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Friedman’s Talk About 'Next Leader' Sparks Palestinian Anger

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman - Reuters
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman - Reuters
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Friedman’s Talk About 'Next Leader' Sparks Palestinian Anger

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman - Reuters
US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman - Reuters

The Palestinian presidency rejected what it described as the US “policy of threat, pressure and intimidation” against Palestinian President, in response to US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who said that the US administration might consider Mohammad Dahlan, who was dismissed from Fatah Movement, as a future leader for the Palestinians.

“The policy of threats, constant pressure, and attempts to intimidate President Mahmoud Abbas and the leadership will be doomed to failure,” Presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeina said on Thursday.

“Only our Palestinian people can choose their leader according to the democratic foundations laid by the Palestine Liberation Organization,” he added.

Friedman’s comments, quoted by Israel Hayom, sparked anger and controversy, which forced the Israeli daily to edit the ambassador’s statements.

The ambassador reportedly said that the US administration was thinking about Dahlan becoming the leader of the Palestinians. But the newspaper later revised the article, quoting Friedman as replying to a question on Dahlan: “We’re not thinking about it,” we have no desire to engineer the Palestinian leadership.

Member of the Executive Committee of the PLO, Ahmed Majdalani, warned of US efforts to harm Abbas, similar to what happened with the late leader Yasser Arafat, in order to pass the so-called deal of the century.

“The coming stage will witness more US punitive measures against the Palestinian leadership,” Majdalani told Voice of Palestine radio station.

Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri said for his part: “The statements of the US ambassador about the desire to appoint Mohammad Dahlan as head of the Authority represent an unacceptable interference in internal affairs, and there will be no Palestinian president except through the Palestinian will.”

In response, Dahlan said on his Facebook page: “I have all faith that Palestine is in dire need of renewing the legitimacy of all Palestinian leaderships and institutions. This will only be achieved through comprehensive and transparent national elections.”

“I hope no one will fall into the trap of such carefully engineered tactics,” he continued. “Let us work together to restore our national unity and agree on our national constants and the means to achieve them.”

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Gaza's Christians 'Heartbroken' for Pope Who Phoned them Nightly

A Palestinian woman walks outside the Holy Family Church after the death of Pope Francis was announced by the Vatican, in Gaza City April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A Palestinian woman walks outside the Holy Family Church after the death of Pope Francis was announced by the Vatican, in Gaza City April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
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Gaza's Christians 'Heartbroken' for Pope Who Phoned them Nightly

A Palestinian woman walks outside the Holy Family Church after the death of Pope Francis was announced by the Vatican, in Gaza City April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
A Palestinian woman walks outside the Holy Family Church after the death of Pope Francis was announced by the Vatican, in Gaza City April 21, 2025. REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas

Members of Gaza's tiny Christian community said they were "heartbroken" on Monday at the death of Pope Francis, who campaigned for peace for the devastated enclave and spoke to them on the phone every evening throughout the war.

Across the wider Middle East, Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian Christians, both Catholic and Orthodox, praised Francis' constant engagement with them as a source of solace at a time when their communities faced wars, disasters, hardship and persecution.

"We lost a saint who taught us every day how to be brave, how to keep patient and stay strong. We lost a man who fought every day in every direction to protect this small herd of his," George Antone, 44, head of the emergency committee at the Holy Family Church in Gaza, told Reuters.

Francis called the church hours after the war in Gaza began in October 2023, Antone said, the start of what the Vatican News Service would describe as a nightly routine throughout the war. He would make sure to speak not only to the priest but to everyone else in the room, Antone said.

"We are heartbroken because of the death of Pope Francis, but we know that he is leaving behind a church that cares for us and that knows us by name - every single one of us," Antone said, referring to the Christians of Gaza who number in the hundreds.

"He used to tell each one: I am with you, don't be afraid."

Francis phoned a final time on Saturday night, the pastor of the Holy Family parish, Rev. Gabriel Romanelli, told the Vatican News Service.

"He said he was praying for us, he blessed us, and he thanked us for our prayers," Romanelli said.

The next day, in his last public statement on Easter, Francis appealed for peace in Gaza, telling the warring parties to "call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace".

'PEACE IN THIS LAND'

At the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, on the site where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected, the superior of the Latin community, Father Stephane Milovitch, said Francis had stood for peace.

"We wish that peace will finally come very soon in this land and we wish the next pope will be able to help to have peace in Jerusalem and in all the world," he said.

In Lebanon, where a war between Israel and Hezbollah caused widespread casualties and extensive damage last year, sending millions from their homes, members of the Catholic Maronite community spoke of Francis' frequent mentions of their plight.

"He's a saint for us because he carried Lebanon and the Middle East in his heart, especially in the last period of war," said a priest in the southern Lebanese town of Rmeish, which was badly damaged during Israel's military campaign last year.

"We always felt he was very involved and he mobilized all the Catholic institutions and funds to help Lebanon throughout the crises that we went through," said Marie-Jo Dib, who works at a social foundation in Lebanon.

"He was a rebel and I really pray that the next pope will be like him," she added.

Francis made repeated trips to the Middle East, including to Iraq in 2021 where he learned that two suicide bombers had attempted to assassinate him in Mosul, a once cosmopolitan city where the ISIS terror group proclaimed a so-called caliphate from 2014-17.

He visited the ruins of four destroyed churches there and launched an appeal for peace.

In Syria, Archbishop Antiba Nicolas said he was holding mass at the historic Damascus Zaitoun church when he was handed a slip of paper with the news.

"He used to say 'dearest Syria' every time he spoke of Syria. He called on all international organisations to support Syria, the Christian presence and the church in Syria during the crisis in the past years," Nicolas said.