Mahmud al Habbash is originally from Gaza, his family settled in the strip after he was expelled from his town during the Nakba, after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. In 2007 he left Gaza to go to Ramalá, in the holiday occupied, where he has occupied different positions in the government and other institutions of the Palestinian authority (AP).
He is currently an advisor for Islamic affairs of the Palestinian President, Mahmud Abás, and the Supreme Judge in the field of Islamic Law or Sharía. Al Habbash receives Eldiario.es in his office in the city of Ramalá, where all the institutions of the AP are headquarters. Although the city is under Palestinian control, it is surrounded by control of the Israeli army, which reflects the state of siege in which the Palestinian authorities and their limited powers on the land are located.
Al Habbash represents the Palestinian State that more than a dozen countries recognized last week and which Spain recognizes since 2024, but is part of an anhylosed institution and with little democratic legitimacy – since it has not summoned presidential elections since 2005 – and that the international community demands to carry out broad political reforms and against corruption to be a reliable interlocutor.
What do you think of Donald Trump's plan for Gaza?
We have announced our position. (From the AP) we welcome any effort that leads to a high fire, at the end of the daily murders of the Palestinians in Gaza, regardless of the details, because on the details you can discuss. From our point of view, if the end of the massacre is guaranteed, it is a great achievement, in addition to guaranteeing the entry of humanitarian aid in a safe and sufficient way to Gaza, and avoid the forced displacement and the taking of any Palestinian territory.
We are open to talk about all the practical details that are necessary to achieve these objectives and these priorities, which have been ours in the past two years, since October 7.
Do you accept the role that Trump has assigned to him in his plan (according to which the AP could return to Gaza after a technocratic transition government, supervised by the “Peace Board”, directed and chaired by Trump himself)?
No one can deny the political, legal and patriotic responsibility that the AP and the Liberation Organization of Palestine (OLP) have in Gaza. We start from the base that Gaza is a part of the Palestinian state, together with the East Bank and Jerusalem, and no one has the right to take our right to any of the areas of this region.
No one can deny the political, legal and patriotic responsibility that the Palestinian authority has in Gaza
We do not know how it will translate into practice, it is necessary to speak it and discuss it. We have a very positive disposition to talk about all ideas, but without doubting that the Palestinian State includes Gaza, Bank and East Jerusalem.
Both Trump in his plan and the countries that The Palestinian State have recently recognized They have established conditions to the AP, why do these conditions have to accept their right to a sovereign state?
For us the conditions for recognition are Palestinian needs. We want to continue carrying out administrative, security, structural reforms … We are prepared and committed to do everything that international law demands and also what the Palestinian people demand at the political, economic, social, transparency people, of transparency, at all levels.
Israel imposes us restrictions, obstacles and prohibitions that have prevented us from carrying out the elections as we want
For example, the elections and the democratic process are necessary for Palestine, it is not something that is imposed from the outside, but what has prevented us from celebrating elections in the past years has been the Israeli occupation. Israel imposes us restrictions, obstacles and prohibitions that have prevented us from carrying out the elections as we want.
In the West Bank, how can we celebrate elections if the Israeli army cuts the roads and can assault electoral schools at any time? The elections are necessary but we need the appropriate conditions for them. We want elections that are also held in East Jerusalem (area annexed by Israel), in which the freedom of movement of candidates and voters is assured.
When could the elections be held?
After there is a stop the fire (in Gaza) we are prepared to celebrate elections within one year, if the conditions allow and if there is will on the part of the international community to force Israel to not prevent (the development of) the elections. If genocide and ethnic cleaning end, we need a time to recover, but within one year we can celebrate them.
If the international community demands more reforms, what guarantees can you offer to the AP?
We want a modern, democratic, free state, in which peace and security, coexistence and political alternation, and the changes of government in a peaceful way is insured.*
All of us who ask us for this, are prepared to carry it out and interested in fulfilling it. And we hope that everyone will see that the Palestinian State is a state that deserves to be recognized and that the Palestinian people deserve a free state, with full sovereignty, without occupation or settlements, that it applies all international standards and complies with all international standards, from transparency to women's rights and childhood.
The Palestinian people in Gaza are looking forward to and waiting for the moment in which the AP again assumes its responsibility and the administration of the strip
Can the AP establish a state with these characteristics also in Gaza, with the huge challenges that will be in the strip after two years of war?
We are prepared to deal with all the challenges. The Palestinian people in Gaza are looking forward to and waiting for the moment in which the AP again assumes its responsibility and the administration of the Gaza Strip.
The people of Gaza are a peaceful people who do not want war and did not participate in what happened on October 7 (of 2023); The people of Gaza are the one that has paid a higher price for the mistake made by Hamas on October 7. The Palestinian people, also in Gaza, rejects violence, extremism and terrorism and are prepared to build a Palestinian state; And we, from the Palestinian State, are prepared and ready to assume our responsibility and the sovereignty of all Palestinian territories that were occupied in 1967 (as established by UN resolutions).
We firmly believe that this is the only way to achieve security, peace and stability throughout the region.
Do you think your government will be able to govern in Gaza as before being expelled in 2007?
We have the will (politics) and the ability to administer the strip. Of course, the challenges are many and destruction is enormous, even the psychological conditions of Gaza citizens are very difficult; We will have to make excessive efforts, but we have no choice. Gaza's is our people, the strip is our land and we cannot not assume our responsibility and our duty to them.
We do not want a state cut into pieces, composed of islands, in which we live under military control and Israeli control posts
And in the West Bank, how can they govern with all obstacles on the ground, the expansion of Israeli settlements and policies to make a Palestinian state impossible?
Our position is clear. We want a state without Israeli presence, without occupation and without settlements. We do not want a state cut into pieces, composed of islands, in which we live under Israeli military control and Israeli control stalls.
In order for this State to exist, the appropriate, security and geographical living conditions have to be given. And this requires that all international resolutions that require Israel to end the occupation of all Palestinian territories that it occupied in 1967.
The Israeli government has already made it clear that it will not allow the establishment of a Palestinian State …
This government (from Benjamín Netanyahu) does not recognize the Palestinian state or recognize the existence of the Palestinian people. But if we yield to what Israel wants, what do we fight for and what do we mobilize for? What are diplomacy, the UN and international courts for?
There is international law that is bigger and more important than Israel and Palestine. The international community must apply international resolutions and Israel must commit to international law. Israel is not above that law and is not more important than the law. Israel is not the one who governs the world.
*In 2007, the representatives and security forces of the AP were expelled from the Gaza Strip by their Hamas rivals, after the second won the 2006 legislative elections, and since then the two most important Palestinian political movements were faced.