Trump officials tried to back away from the Gaza plan
Repatriation of the Gaza Strip by the U.S. during the War Between Israel and Hamas, and Trump’s White House Address
Netanyahu did not explicitly endorse the idea Tuesday, but Trump’s statements serve a useful political purpose for the Israeli leader: they allow Netanyahu to appease his ultranationalist political partners who support expelling Gazans — and who have threatened to bring down the government if Israel does not end the ceasefire and return to fighting in Gaza.
It is difficult to exaggerate the traumatic resonance of displacement and population transfer in Palestinian memory. This history helps explain the Palestinian determination to remain in the newly devastated territory and the widespread outcry to this relocation proposal and its long-term radicalizing potential.
President Trump and Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu met Tuesday at the White House where Trump floated the idea of the U.S. taking ownership of the Gaza Strip and redeveloping the territory.
“We will own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site,” Trump said as Netanyahu looked on. To get rid of the destroyed buildings, level the site. Don’t allow it to get out of hand and create an economic development.
Trump’s comments follow repeated statements that neighboring countries should agree to take in Gazans because of the destruction there caused by the Israel-Hamas war. Trump has specifically named Egypt and Jordan, which have rejected the plan. They’ll eventually agree to it, according to Trump.
During the press conference Trump didn’t rule out sending U.S troops to support the reconstruction of the strip, but he didn’t reveal details about how he expected the U.S. to take control.
When it was time to speak, Netanyahu smiled and praised Trump’s work on behalf of Israel. Trump has an idea that is worth paying attention to, according to Netanyahu.
Netanyahu’s visit comes amid negotiations over Phase 2 of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. Phase 1 of the deal focused on the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
The administration is focused on making sure all of the hostages are brought back to their homes and the dead are not forgotten. They say Phase 2 would end the war with Hamas and return all remaining Israeli hostages from captivity in Gaza.
The 3rd phase of the ceasefire deal would get complicated because it’s not possible to rebuild Gaza in five years. He said a 10- to 15-year timetable is more likely because of the damage to Gaza during the war.
You need to learn from the past. History is – you just can’t let it keep repeating itself. “We have an opportunity to do something really great.” Trump said.
On Tuesday, Trump signed two executive orders related to the Middle East. One puts “maximum” pressure on Iran. He said that he was torn about signing it.
I’m signing this and I’m unhappy with it. but I have not so much choice because we have to be strong and firm,” Trump said, and added that he hopes he doesn’t have to use it.
“To me, it’s very simple. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. He said the U.S. can block the sale of Iranian oil to other countries.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: ‘The U.S. will ‘take over’ Gaza and relocate its people. What does it mean?
The main group giving aid to Palestinians was cut off by the other order because the US pulled out of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Palestinians, Israelis, and the wider Middle East are scrambling after President Trump floated two bombshell ideas about Gaza.
The U.S. was going to take over the territory. “The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip,” Trump said in a White House press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We’ll own it … We have an opportunity to make a difference. the Riviera of the Middle East.”
“On the day that I will see American soldiers coming in great numbers to Gaza, I will then make up my mind how serious it is,” former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert told NPR. “Every party involved except for Israel is completely against it.”
“It is utterly unrealistic, and it reflects a total lack of understanding of the historical process of where these Palestinians come from, what is their collective identity,” former Israeli foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami told NPR. “ It’s somebody that came from the outer space and tries to impose a solution which is, you know, detached from a context.”
The Israelis have said that Trump could be using a tactic called “putting in a goat,” in which he lays out a demand and then grants approval for the removal.
Ben-Ami said the man was an actor and playing big, drawing the world’s attention to what he said, getting his rivals out of balance. “Maybe this is a tactical sort of move that tries to say a big thing in order to eventually get a more modest solution.”
“The U.S. will ‘take over’ Gaza and relocate its people, and that’s what does it mean?,” Israelis protest the “transfer”
Whether or not it is a viable vision, the once-fringe Israeli idea of “transfer” — expelling or encouraging the emigration of Palestinians to other countries so Israel can take over their land — has quickly moved further into the Israeli mainstream with Trump’s comments in recent weeks about relocating Gazans.
In a poll published Monday, about seven out of ten Israelis supported the idea, with most Jewish Israelis polled calling it a “practical plan that should be pursued.” Most Arab citizens of Israel polled opposed the idea in the survey, conducted by the Jewish People Policy Institute think tank in Jerusalem.
In a statement released early Wednesday, Hamas called on President-elect Donald Trump to reverse his statements, saying they would pour oil on the fire.
The proposal was also rejected by the Palestinian leadership, who want to take part in ruling postwar Gaza. “We will not allow the rights of our people, for which we have fought and struggled for decades, to be taken away,” said the president of the Palestinian Authority.
While Saudi Arabia didn’t respond directly to Trump’s comments, hours after the press conference, the country’s Foreign Ministry released a statement, saying that its position on establishing a Palestinian state was “firm and unwavering,” and rejecting attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land.”
Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced during the war and have returned to find their homes and businesses almost completely destroyed.
He says that his life and future are gone. I will leave my home to find a country that embraces me, provides me with safety and a good life, and I will leave my homeland because it will give me security and a good life.
