Trump must listen to Palestinians if he wants peace in the Middle East, envoy says

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US President Donald Trump must listen to the Palestinian people if he is to achieve his vision for peace in the Middle East, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations has told The National's show, The Interview: With Willy Lowry.

Riyad Mansour, who has worked as the permanent observer for Palestine to the UN since 2005, said Mr Trump's plan to “take over” Gaza, displace its approximately two million residents and then redevelop the coastal enclave is unlikely to bring an end to the conflict.

“Some of the statements that were uttered regarding, you know, ethnic cleansing and displacement of the Palestinian people and taking our land away from us are not conducive to peace,” Mr Mansour said.

“Why shouldn't we be attached to this land?” he added. “Shame on those who destroyed it.”

Still, the veteran diplomat holds hope that President Trump can have a positive influence on the region.

“He is a very powerful leader, globally speaking, and [we hope] he can bring peace,” Mr Mansour said in the exclusive interview. “But peace requires listening to the aspirations and the pain of people like the Palestinian people.

Palestinians must be the ones to rebuild Gaza because “it is our land and we love that land,” he added.

Mr Mansour, 77, spoke to The National from the United Nations, where even the presence of Palestine's flag is a victory for his people – and one he played a pivotal role in achieving.

“We had to have a resolution in the General Assembly to allow it to be flown here and outside the building,” Mr Mansour said.

The ambassador's vital role has taken on added importance in the aftermath of Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023, in which the militant group killed roughly 1,200 people and kidnapped another 251 to the Gaza Strip, triggering Israel’s brutal military response.

Throughout the conflict, Mr Mansour has served as a voice for Palestinians in Gaza on the world stage.

It is a task that has often left him in tears when he recounts to UN member states the pain and suffering of Palestinians in the densely populated enclave. More than 48,000 people have been killed in Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, according to the local health ministry.

“It has been a painful experience, but it was my duty, and all members of my team, to be like our people, to elaborate ourselves to the highest possible level in order to convey to the international community through the Security Council and the General Assembly, the tragedy, the pain, the genocide inflicted upon our people,” Mr Mansour said.

As he has worked to present his people's case on the world stage, he has faced a barrage of criticism and personal attacks. In August last year, Israel’s ambassador to the UN called him a “terrorist in a suit” and demanded he denounce Hamas’s actions on October 7, 2023.

Mr Mansour brushed off the attack and defended his position.

“I challenged the Israeli ambassador,” Mr Mansour said. “I condemn the killing of all civilians from all sides. They do not even mention a single casualty from our side. It's always only them and their concerns about their victims. If you do not show me humanity about my own victims, don't play games with me, of me trying to condemn some people among the Palestinian people for certain conduct, and you are not showing any sympathy to us – these games we will not play.”

With the current ceasefire and hostage deal in jeopardy and US President Donald Trump calling for the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza in order to transform the coastal enclave into the “Riviera of the Middle East”, Mr Mansour has been vocal in his defence of Palestinians' right to the land.

Many question whether the Palestinian Authority, led by 89-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas, has the capacity to take control and govern Gaza once a resolution to the conflict is achieved. The Fatah-controlled PA is deeply unpopular in the occupied West Bank, which it administers.

“It is capable,” Mr Mansour said. “Yet there are those who are still, you know, trying to make it weaker, trying to destroy it, trying to deny it the opportunity to run the life of the Palestinians.”

As uncertainty continues to grip the region, Mr Mansour doubled down on the need for a two-state solution.

“We need to put an end to this tragedy by opening the door for a political horizon, ending this occupation, to have in this holy piece of land, from the river to the sea, two states, completely independent.”

Adla Massoud contributed from New York