President Donald Trump's proposal for the US to take over war-torn Gaza and create a "Middle Eastern Riviera" after relocating Palestinians elsewhere has shaken up US policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, drawing widespread condemnation.
The shocking move by Trump, a longtime New York real estate investor, drew condemnation from international powers, including Russia, China and Germany, who warned that it would bring “new suffering and new hatred.” Regional power Saudi Arabia rejected the proposal outright.
Trump, in his first major statement on Middle East policy, said he envisioned building a luxury resort where international communities could live in harmony, after more than 15 months of Israeli bombing devastated the small coastal enclave and killed more than 47.000 people, according to Palestinian figures.
It is unclear whether Trump will actually implement his controversial proposal or is simply taking an extreme stance as a negotiating tactic, Reuters reports. Trump has said he plans to visit Gaza, Israel and Saudi Arabia, but has not specified when.
"Everybody likes it," Trump told reporters at the White House yesterday, referring to the idea of Gaza.
Michael Milstein, a former intelligence officer and one of Israel's leading experts on Hamas, said Trump's comments were putting Israel at odds with its Arab neighbors.
"Perhaps Trump is trying to put pressure on Arab states so that they will not create any obstacles if he tries to encourage the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel," he said.
Trump did not offer specific details when he announced his proposal during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Tuesday. He said he and his team had discussed the possibility with Jordan, Egypt and other countries in the region.
Netanyahu did not enter into a discussion of the proposal, other than praising Trump for trying a new approach.
Jordan's King Abdullah said on Wednesday he rejects any attempts to annex territory and displace Palestinians. Egypt said it would support plans to rebuild Gaza, but without evicting Palestinians from the territory.
In Gaza, Palestinians living among the ruins of their former homes said they would never accept this idea.
"Trump can go to hell, with his ideas, his money and his beliefs. We are not going anywhere. We are not his property," said Samir Abu Basel from Gaza City.
In the first two weeks of his term, Trump has talked about possibly taking control of Greenland and the Panama Canal and stated that Canada should become the 51st state of the US.
Some critics have said his expansionist rhetoric is reminiscent of old imperialist policies, suggesting it could embolden Russia in a war against Ukraine and give China justification to invade Taiwan.
Two-state solution
World leaders have said they still support the two-state solution, which has formed the basis of Washington's policy in the region for decades, under which Gaza would be part of a future Palestinian state along with the occupied West Bank.
US National Security Advisor Mike Walz yesterday downplayed claims that the US is abandoning its long-standing policy in the Middle East.
"I haven't heard the president say that this is the end of the two-state solution," he told CBS News.
An official from the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which ruled the Gaza Strip before it entered a brutal war with Israel, said Trump's proposal was "ridiculous and absurd."
“Any idea of this kind could ignite the region,” Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters, stressing that Hamas remains committed to the ceasefire agreement with Israel and negotiations on its next phase.
Trump's statements appear to be at odds with public opinion in the United States, where polls show overwhelming opposition to new military deployments in conflict zones after protracted interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan. During the 2024 presidential campaign and after returning to power, Trump often claimed to end what he called "ridiculous" wars and prevent new conflicts from starting.
Permanent displacement
Trump's son-in-law and former adviser, Jared Kushner, last year described Gaza as a "valuable" coastal asset, and on Tuesday Trump called for the permanent relocation of more than two million Palestinians from the Mediterranean territory.
Reuters reports that the proposal raises the question of whether Saudi Arabia would be willing to join a new US-brokered initiative for a historic normalization of relations with Israel.
US ally Saudi Arabia has said it will not establish relations with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state, contradicting Trump's claim that Riyadh does not demand a Palestinian homeland.
Trump would like Saudi Arabia to follow the example of the United Arab Emirates, which is the business and trade hub of the Middle East, and Bahrain, which signed the so-called Abraham Accords in 2020 and normalized relations with Israel.
However, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said yesterday that the kingdom rejects any attempts to displace Palestinians from their land and that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has made this position "clear and explicit."
Itamar Ben Gvir, a far-right Israeli MP and former national security minister, said that “encouraging” Gazans to migrate was the only correct strategy after the end of the Gaza war and called on Netanyahu to adopt the policy immediately.
Another “Nakba”?
Gazans said that after war and bombs failed to drive them out, Trump would not succeed.
“He spoke with great arrogance... he can test us, but he will soon realize that his fantasies do not pass muster with us,” said Abu Basel from Gaza City.
As the conflict in Gaza continues to rage, Palestinians fear they could experience another "nakba," or catastrophe, the time when hundreds of thousands of them were driven from their homes during the 1948 war that created the state of Israel.
Now they fear a new wave of displacement.
"We will not leave our areas," said Um Tamer Jamal, a 65-year-old mother of six. "We raised our children not to leave their homes and not to allow a second nakba."
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