Washington: US President Donald Trump has said that all Palestinians should permanently leave the Gaza Strip and move to “nice homes” in Egypt and Jordan, and declared the US will take over the land and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East”. He has also said that within the next month, the US will take a position on Israeli sovereignty over West Bank.
The unprecedented US proposal on Gaza that critics alleged amounted to a call for “ethnic cleansing” brought a huge smile to Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu, widely seen as the man responsible for the devastation of Gaza, the reason Trump cited for his decision to take over the strip, while sparking outrage across the Arab world.
Netanyahu was visiting Trump in the White House on Tuesday, becoming the first foreign leader to do so since the new president took over, when Trump made the remarks about Gaza, both in Oval Office when the two met and at a press conference later, remarks that Trump said were not being made “lightly”.
“Gaza Strip…has been a symbol of death and destruction for so many decades and so bad for the people anywhere near it..It’s been very unlucky…The only reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is they have no alternative. It’s right now a demolition site…They instead can occupy all of a beautiful area with homes and safety and they can live out their lives in peace and harmony instead of having to go back and do it again,” Trump said at the presser.
He then, in an announcement that left the world shocked, declared America’s intent to take over the Palestinian territory. “The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a good job with it too. We will own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out. Create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area. Do a real job, do something different.” He said Palestinians could go to Egypt and Jordan, while “world people” could inhabit Gaza.
The practical basis for Trump’s pitch is unclear. The US has no legal basis to claim control over Gaza and there is little possibility of Palestinians, who have now waged a 75-year long struggle for their land, agreeing to it. He neither has domestic authorisation or resources from the US Congress to take over the Gaza Strip, nor is he likely to get it, if at all his proposal gets to the Capitol Hill. Legislators from both parties, including strong Trump allies in the Senate, have already rejected the proposal. And there is almost no possibility of any major US ally, including in NATO, becoming a part of any such exercise.
With Egypt and Jordan already making it clear that they will not accept any such proposal, it wasn’t clear on what basis Trump said the two countries would accept the Palestinians and where they would go. And the consequences of displacing over two million Palestinians from their land will be catastrophic, and is already triggering comparisons with Nakba, the 1948 mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians.
But even if it doesn’t happen, Trump’s pitch punctures the American diplomatic stance in favour of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine crisis. It is a reversal from his own opposition to external entanglements and reflects an unprecedented US external commitment. It undermines US claims of being an honest broker in the region. It gives Israel more political room to do what it seeks in both Gaza and West Bank. And it sets back the process of normalisation between Israel and Saudi Arabia, with Riyadh immediately issuing a statement making a Palestinian state the basis for any deal with Israel.
Asked with what authority would the US over Gaza and what he had in mind in terms of redevelopment or permanent occupation, Trump said, “I do see a long-term ownership position and I see it bringing great stability to that part of the Middle East, and maybe the entire Middle East. And everybody I have spoken to — this was not a decision made lightly — loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land, developing and creating thousands of jobs with something that will be magnificent in a really magnificent area that nobody would know.” Trump once again cited the destruction in Gaza for the reason for his decision, without referring to the reasons for the destruction; Israel’s offensive for the last 14 months.
Earlier in the Oval, when asked if Palestinians could return to Gaza, Trump said, “It would be my hope that we could do something really nice, really good where they wouldn’t want to return…If we can build something for them in one of the countries, and it could be Jordan and it could be Egypt, it could be other countries and you could build four or five or six areas.. we could do something where they wouldn’t want to go back.” And when asked how many people he had in mind, Trump said, “Everyone. We are talking about probably a million seven people. Million seven, maybe a million eight. But I think all of them, I think they’ll be resettled in areas where they can live a beautiful life and not be worried about dying every day.”
Later at the presser, when asked whether his aim to take over Gaza can coexist with the normalisation hopes with Saudi, Trump said, “Saudi Arabia is going to be very helpful. They want peace in the Middle East… We’re going to take over that place and we are going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs. And it will be something that the entire Middle East can be very proud of.”
In a statement soon after the presser, the Saudi foreign ministry said that the Kingdom’s position in favour of a Palestinian state was “firm and unwavering”, and that it will not establish diplomatic ties with Israel without that. It added, “The kingdom of Saudi Arabia also stresses what it had previously announced regarding its absolute rejection of infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, whether through Israeli settlement policies, annexation of Palestinian lands or efforts to displace the Palestinian people from their land.”
When asked if his proposal marked the end of support to the two-state solution, Trump said, “It doesn’t mean anything about a two-state or a one-state or any other state. It means that we want to give people a chance at life. They have never had a chance at life because the Gaza Strip has been a hellhole for people living there.”
Trump also left open the question of US position on West Bank. While the Joe Biden administration had opposed expanded Israeli settlements, asked about whether he would recognise Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria — Republican legislators are already pushing for West Bank to be referred to by its Biblical name — Trump said, “We are discussing that with many of your representatives. We will be making an announcement probably on that very specific topic over the next four weeks.”
Reports indicated that the roots of the Gaza idea go back to Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who had served as his advisor on West Asia in the first term and played a role in sealing the Abraham Accords. Kushner is now a private citizen operating a major fund which has Saudi and UAE support. In February 2024, at Harvard, Kushner had said, “Gaza’s waterfront property could be very valuable … if people would focus on building up livelihoods…It’s a little bit of an unfortunate situation there, but from Israel’s perspective I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up.”
Soon after taking over as president, Trump then — in a manner that was reminiscent of his real estate businessman days — spoke about Gaza’s location as an asset. And while the President’s focus has been on its sea-front geography and properties, the Gaza Marine field holds an estimated 1.6 trillion cubic feet in recoverable natural gas resources and may well be another economic motivation.
Trump also announced on the same day that US had withdrawn both the UN Human Rights Council and the UN Relief and Works Agency, two institutions that have been critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza and sought to provide assistance. With the American position and actions now even more extreme than what even Netanyahu has said so far, the visiting Israeli PM left the White House on Tuesday evening with a big smile.