Hani Al-Masri Warns: The Palestinian National Project Faces Collapse at a Critical Moment
Palestinian political analyst Hani Al-Masri argues that the Palestinian national project has reached what he describes as a “comprehensive structural impasse — indeed, a state of actual collapse.” In an intervention delivered at the Fourth Annual Palestine Forum in Doha, Al-Masri presented a sweeping critique of Palestinian leadership, international diplomacy, and the regional and global context shaping the future of the Palestinian cause.
According to Al-Masri, the depth of the crisis is evident in the fact that “the official Palestinian leadership, the resistance factions, and political elites of all orientations have all reached a dead end.” He points to what he sees as a dangerous convergence: Palestinian actors, despite their differences, are now “betting on the Trump plan and granting it political confidence,” even though it is, in his words, “inherently hostile.”
A Plan Built on Colonial Logic
Al-Masri stresses that the Trump plan was never designed to resolve the conflict, but rather “to impose a colonial trusteeship over the Gaza Strip,” while enabling Israel — which he explicitly calls “the apartheid state” — to continue its unchecked expansion in the West Bank through “gradual encroachment and creeping annexation,” until the moment is ripe for formally declaring Israeli sovereignty.
He argues that the plan reduced Palestinians to “mere residents” and transformed Palestinian land into “a real-estate project,” deliberately bypassing all Palestinian representative institutions — “the PLO, the Palestinian Authority, the de facto authority in Gaza, and all factions without exception.”
This marginalization, Al-Masri explains, was sold through a set of contradictory illusions: “the illusion of prosperity and reconstruction,” “the illusion that the Authority will return to Gaza after 'satisfactory’ reforms dictated by Washington and Tel Aviv,” and “the illusion that the de facto authority will remain because there is no alternative.”
Behind these illusions, he warns, lies “an internal Palestinian race to provide security services to the occupation and to the master of the White House.”
From Politics to Humanitarian Management
Al-Masri emphasizes that the Trump plan deliberately stripped the Palestinian cause of its political essence, reducing it to “a purely humanitarian and relief issue.” It offered, he says, “not even a promise — let alone a commitment — to self-determination.”
Under this logic, “a Palestinian state is not a right, but merely an aspiration,” one that may or may not materialize into a vague political horizon. This shift, he argues, replaces confronting the roots of the conflict with “crisis management,” normalizes “a new international trusteeship that masks the occupation,” and forces Palestinians to coexist with a reality “engineered to liquidate the cause at its roots.”
“This will not lead to peace or stability,” Al-Masri warns, “but to explosions — sooner or later.”
A 'Peace Council’ That Enforces Domination
Despite its flaws, Al-Masri notes that the Trump plan gained international legitimacy through a UN Security Council resolution, even though “the Council was never its real reference point.” This process led to the creation of what he calls the so-called “Peace Council,” which he describes bluntly as “a council of domination and the law of the jungle.”
Its true nature, he argues, is revealed by the fact that “the Palestinian victim is held responsible for the crimes of the Israeli executioner,” that Palestinians have “no representation whatsoever,” and that figures such as Netanyahu and “known enemies of the Palestinian people” are present, while others remain subject to “the veto of the council’s 'eternal president.’”
Gaza Administration: A Necessary Evil, Not a Political Solution
Al-Masri is careful to clarify that he is not calling for rejecting or boycotting the Palestinian committee tasked with administering Gaza. Instead, he says the goal should be “to ensure the success of its humanitarian service role — and to keep it within its limits.”
“It is an executor, not a decision-maker,” he stresses, warning against granting it political authority or allowing it to entrench the separation between Gaza and the West Bank.
To illustrate the dilemma, he cites a satirical cartoon that, in his words, captures the situation with “painful accuracy”: the committee is “a stake — the option available because there is no other option.”
How Did We Get Here?
At the heart of Al-Masri’s intervention is what he calls “the fundamental question”: “Why did we reach this point — and how do we get out of this catastrophic impasse?”
