crux of the matter: ending the occupation and allowing Palestinians to live equally and freely.
“The solution is not to displace us to Syria, but to end the occupation. We want to live with dignity on our land, not in exile,” Samir al-Astal, from Khan Younis, told TNA.
For that to happen, he believes that Palestinian unity is essential. “What is happening now is the result of the division. If we had a unified Palestinian position, Israel would not have dared to consider displacing us. We need a national government that represents everyone,” he said.
Similarly, a Gaza resident, Umm Sami, emphasised that peace should and must be the ultimate solution. “Enough of the wars we’ve experienced. We need real peace and a guarantee of the right of return. We will not accept becoming refugees again,” she said.
A recent survey, conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Public Opinion (PCPO), polled 1,500 Palestinians living in Gaza and the occupied West Bank between 5 and 15 March about recent developments in the conflict.
The results indicate widespread disappointment with the Arab world’s response to Israel’s destruction of Gaza, with frustration particularly high in Gaza, where almost three-quarters of respondents said that the Arab response has been inadequate.
Sally Ibrahim is The New Arab’s correspondent from Gaza
