President Donald Trump has stated that the United States will take over the war-torn Gaza Strip and develop it economically once Palestinians have been moved elsewhere, reversing decades of US policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Trump announced his surprise idea during a joint press conference with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, but did not disclose specifics.
The declaration followed Trump’s alarming proposal earlier Tuesday for the permanent evacuation of Palestinians from Gaza to neighbouring countries, referring to the region as a “demolition site.”
“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” Trump told reporters. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site.”
“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 added.
“I do see a long-term ownership position and I see it bringing great stability to that part of the Middle East,” he said, adding that he had spoken to regional leaders and they supported the idea.
The Israeli leader, whose military has been fighting Hamas militants in Gaza for more than a year, said Trump was “thinking outside the box with fresh ideas” and “showing a willingness to puncture conventional thinking.”
Some experts believe Trump adopts aggressive positions on international issues to set the tone for future conversations. During his first term, Trump made some controversial foreign policy pronouncements, many of which he never carried out.
According to Jonathan Panikoff, a former deputy U.S national intelligence officer for the Near East, Trump’s plan would require a long-term military commitment and, if implemented, would be perceived by the Arab world as Washington “not learning its lessons from nation building in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
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. Some human rights advocates liken the idea to ethnic cleansing.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri condemned Trump’s calls for Gazans to leave as “expulsion from their land.”
Trump, a Republican, offered no specifics on how a resettlement process could be implemented but his proposal echoed the wishes of Israel’s far right and contradicted Democratic former President Joe Biden’s commitment against mass displacement of Palestinians.
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.
Just two weeks into his second term, Trump was hosting Netanyahu at the White House to discuss the future of the Gaza ceasefire, strategies to counter Iran and hopes for a renewed push for an Israeli-Saudi normalization deal.
His Gaza proposal followed a frenetic first two weeks in office in which Trump has talked about a U.S. takeover of Greenland, warned of the possible seizure of the Panama Canal and declared that Canada should be the 51st US state.
Some critics have said Trump’s expansionist rhetoric echoes old-style imperialism, suggesting it could encourage Russia in its war in Ukraine and give China justification for invading self-ruled Taiwan.
Trump described the Gaza Strip as a long-time “symbol of death and destruction” and said Palestinians there should be housed in “various domains” in other countries.
He said the U.S will take over the Gaza Strip, “level the site” and create economic development but did not say how.
