The Trump Administration's Policies Toward the Palestinian Territories in the Second Term

The 2024 American presidential election constituted a new phase in the American political scene, with the return of Donald Trump to the White House for a second term. This comes amid great international and local interest in the war raging in Gaza and Lebanon, within a highly complex and intertwined regional scene, as the Middle East is expected to top the priorities of the new American administration.

President Trump's return to the political arena in the United States represents an overturning of all the approaches that governed American foreign policy toward the Middle East region and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and this overturning constitutes a major turning point in the American vision toward this conflict, through adopting the vision of the ruling religious right in Israel, and abandoning the previous American approaches followed by most administrations based on the principle of land for peace, and a political settlement in accordance with the resolutions of international legitimacy, especially Security Council Resolutions 242/338.

During President Trump's first term, he adopted the Israeli vision toward the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and attempted to demolish the foundations of the Palestinian cause, through the track of unilateral decisions: by recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, moving the embassy to Jerusalem, halting funding for UNRWA and the Palestinian Authority, closing the PLO office in Washington, and other decisions through which Trump attempted to impose a solution on the Palestinians according to the Israeli vision, through what is known as the "Deal of the Century." The period between 2017 and 2020 witnessed several major policies that changed regional dynamics, from the Abraham Accords to the withdrawal from the 2015 Iranian nuclear agreement, and from strengthening relations with the Saudi royal system to airstrikes and calls to withdraw troops from Syria.

In this paper we will shed light on American policies during the term of the Trump administration toward the Palestinian territories in Gaza and the West Bank during the second term, and its vision toward a political settlement, based on what has become clear from American positions and statements during the first days of the Trump administration's entry into the White House.

Prepared by Dr. Mansour Abu Kareem