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.
