Arafat's Nephew Returns To West Bank After 4 Years Of Self-Exile, Outlines Plan For Post-War Gaza

Last Updated:October 15, 2025, 00:14 IST

Nasser al-Qudwa, nephew of Yasser Arafat, urges Hamas to become a political party and proposes a Palestinian council to govern Gaza with international supervision

As the hostages were released by Hamas, Trump declared the end of the two-year-long war that had upended the broader Middle East. (File image)

Nasser al-Qudwa, nephew of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, has outlined a roadmap to secure peace in Gaza with Hamas transforming into a political party and announced his readiness to help govern.

The critic of the current Palestinian leadership urged “a serious confrontation of corruption in this country".

Reuters quoted him as saying that President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah Movement needed deep reform and must do more to counter Jewish settler violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

“The first duty … is to regain confidence of the street – something that we lost – and we have to be brave enough and say that we don’t have it anymore, and without it, frankly, it’s useless," he said.

Qudwa was on self-exile since 2021 after he was expelled from Fatah, the movement founded by Arafat over his decisions to field his own list in elections, defying Abbas who cancelled the vote. Last week, Abbas readmitted Qudwa to Fatah as part of the amnesty for expelled members.

Reuters quoted Qudwa as saying that the existing PA assets in Gaza should be used in a new police force, and that Gaza’s current police could be vetted and used as well. “The door should be open for them for a political transformation towards a political party," he said.

“Hamas needs to understand that nobody is coming after them, that some of these employees will be given another opportunity, that they will not be assassinated, that there will be an opportunity for them to participate in the political life," he further said.

Whiling pointing out that a Palestinian “council of commissioners" could run Gaza, he said Abbas could appoint its head, thus, keeping a link between the West Bank and Gaza.

He, however, emphasised that he was not suggesting the “return of the (Palestinian) Authority as is to govern Gaza".

He added that international supervision would be “fine" but Gaza should be run by Palestinians and they should be able to hold elections.

The group of 20 Israeli hostages returned home on Monday as part of a US-backed ceasefire deal.

As the hostages were released by Hamas, Trump declared the end of the two-year-long war that had upended the broader Middle East.

Though the ceasefire and partial Israeli withdrawal agreed last week halted one of Israel’s biggest offensives of the war, an all-out assault on Gaza City that was killing scores of people per day, formidable obstacles remain.

News world Arafat's Nephew Returns To West Bank After 4 Years Of Self-Exile, Outlines Plan For Post-War Gaza

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