Somaliland’s government firmly denied on Friday that it had received any proposal or engaged in any discussions with the United States or Israel to host Palestinians displaced by the war in Gaza. The statement came in response to a report by the Associated Press that cited unnamed U.S. and Israeli officials claiming preliminary outreach had been made to officials in Sudan, Somalia, and Somaliland about the possibility of using their territories to resettle some Palestinians from the conflict-stricken enclave.
Abdirahman Dahir Adan, the foreign minister of Somaliland — a self-declared republic that broke away from Somalia in 1991 — told Reuters that no such proposal had been made and there were no ongoing talks with any party regarding the issue.
“I haven’t received such a proposal, and there are no talks with anyone regarding Palestinians,” Adan said, dismissing the media speculation as baseless.
According to the AP report, Sudanese officials had already rejected the alleged proposal, while both Somalia and Somaliland expressed unawareness of any such contact initiated by Washington or Tel Aviv. The U.S. State Department and the White House declined to comment when approached by Reuters.
Somaliland, which has enjoyed relative stability compared to war-torn Somalia since declaring its independence more than three decades ago, remains unrecognized by any sovereign state. However, its leaders have continued to seek formal international recognition, particularly from Western powers. In recent years, Somaliland has sought closer ties with the United States and has expressed optimism that its efforts may find favor among certain U.S. political circles.
Despite its strategic location along the Gulf of Aden and its aspirations for broader international engagement, Somaliland has shown little interest in involving itself in the complex and volatile geopolitics of the Middle East, especially issues as sensitive as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The resettlement of Palestinians outside of Gaza has been a controversial topic amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. Discussions around such proposals have triggered concern and condemnation across the Arab and Islamic worlds, where there are widespread fears that any large-scale displacement of Palestinians could amount to forced exile and undermine their right to return.
As of now, no country has publicly accepted any plan involving the permanent resettlement of Palestinians outside of their homeland, and reports of quiet diplomatic feelers remain largely speculative and unconfirmed.
