The United States has the sovereign right to deny entry to particular individuals on legitimate security or legal grounds, whether they are Palestinian, Israeli, or of any other nationality. Yet a broad restriction directed at an entire people would be neither wise nor constructive.
Such a policy would silence precisely the Palestinian voices America should want to hear: those who reject violence, seek peaceful engagement, support political reform, and believe that ballots - not bullets - must determine the future of the Palestinian people.
Regarding PA President Mahmoud Abbas specifically, I understand that denying him a visa may be intended to exert pressure on the Palestinian leadership to undertake long-overdue reforms. Yet pressure is effective only when it is paired with a clear, constructive policy that supports democratic change.
Today, the most meaningful opportunity for Palestinian reform is already before us.
Abbas has called legislative elections for November 28 - the first such elections in two decades. Several powerful figures within the Palestinian political establishment are now seeking to postpone or cancel them. Some are reportedly attempting to enlist the US or influential regional countries, including Saudi Arabia, as ones asking to close the democratic door once again.
Washington should not allow its name to be used for this purpose.
Abbas only senior Palestinian leader committed to November 28 election date
Abbas currently stands almost alone among senior Palestinian leaders in keeping the election date. On this issue, he deserves international support. A clear public statement from US President Donald Trump endorsing free, inclusive, and credible Palestinian elections on its determined date, November 28, could be decisive. It could prevent those who fear change from claiming that America demands cancellation or that regional circumstances require it.
If Washington genuinely wants Palestinian reform, it must do more than punish the failures of the existing leadership. It should empower the Palestinian people to choose a new one.
We have already seen the consequences of closing this door.
Palestinian elections scheduled for 2021 were postponed indefinitely. Their cancellation did not create the catastrophe of October 7, 2023, and it would be irresponsible to draw such a simple line of causation. But it deepened the political vacuum, weakened moderate voices, destroyed public confidence, and reinforced Hamas’s argument that change could never be achieved through democratic or peaceful means.
When ballot boxes are closed, extremists offer other boxes - filled with weapons, funerals, and false promises.
We must not repeat that mistake.
A new Palestinian generation is now searching for a different path. Our political movement, Masar Jadid - New Path - was created to answer that demand. In approximately one month, more than 1,200 Palestinians from Jerusalem, Gaza, the West Bank, and the diaspora joined our movement. Most are young. Many are women, students, professionals, academics, entrepreneurs, and people entering political life for the first time.
They are joining because New Path offers ideas rarely stated so clearly in Palestinian politics: democracy, transparency, peaceful transfer of power, an independent judiciary, and one legitimate authority governed by one law and possessing one weapon.
We reject both corruption and extremism. We believe Palestinian interests are better served by dialogue and persuasion than by violence. We support a demilitarized Palestinian state, regional economic integration, and a negotiated two-state solution that provides Palestinians with freedom and dignity while ensuring security for Israelis.
These ideas are attracting support because hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have lost confidence in everything around them but have not yet lost their desire for a better future. They no longer trust the traditional factions. They are tired of being asked to choose between failed government and endless resistance, between stagnation and destruction. They want a third choice: democratic change.
Trump’s recently announced peace initiative has awakened genuine hope that the region may finally move from managing conflict to building a new future. Yet no regional peace architecture can endure if Palestinians remain politically excluded and denied the right to renew their own leadership.
Reconstruction, investment, demilitarization, and regional cooperation all require legitimate Palestinian institutions. Foreign governments cannot impose legitimacy, and aging political elites cannot inherit it indefinitely. It must come from the people.
Trump understands the political power of a mandate from the voters. He also understands that peace requires breaking with failed formulas and confronting entrenched interests. Supporting Palestinian elections would not be a concession to the PA. It would be an investment in a new Palestinian leadership capable of becoming a credible partner for peace.
Trump should therefore state clearly that the US supports holding the November 28 elections on time; that it expects all Palestinian institutions and regional partners to facilitate them; that Jerusalemites and Gazans must be included; and that Washington will judge emerging Palestinian forces by their commitment to democracy, nonviolence, reform, and peace.
Such a declaration could save the election. It could also save lives.
Upcoming Palestinian elections must not be canceled
Canceling elections would tell another generation of Palestinians that peaceful political change is impossible. That message would open the gates of despair and accelerate the next regional earthquake. Supporting elections would send the opposite message: that moderation has allies, peaceful change is possible, and Palestinian society will not remain permanently trapped between authoritarian stagnation and armed extremism.
I continue to believe that Trump can achieve a historic peace in the Middle East - and that the world may one day remember him for doing so. Perhaps such an achievement would even earn the recognition of the Nobel Peace Prize.
But the most meaningful prize would be a generation of Palestinian and Israeli children who grow up knowing politics instead of war, ballots instead of bullets, and hope instead of fear.
Mr. President, do not allow the door to Palestinian democracy to be closed again. Your public support can keep it open - and help change the future of the Middle East.
Samer Sinijlawi is a Palestinian political figure from Jerusalem and the founder and president of Masar Jadid (New Path), a Palestinian political movement advocating democracy, nonviolence, reform, and regional peace.