Trump's goal is to "eliminate Islam" and take "full control over the region" - PLO official
Palestinian National Council Committee for Foreign and Parliamentary Affairs member Fawzi Al-Samhouri: "What are the goals of the US behind supporting this criminal occupying entity in Palestine (i.e., Israel)… It wants, as American President Trump said during his election campaign and afterwards, that "Israel's territory is narrow, therefore we need to think about expanding it." He wanted that the territory of this criminal entity would be expanded, and the proof of this is [America's] support for the occupation of Syria's lands after the fall of the regime of [then Syrian President] Bashar Assad and also now in Lebanon… The aggression against Iran (i.e., American-Israeli war against Iran 2026) will not be limited to Iran but rather will afterwards be expanded to several states... This plan is completely clear, as [American] Minister of War [Pete] Hegseth declared: ‘‘We are now at war with Sunni or Shi'ite Islam and we will continue to fight it until its elimination." This clearly cannot be interpreted other than as the American plan. [Trump] now wants to harm all the Islamic states. Therefore, he talks about fighting Islam or Muslims, but he wants full control over this region… We need to fully understand, and all the leaders of the Arab states need to understand, that the planned American-Israeli goal is completely clear, and it is the domination and subjugation of the region, the theft of its treasures, and the denial of all expressions of state sovereignty and Arab national security."
[Official PA TV, Capital of Capitals, March 25, 2026]
US President Trump has not said Israel needs to expand its territory, but rather threatened to pull US support for Israel if it annexed the West Bank.
The Palestinian National Council (PNC) is the legislative body of the PLO.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth's actual statement from a March 19, 2026 press briefing is as follows: "Name the Islamist enemy, whether they are Sunni or Shia – because this is a Shia regime [in Iran] – Sunni or Shia, and Iran has been willing to harbor them as long as that group is willing to try to kill Americans."