Published in the Jerusalem Post, 13 October 2025
“10. This
“Board of Peace” will set the framework, handle funding, and supervise Gaza’s
redevelopment until the Palestinian Authority completes its reform program and
can safely assume control.”
In short, no matter how hostilities
end, the Board of Peace will be seeking suitable Palestinian candidates to fill
the “technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee” that will provide Gaza
with its temporary transitional governance.
At the same time, suitable Palestinians will be required to people the
reformed Palestinian Authority (PA) that will eventually “assume control”. A successor to its president, 89-year-old
Mahmoud Abbas, could possibly be installed, or at least announced.
Where are these prospective
Palestinian leaders of the future, untainted by Hamas or other jihadist
philosophies or by a rejectionist past?
One name forces itself to the
front of the list – Mohammed Dahlan. Now
based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), he is widely regarded by Western and Israeli
commentators as a potential post-war leader.
His credibility is boosted by the fact that he is a native Gazan, born in
1961 in the Khan Yunis refugee camp. As a teenager Dahlan helped set up
the Fatah Youth Movement, known as the Fatah Hawks. In his twenties he was
arrested more than once by the Israeli authorities for political activism, but
never for terrorist activities. He put his time in Israeli prisons to good use
by learning Hebrew, which he speaks fluently.
In the early 1990s Dahlan was
reliably reported to have helped in the negotiations leading to the Oslo
Accords. The first Accord, signed in 1993, was violently opposed by
Hamas, which severed relations with Yasser Arafat as a result. Arafat
chose Dahlan to head the Preventive Security Force in Gaza. Israel and the US supported and closely
cooperated with him in his new role, particularly in countering
Hamas. Building up a force of 20,000 men, he became so powerful that the
Strip was nicknamed "Dahlanistan".
In 2001 Dahlan began condemning
corruption in the PA and calling for reform. The 2006 Palestinian
elections saw Hamas gain a majority in Gaza. Dahlan called their election
victory a disaster, and denounced Hamas as “a bunch of murderers and thieves”. Six
months later Hamas staged a bloody coup in Gaza, seized power and expelled
those Fatah officials it had not murdered. Years later it was revealed that
Dahlan played a key role in an abortive US plot to remove Hamas from power.
In October 2007 the Bush
administration reportedly pressured Abbas to appoint Dahlan as his deputy. Ever since then Abbas regarded him as a dangerous rival.
In June 2011 he charged Dahlan with financial corruption and murder, going so
far as to accuse him of killing the late leader, Yasser Arafat. In 2011 Dahlan
was expelled from Fatah. French investigators in 2015 concluded that
Arafat died of natural causes.
Settling in the UAE, Dahlan became a close advisor to Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ), then Crown Prince, now UAE president.
The most plausible figure after Dahlan is 73-year-old Salam Fayyad, the former Palestinian prime minister. Widely viewed as a technocratic, Western-friendly administrator, Fayyad, first as finance minister and then as prime minister of the PA, built up a reputation as a financial and administrative reformer.
Significantly, during Tony Blair’s
time as special representative of the Quartet for Middle East Peace, he worked
closely with Blair on economic development and institution building in
Palestinian territories. In particular they
collaborated on what was known as the Fayyad Plan, a roadmap to statehood. Blair, a member of Trump’s Board of Peace,
would no doubt support Fayyad as a candidate for the technocratic committee which
it is to oversee.
Another potential candidate is Mohammad
Mustafa, the prominent Palestinian politician and economist appointed PA prime minister
in March 2024. Widely viewed as a
technocratic reformer, his career has been marked by high-profile international
experience and economic leadership including 15 years at the World Bank Group
in Washington, and senior advisory roles for the governments of Kuwait and
Saudi Arabia.
A further possible figure is 79-year-old Hanan Ashrawi, the veteran PA diplomat. In December 2020, she resigned from the Executive Committee of the PLO, citing the marginalization of women and young people in Palestinian leadership.
Two other possibilities are Hussein
al-Sheikh, currently serving as the PLO’s Secretary-General, and Majed Faraj, the
chief of PA intelligence. Western
circles typically regard al-Sheikh as a pragmatic speaker, deeply involved in
diplomatic engagement and security coordination. Faraj is viewed as a leader in
Palestinian efforts to counter terrorism and maintain West Bank stability. He
regularly collaborates with Israeli and US intelligence, and his agency has
thwarted numerous planned attacks.
Although both men have historical connections to Fatah armed activity,
they are generally regarded in Western official circles as valuable security
and political interlocutors.
With the sole exception of Dahlan, none of these names appears on the list of leaders most favored by the Palestinian public. According to the latest poll, Palestinians overwhelmingly support 66-year-old Marwan Barghouti as their leader of choice.
Others ranking high are Khaled Mashaal
– Hamas through and through – and, more feasible as a future leader, Mustafa
Barghouti, a physician, activist, and prominent Palestinian politician known
for his secular, reformist orientation.
The Trump plan need not fail for lack of Palestinian leaders. After all, there is also the whole of the Palestinian diaspora to scour for possible figures able and, hopefully, willing to play their part in rebuilding Gaza and constructing a promising future for the whole region. The political will to get started is all that is needed.
Published in the Jerusalem Post and the Jerusalem Post online, 13 October 2025:
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