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Trump did not rule out sending troops to Gaza and described his vision for the Strip as an “international, unbelievable peace”. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump’s “outside the box” thinking.
US President Donald Trump with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on Tuesday. (Reuters)
In a shocking announcement, US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said the United States will “take over” the Gaza Strip and permanently re-settle Palestinians to make the territory “the Riviera of the Middle East”, after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too. We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site,” Trump said, without offering details about how he would manage the Gaza takeover or manage the war-torn territory.
Trump’s surprise plan followed his earlier proposal for the permanent resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza to neighbouring countries. He called the Palestinian enclave – where the first phase of a fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire is in effect – a “demolition site.”
The US President’s audacious plan to take control of Gaza and resettle Palestinians would shatter decades of US policy towards the Israel-Palestine conflict and threatens to upend the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which claimed the lives of 1,200 people in Israel and over 46,000 Palestinians in Gaza.
Trump May Visit Gaza, Does Not Rule Out Sending Troops
Speaking further at the press conference alongside Netanyahu, Trump said, “If it’s necessary, we’ll do that, we’re going to take over that piece, we’re going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it’ll be something that the entire Middle East can be very proud of.”
Trump said he envisioned the “world’s people” living in the Gaza Strip. “I think you’ll make that into an international unbelievable place. I think the potential and the Gaza Strip is unbelievable. And I think the entire world, representatives from all over the world, will be there, and they’ll live there. Palestinians also, Palestinians will live there. Many people will live there.”
The President said he saw a “long-term ownership position”, adding that he had spoken to regional leaders and they had supported the idea. When asked if he would send troops to Gaza, Trump did not rule it out and said, “As far as Gaza is concerned, we’ll do what is necessary. If it’s necessary, we’ll do that.” He also hinted at a possible visit to Gaza.
Trump also suggested that he may be reconsidering an independent Palestinian state as part of a broader two-state solution to the decades-long conflict between Israel and Palestinians. “Well, a lot of plans change with time,” he said. “A lot of death has occurred since I left and now came back.”
Trump earlier repeated his call for Jordan, Egypt and other Arab states to take in Gazans, saying Palestinians there had no alternative but to abandon the coastal strip, which must be rebuilt after nearly 16 months of a devastating war between Israel and Hamas militants. This time, he supported the “permanent” resettlement of Palestinians, going beyond previous suggestions that Arab leaders strongly rejected.
Netanyahu Calls Trump ‘Israel’s Greatest Friend’
Netanyahu, whose military has engaged in intense battles with Hamas militants in Gaza, said Trump was “thinking outside the box with fresh ideas” and was “showing a willingness to puncture conventional thinking”.
“You are the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House,” he said on Trump. “You see things others refuse to see, you say things others refuse to say…after the jaws drop, people scratch their heads and they say, you know, he’s right.”
The Israeli Prime Minister said lasting peace in the region could not be achieved as long as Hamas was left standing, comparing it to the Allies’ struggle against Nazis in World War II. He stressed that Israel “will end the war by winning the war” and “Israel’s victory will be America’s victory”.
Hamas, Palestinians Reject Trump’s Latest Proposal
The idea of relocating Gazans sparked strong reactions from Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas. Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri condemned Trump’s calls for Gazans to leave as “expulsion from their land.”
“We consider them a recipe for generating chaos and tension in the region because the people of Gaza will not allow such plans to pass,” he said. The Saudi government, in a statement, stressed its rejection of any attempt to displace Palestinians from their land and said it would not establish relations with Israel without establishment of a Palestinian state.
“Our people in Gaza have thwarted displacement and deportation plans under bombardment for more than 15 months,” said another senior Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq in a separate statement. “They are rooted in their land and will not accept any schemes aimed at uprooting them from their homeland.”
Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, slammed Trump’s initial remarks of Gaza being a “demolition site” before his press conference with Netanyahu, saying, “Our country and our home is the Gaza Strip. It’s part of Palestine. We have no home. For those who want to send them to a happy, nice place, let them go back to their original homes inside Israel.”
“But in the meantime, our homeland is our homeland. If part of it is destroyed – the Gaza Strip – the Palestinian people selected the choice to return to it,” he added. His remarks came as Trump said Palestinians should leave Gaza for good to live “in nice homes and where they can be happy and not be shot, not be killed.”
For Palestinians, any attempt to move them from Gaza would evoke dark historical memories of what the Arab world calls the “Naqba” or catastrophe — referring to the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel’s creation 75 years ago in 1948.
Forced displacement of Gaza’s population would likely be a violation of international law and would be fiercely opposed not only in the region but also by Washington’s Western allies.
(with inputs from agencies)
- Location :
Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)
