Trump agrees to Palestinian statehood, says Bishara Bahbah

A prominent Palestinian-American said Friday that US President Donald Trump had informed him he would accept the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Bishara Bahbah, chairman of Arab Americans for Peace, formerly known as Arab-Americans for Trump, told Al Arabiya that one sticking point in current ceasefire talks was whether Israeli forces would remain present in parts of Gaza.

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He said a ceasefire deal was still possible and that he remained in contact with Hamas after the US withdrew from negotiations earlier this week.

Bahbah also revealed that Arab countries had convinced Trump to disavow earlier plans to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza.

“Trump informed me of his approval for the establishment of a Palestinian state,” Bahbah said.

Some Israeli far-right leaders held a public meeting on Tuesday to discuss redeveloping the Gaza Strip into a tourist-friendly “riviera,” as Palestinians face a worsening humanitarian crisis in the devastated territory.

The name of the event evokes a proposal floated by Trump in February to turn the war-ravaged territory into “the Riviera of the Middle East” after moving out its Palestinian residents and putting it under American control.

The idea drew swift condemnation from across the Arab world, and from Palestinians themselves, for whom any effort to force them off their land would recall the “Nakba,” or catastrophe -- the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel’s creation in 1948.

With AFP

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