Stay or Leave? Let the Palestinians Decide

Will Hamas and the Arab States Let Them Leave The Gaza Strip?

OK, so the world is laughing at President Trump’s idea that the U.S. repair the Gaza Strip and invite Palestinians – if they wish - to leave for other countries.

This has met with ridicule and a vow that the Palestinians stay exactly where they are: in war-torn Gaza.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib said it bluntly, “Palestinians aren’t going anywhere.”

The Spanish Foreign Minister Manoel Albares took the same unyielding line. “They must stay in Gaza,” he said defiantly after he heard of Trump’s proposal.

It's easy for political figures who live in posh, comfortable homes to tell a people living in misery to stay where they are.

What, however, about the thousands of Palestinians who just walked back to their homes after the ceasefire went into effect and found their homes utterly demolished? There is no water or electricity in many cities. The lands are filled with unexploded Hamas mines, rockets and bombs. There is no shelter.

The United Nations estimates that nearly 70% of all homes in Gaza were destroyed, including more than 245,000 homes. Palestinians recently walked to the northern part of the Gaza Strip only to discover much the same story: utter ruin.

Both Hamas and Israel carried out street-to-street fighting after the Palestinians savagely attacked Israeli towns October 7. Hamas hid in schools, mosques and hospitals along with residential homes. They lived in tunnels under whole neighborhoods.

After Israel’s forces left an area, Hamas fighters returned to fight again in the same cities. The battles ruined whole cities.

CNN interviewed Khamis and Ahmad Imarah after they walked back to their city in northern Gaza. CNN reported Khamis “urged others looking to make the journey back north to reconsider. ‘Because there is no water, no electricity or even food, no tents, you sleep in the rubble,’” he told the news network.

Mohammad Salha, director of Al-Awda Hospital in Tal Al-Zaatar, also told CNN “there is currently no space in northern Gaza to establish camps for displaced people returning home. The area was densely built-up before the war and the enormous scale of damage means there are now huge mountains of rubble and debris everywhere.”’

National Public Radio visited Rafah in southern Gaza where Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was found hiding and who was killed by IDF forces. They reported on January 25 that they found a “demolished” city, stating, “Some 16,000 buildings are completely destroyed, 80% of Rafah's agricultural land has been destroyed, and all of its electricity networks, landlines, water wells and sewage pumping stations are destroyed or severely damaged, according to the latest municipality figures.”

Now, imagine for a moment you’re a Palestinian. Would you like to live in rubble for the next year or two? Where would your children learn? What kind of health facilities would be available? Would tent life for the next year be acceptable?

For many Palestinians emigration and living in a peaceful country might look very attractive. Might it be appealing for some Palestinians to flee the tyranny of Hamas, get away from the black market, leave the dust, dirt and rubble of their home? And how can they survive for long without basic resources such as water and electricity?

It’s interesting that none of the Arab states have been clamoring to bring the Palestinians into their country. It’s understandable. The Palestinians have had a reputation within the Arab world for only delivering trouble.

It’s revealing that throughout the entire war, Egypt didn’t allow any Palestinians – fellow Muslims - seek safe haven in their country. Their border has been closed. Why is that?

It’s because, wherever the Palestinians have settled, they’ve been nothing but headaches. King Hussein ejected thousands of Palestinians from Jordan after they tried to overthrow the government.

After the radical Palestinians were ejected, they created Black September. Their first target was the Jordanian foreign minister who was gunned down at an Arab conference in Cairo. Next was abducting and killing Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics.

The Lebanese government has refused to grant voting rights to the Palestinians. The Lebanese Christian community vividly remembers the civil war where 150,000 were slain and the Palestinians abducted 17,000 citizens and took them hostages.

After facing strict Sharia Law, Egypt in 2013 expelled the Muslim Brotherhood from government – of which Hamas is a member – and imprisoned its leaders.

When I lived in Saudi Arabia while an ABC News producer, each Saudi principal told me privately they considered the Palestinians to be nothing but trouble. The Gulf States’ sovereign wealth funds affirm their point of view. They have not invested any significant money into Gaza or the West Bank – but they easily invest in Meta, Citigroup, Berkshire Hathaway and the Heathrow Airport and LIV Golf.

There are some Palestinians who do not embrace the extreme views of Hamas. They only want peace. They want a good place to raise their children. They want a place where they can prosper.

Why not let the Palestinians vote with their feet? If they wish to stay in the Gaza Strip, fine. But if they want to get out, even if it’s for a few years, why not give them the opportunity?

Will the Arab states or Iran temporarily invite Palestinians to live within their borders? Will non-Arab countries open their doors to Palestinian immigrants?

Progressives in the United States have been enchanted with the idea that illegal immigrants who seek a better life ought to break through our own borders to find a better life.

Now, will they accept the notion of giving Palestinians a choice? Give them a chance to have a better life?

It would be great for the Arab states to change their tune about the future of the Palestinian people.

Don’t listen to political figures who live in comfort, including those Hamas political operatives who live in luxury in Qatar and declare – “they must stay in Gaza.”

Give the ordinary Palestinian a choice. They can stay or leave the strip. But give them a voice and a vote for their future.