Palestinian businessman lobbies DC with long-shot Gaza vision
A Palestinian businessman is making a long-shot bid to lead a new governing body of the Gaza Strip, putting up an estimated $300,000 for lobbying services to influence Washington and the Middle East.
The public relations push from Samir Hlaileh, the former CEO of an investment and development company, comes as President Trump and Arab leaders shop plans for the future of the Gaza Strip as part of an end to the war between Israel and Hamas.
In a short phone call, Hlaileh said he believes he has the integrity, reputation, track record and independence to be a uniting force for Palestinians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
“I worked in government twice, I worked of course in the private sector for a long period of time and in NGOs,” he said.
“I am generally a public figure and I have a good chance because my integrity and my reputation and track record, either in government or being independent, I thought that can guarantee for me an acceptance by all the parties,” he added.
However, Hlaileh is a relatively unknown quantity in Washington, even among veteran Middle East experts.
One former U.S. official said they were familiar with Hlaileh’s name and business profile, but described his bid for Palestinian leadership as ambitious.
A former Middle East official described Hlaileh as having done reasonably well in the private sector but would be “way out of his league” in running the Gaza Strip.
“He just does not have the experience, regional connections and political weight to do it,” the former official said.
Hlaileh signed a retainment contract with Ari Ben-Menashe, an Israeli-Canadian lobbyist and businessman whose previous clients include a deposed African military leader and the military junta in Myanmar.
Hlaileh paid $100,000 to Ben-Menashe, working on behalf of the firm Dickens & Madson, on Feb. 20, according to documents submitted to the Justice Department in accordance with the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
The original retainment contract is for $300,000. It says that Hlaileh is not financed, subsidized, supervised, owned, directed or controlled by a foreign government, foreign political party or other foreign principle.
Hlaileh, from Ramallah in the West Bank, is an economist and non-executive chairman of the Palestinian Stock Exchange. He served in various government positions in the late ‘90s and early 2000's with the Palestinian Authority, the governing body in the West Bank, and was CEO of the Palestine Development and Investment Co.
The resumé for leading the Gaza Strip is demanding, requiring someone with legitimacy in the eyes of Palestinians, buy-in from the Arab League to oversee billions in reconstruction funds, and trust from the Israelis and its U.S. backers for cooperation on security.
Hlaileh said he was confident he would at least have support from Palestinians.
“Of course, I didn't get any of these [support], in particular, from Israel, but I’m sure Palestinians would not mind me taking the role. I always have to have the consensus, or at least the approval, of the Palestinian parties first. Then I can go to regional ones like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, etc.,” he told The Hill.
The terms of the Dickens & Madson contract lay out a political, security and economic plan for the Gaza Strip absent control by the U.S.-designated terrorist group Hamas. The plans echo some themes floated over the year and a half since Israel began its war on Hamas, after the group launched a devastating terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
The plan in the contract includes a U.S. and Arab military presence in Gaza, backed by Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. A new political status for Gaza would be approved by the United Nations, the Arab League and the Palestinian Authority, the contract states. A new airport and a seaport will be built on land leased from the Egyptians.
The contract mentions Gaza’s rights to gas in the Mediterranean Sea but redacts who will support it. The contract also redacts the amount of money needed to start rebuilding Gaza. The contract says, “The U.S. government will also see to it that Israeli interference in the affairs of Gaza will be eliminated together with any Hamas military presence.”
Ben-Menashe intends to lobby contacts within the governments of the United States, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, European Union, Arab League, United Nations, as well as the Palestinian Authority, to assist Hlaileh’s efforts, the contract states.
Trump earlier this month proposed the U.S. taking over the Gaza Strip, displacing the Palestinian population and reconstructing it as the “Riviera of the Middle East.” His aides say Trump wants to host a real estate and development summit soon to discuss the reconstruction of the Strip.
Arab and Gulf countries have rejected displacing Palestinians and say that Palestinian self-governance is necessary for their support behind any plan. Even some of Trump’s allies see his plan as an extreme, opening negotiating bid in talks over Gaza’s future.
Other ideas are in the works.
Egypt is reportedly in discussions with Gulf and Arab partners over a plan for Gaza, focused on developing a technocratic government to take over administration of the Strip. The Egyptians are looking to bring in individuals who are independent of the Palestinian Authority. The initial responsibilities of the government would focus on humanitarian relief and supervising the early recovery phase, before shifting to reconstruction phases.
The plan also includes Palestinians remaining in the Strip during reconstruction, but living in “safe zones.” A police force made up of former Palestinian Authority security personnel would carry out security in the strip, backed by Egyptian- and Western-trained forces.
Another plan is being presented by former Israeli prime minister and leader of Israel’s political opposition, Yair Lapid, calling for Egypt to take temporary control over Gaza. He said Egypt can be incentivized to do this if the international community commits to paying down Cairo’s $155 billion external debt.
“I know how many people are going to tell me this is the wrong idea. These are the exact same people who are telling me they have no clue what to do,” Lapid said, discussing his plan Tuesday at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank.
“So we need to go out there and do something and be, I don't want to use the word 'creative,' but at least proactive about this.”
In July, the Emiratis reportedly floated former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad as a possible head of any new governing body in the Gaza Strip, viewed as a credible alternative to PA Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who has long been criticized as overseeing a corrupt and ineffectual governing body in the West Bank.
Another prominent name is Mohammed Dahlan. A former senior adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Dahlan had an acrimonious split with the PA, convicted on corruption charges in absentia, which he reportedly denies.
Dahlan is an adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates, and also said to be close to the Egyptians. In an interview with the New York Times in July, Dahlan called for a new, independent Palestinian leader for the Strip who could rebuild Gaza under the security of Arab peacekeeping forces.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once floated working with “local Gazans not part of Hamas,” in a possible governing alternative in the Strip.
But any head of a Palestinian government in Gaza is also under threat of possible assassination, carried out by Hamas’s remnants or rival factions in the Strip.
Hamas reportedly executed the head of the Doghmush clan, on allegations of stealing humanitarian aid and collaborating with Israel.
A coalition of Palestinian tribes has also rejected any attempts by Israel to establish clan-based rule in Gaza.
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