Source: Trump says the U.S. will ‘take over’ Gaza and relocate its people. What does it mean?
The Palestinian Question of the Status of the Middle East and the Challenges for the Restoration of the First Principles of the United States to the Rule of Law in the Diaspora
During Israel’s bombardment of the enclave, a surgeon at the hospital said he wouldn’t leave the north and wouldn’t accept Trump’s proposal.
“This is my homeland and I have no intention to leave even if Trump provides me with the best of everything somewhere else,” Ghonaim says, noting that he would not abandon the graves of his family killed during the war. He said his children were also killed and remain buried under rubble.
This report was contributed to by Anas Baba in Gaza City, Nuha Musleh in Ramallah, West Bank, Itay Stern in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Abu Bakr Bashir in London.
For decades, the question of how Palestinians might build a state in their homeland has been at the center of Middle East politics, not only for the Palestinians, but for Arabs around the region.
The refusal by the Egyptian government to negotiate with the Palestinians has been supported by political independents and opposition figures, underscoring how the Palestinian issue can unify even the most hostile of political opponents.
Khaled el-Balshy, the editor of one of the few remaining Egyptian media outlets that are not pro-government and the head of the national journalists’ union, issued a statement on Wednesday calling Mr. Trump’s proposal “a clear violation of human rights and international laws.”
With force, Egypt can repel the displacement, suggested a pro-government member of Parliament. “Egypt can move forward with other measures, because the Egyptian military can never allow this,” he said in an interview on Wednesday.
If he presses ahead with his proposal, the president may have ways of bending them to his will. The United States gives military aid to Egypt and Jordan, but Mr. Trump doesn’t seem to be threatening to pull it. The United States is the largest shareholder in the International Monetary Fund, which is dependent on loans from Egypt.
One reason the United States has given billions of dollars to Egypt and Jordan over the years is their special status as the first Arab countries to agree to peace treaties with Israel. The United States brokered those agreements after years of conflict, and saw them as a key to the security of Israel. The arrangements have long been viewed as foundational to Middle East stability.
Hamas, the group that controls Gaza, is seen as an obstacle to Egypt’s advancement. Cairo has spent years trying to quash political Islamism and an insurgency at home.
While retaining U.S. aid is minor, they are worried about alienating their populations by being involved with what many see as ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Though the rulers of both countries frequently brook little dissent, often using repression to silence internal criticism, analysts say they cannot afford to ignore public opinion.
Paul Salem is the vice president for international engagement at the Middle East Institute, and he said it was no joke to go up against Trump. There is no other option for a Arab leader, since this would be a bridge too far for much of the public opinion. I don’t think they could do anything else.
For President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, the issue is particularly sensitive because he has tried to rally public support by painting himself as a champion of the Palestinians. Popular discontent over rampant inflation and government mismanagement had been growing before the war in Gaza began in October 2023, which allowed Mr. el-Sisi to regain some popularity with strong denunciations of Israel and promises to stand by the Palestinians.
But the shine wore off as the war went on and Egyptian social media swirled with reports of signs that Egypt’s leaders was cooperating with Israel. The government has arrested dozens of Egyptians who were protesting Israeli actions.
The Egyptian government and its allies have tried to counter the discontent, with the Egyptian media trumpeting Egypt’s role in delivering aid to Gaza and pro-government politicians lauding Mr. el-Sisi for brokering the cease-fire agreement. Egypt was one of the countries involved in the mediation on the deal.
Allowing Palestinian displacement into Egypt would wreck the narrative of defending the country, said Maged Mandour, an Egyptian political analyst.
According to diplomatic and analysts, Egypt sees the chance of Palestinians ending up in the country as a serious security threat. Officials worry that members of militant groups among the forcibly displaced Palestinians could launch attacks at Israel from Egyptian soil, inviting Israeli military retaliation.
Jordan, with its far smaller population — including many people of Palestinian descent — is perhaps even more vulnerable. Jordan has had a tense relationship with some Palestinian groups.
Yet analysts said Israel’s hard-line government appeared so confident of U.S. support for its actions that it may be willing to destabilize relations with its neighbors.
But relying on U.S. backing to push through its ambitions over the strenuous objections of its neighbors will not be sustainable in the long run, said H.A. Hellyer, a senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London and the Center for American Progress in Washington. He said that the only way for Israel to have long-term, sustainable security is if they integrate into the region.
Some experts close to the Egyptian government hold out hope that Mr. Trump is simply taking an extreme starting position and that he will change his mind.
In an interview with the Egyptian newspaper El-Ahram on Wednesday, former Egyptian military officer and pro-government journalist, Samir Farag, predicted that he will withdraw as a businessman when it does not work out.
Reply to Comment on “The Palestinian Question of the Presidency for the Decree of the State of Palestine” by A. E. Hellyer
But Mr. Hellyer said that the rhetoric from some people close to Mr. Trump who back the displacement plan and emphasize that even the West Bank should be considered Jewish land would make Arabs regard any Trump plan with extreme suspicion.
It could be theoretically acceptable to Egypt and Jordan, but he said that the plan is being framed as a way for them to clear it out.