Drawing on Palestinian history, he insists that “new beginnings are always possible after crises.” He recalls how Palestinians have repeatedly risen “from under the rubble — wave after wave, revolution after revolution,” from the Nakba to the June 1967 defeat, from the exit from Lebanon to the failure of Camp David and the collapse of Oslo.
He places the Al-Aqsa Flood of 2023 within this historical arc, describing it as “a reaction to siege and occupation crimes” and “an attempt to break marginalization,” but also as “a leap into the sky” that, due to “the absence of calculation, vision, strategy, and unity,” led to outcomes that contradicted its stated goals.
Internal Responsibility and Strategic Confusion
Al-Masri insists that escape from the crisis requires “a precise and courageous diagnosis.” Blaming enemies and conspiracies is insufficient, he argues, because “the internal factor bears essential responsibility for where we are today.”
He asks why “enormous sacrifices did not translate into proportional achievements,” why the national project steadily retreated from liberation and return to “authority over any liberated fragment,” then to a truncated state, and eventually to “two rival authorities under occupation,” until “the survival of the authority itself became the goal.”
He also questions the contradictions surrounding resistance: “How can armed resistance coexist with an authority bound by unjust obligations?” Why was resistance alternately sanctified and criminalized, he asks, and eventually turned “from a means into an end in itself?”
“Resistance is not an idol to be worshipped,” Al-Masri says plainly. “It is a tool, to be used only insofar as it achieves national objectives. Sacrifice is not the goal — it is a means, and it should come at the lowest possible cost.”
Division Amid Genocide
One of Al-Masri’s starkest statements concerns Palestinian internal division. “The continuation of division despite genocide,” he says, “can only be explained by the prioritization of factional and personal interests over the national interest.”
He links this to the erosion of democratic life, the dominance of “individual, clientelist leadership,” the hollowing out of institutions, widespread corruption, and the denial of Palestinians’ right to choose their leaders through elections.
Not the Time for Final Solutions
Given the current imbalance of power, Al-Masri argues, “we are not in a phase of final solutions — neither two states nor one state.” Instead, he says, “we are in a phase of steadfastness and survival,” focused on preserving “land, people, and narrative,” and preventing the liquidation of the cause.
Despite the bleak outlook, he insists “the battle is not lost.” He notes that Israel’s moral narrative has collapsed globally, even if governments have yet to follow public opinion, and that “the old world is collapsing while a new, multipolar world is taking shape.”
The Choice Ahead
Al-Masri warns that if current dynamics continue, Palestinians face grim scenarios: either prolonged management of the occupation, or worse — “annexation, displacement, genocide, and apartheid,” or the imposition of a hollow entity called a state, “one that has a name but none of the substance.”
Such an entity, he argues, would serve regional and international interests by neutralizing the Palestinian issue while enabling Israel’s integration into the region. “Israel wants the land without the people,” he says, “to preserve its Jewish character.”
A Call for Decisive Decisions
To prevent this outcome, Al-Masri calls for “decisive and immediate decisions.” Chief among them is “a foundational political decision declaring the Oslo model effectively dead,” and the development of “a long-term national liberation strategy.”
He calls for rebuilding the PLO on democratic foundations, drafting a new national charter, ending the management of division in favor of “a transitional democratic partnership,” adopting sustained popular resistance, and shifting the center of gravity to the international legal arena through accountability and boycott.
A Final Warning
“The Palestinian impasse is existential and dangerous,” Al-Masri concludes. “Crisis management is no longer an option. Waiting no longer protects anyone.”
The moment, he says, demands “courageous decisions” to rebuild the national project and the movement that carries it — “before Palestinians lose the ability to decide their own fate.”
Still, he ends on a note of guarded hope: “If there is will and awareness, there is a path.” History, he reminds, shows that “whenever Palestinians have stood at the edge of the abyss, they have reclaimed the initiative and saved their cause.”
