Washington- President Donald Trump on Tuesday suggested that displaced Palestinians in Gaza be permanently resettled outside the war-torn territory and proposed the US take “ownership” in redeveloping the area.
Trump’s brazen proposal appears certain to roil the next stage of talks meant to extend the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and secure the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza.
The provocative comments came as talks are ramping up this week with the promise of surging humanitarian aid and reconstruction supplies to help the people of Gaza recover after more than 15 months of devastating conflict. Now Trump wants to push roughly 1.8 million people to leave the land they have called home and claim it for the US, perhaps with American troops.
Trump outlined his thinking as he held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, where the two also discussed shared concerns about Islamic Republic of Iran.
“I don’t think people should be going back,” Trump said. “You can’t live in Gaza right now. I think we need another location. I think it should be a location that’s going to make people happy.”
Trump, a former New York property developer, in his first major Middle East policy announcement, said the US would take ownership of the Gaza Strip and redevelop it after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere and turn the territory into “the Riviera of the Middle East” in which the “world’s people”— including Palestinians — would live. He offered no detail about what authority the US would use to take the land and develop it.
“We’ll make sure that it’s done world class,” Trump said. “It’ll be wonderful for the people — Palestinians, Palestinians mostly, we’re talking about.”
Trump’s son-in-law and former aide, Jared Kushner, last year described Gaza as “valuable” waterfront property.
Trump insisted the Palestinians “have no alternative” but to leave the “big pile of rubble” that is Gaza.
Trump said that he plans to visit Gaza, Israel and Saudi Arabia, but did not say when he plans to go.
Last week, both Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Jordanian King Abdullah II dismissed Trump’s calls to resettle Gazans.
But Trump said he believes Egypt and Jordan — as well as other countries, which he did not name — will ultimately agree to take in Palestinians.
“You look over the decades, it’s all death in Gaza,” Trump said. “This has been happening for years. It’s all death. If we can get a beautiful area to resettle people, permanently, in nice homes where they can be happy and not be shot and not be killed and not be knifed to death like what’s happening in Gaza.”
Trump also said he isn’t ruling out deploying US troops to support reconstruction of Gaza. He envisions “long-term” US ownership of a redevelopment of the territory.
“We’ll do what is necessary,” Trump said about the possibility of deploying American troops to fill any security vacuum.
Netanyahu Elated
Netanyahu spoke glowingly of Trump thinking outside the box.
“You say things others refuse to say. And after the jaws drop, people scratch their heads and they say, ‘You know he’s right.’“
It’s Netanyahu’s first trip outside Israel since the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for him, his former defense minister and Hamas’ slain military chief, accusing them of crimes against humanity during the war in Gaza. The US does not recognize the ICC’s authority over its citizens or territory
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