What will Donald Trump’s presidency change for Palestinians?

Donald Trump will return to the White House in January as the 47th American president, and the Middle East is waiting to see whether and how he can end the wars in the region.

Many Palestinians in Gaza say they are not optimistic about the new US administration and worry the situation might take a turn for the worse after Mr Trump is inaugurated. Their concerns are rooted in decisions he made during his first term as president when he moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and cut more than $200 million in funding to the UN refugee agency UNRWA.

He also revealed his Peace to Prosperity plan to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict in 2020. But it was strongly rejected by Palestinians, not only because it was drawn up without their input, but also because it revoked important rights that Palestinians have been asking for and allowed for illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank to be incorporated into Israel.

But the political landscape in the Middle East today is drastically different from four years ago and Mr Trump has a lot of new factors to consider. At the same time, he is viewed as a transactional leader and a dealmaker who may be more capable of ending the war.

This week on Beyond the Headlines, host Nada AlTaher speaks to Dalal Iriqat, associate professor of diplomacy at the Arab American University Palestine, and to Ghaith Al-Omari, senior fellow at the Washington Institute, about what a Trump presidency could mean for Palestinians in the short and long term. They discuss how his policies might change in his second term and whether there can be any prospect for peace and security in Palestine, Israel and the region.