In the first term of Donald Trump, his administration rode roughly over the Palestinians, turning decades of American politics, recognizing the challenged city of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and saying that now he will no longer consider Israeli settlements in the occupied Western coast with a violation of international law.
However, even this record did not prepare Palestinians for Trump’s proposal this week that now they should take over Gaza – if necessary for force – and transfer 2mn people living in a broken Palestinian enclave abroad.
“Trump doesn’t know people in Gaza. Trump doesn’t know people on the west coast. People would rather die here in their homeland than leaving their homeland. There is only one homeland,” said Abed, a 21-year-old student from Ramallah. “I laughed [when I heard the plan]. Because that’s impossible, it won’t happen. “
In addition to the mood of defiance and disbelief, there was also a sense of discomfort as locals in Ramallah – a city that forms the administrative center of the West Coast – Died Trump’s Gambit and what it meant for them and the Palestinian matter.
At a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, Trump portrayed his idea as a way to end the brutal war launched by the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. fight In the history of the decade of the old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But for Palestine, an unusual vision emphasized the very real danger that Trump will extinguish the government, which is widely seen as the most of the most in Israeli history and give the green light to the ultra -nationalists bent in the west coast and re -establishing Jewish settlements in Gaza.
“Our experience of Trump in his previous Presidency was awful, and it seems that this one will be even more terrible,” said Ghassan Khatib, a lecturer at Birzeit University. “He did not speak from the cuff. He read a written statement. I think we have to take seriously what he said.”
As the international condemnation of Trump’s plan was perfected, the administration officials sought to return the idea that they would now arrange troops in Gaza. But Israeli officials welcomed his proposal with enthusiasm, with Defense Minister Israel Katz on Thursday directed the army to prepare a plan to allow Gazani to leave the enclave “voluntarily”.
Several threats have a deeper resonance to Palestinians from moving. In 1948, during the war that followed the founding of Israel, 700,000 Palestinians escaped or expelled them from their homes. Almost no one is ever allowed to come back. The Palestinians are called Nakba, or a disaster, and the determination to avoid repetition is deeply rooted in the national psyche.
“Those who left in 1948 could not return. They have no lightweight lives in exile. Many of them have no passports. They do not have the same rights as people in the countries where they live,” said Narden Kawaa, a Nablus teacher. “We see them suffer. We’ve learned from the past and we won’t do it anymore.”
Even devastation that Israel He was in Gaza in Gaza, most of which are now in ruins, did not change that determination, according to Karaeena himself, a 44-year-old computer engineer from Jerusalem. “This new generation is not like our fathers,” he said. “They have a different mentality. They are more related to the country.”
But the risk of displacement from Gaza was not the only threat at Trump’s press conference. Asked if he would support Israel who annexed the “western coast,” Trump said, while his administration has not yet occupied the position, “people like the idea” and he would “probably” announce on the topic in the next four weeks. The annexation would be far easier for Trump – which in the first term was recognized by Israeli sovereignty over the occupied golar heights – to approve of gauze.
For many on the west coast, especially in rural areas, annexation feels like this has already happened. For decades, the settlements of Israel – which are considered to be illegal under international law – has spread mercilessly, while the new roads connecting them to the territory are leaving the Palestinian communities cut off from each other.
From October 7, the locals say that the situation has become even more stifled, with an increase in the violence of settlers, and the Israeli army kills hundreds of people in attacks against militants in cities like Jenin and Nablus, and imposing a network of control points that once turned into a short trip to unpredictable Odysseus.
When Trump returned to the White House, many are afraid that the situation could become even harder. Even before his announcement, Trump strengthened the end right of Israel by naming the stable supporters of Israel on older administrative positions and eliminating the sanctions imposed by the administration of Joe Biden immigrants who performed the attacks on Palestine on the West Coast.
“I think there will be more checkpoints, more people will die for no reason, more people will leave, because it is not a safe place to grow up to children,” said Abdelrahman Wahdan, a 19-year-old student from Ramallah, whose courses were suspended because it was difficulty In moving along the west coast, it meant that they could not attend enough students.
“The Israelites will feel more powerful because they have now. None of US presidents were good for us. They were always against the Arabs.”
Others said they hope that international pressure will still alleviate Trump’s influence – at least as far as his plans for Gaza is concerned. The Arab nations have rejected the invitation of the US president to take them to Gazana, and countries like Jordan and Egypt claim that this would undermine and Palestinian hopes would establish their state and the safety of their own countries.
But Ibrahim Dalalsha, Director of the Political Studies Center in Ramallah, said that even if the refusal of Arab states was to take over Palestinians, ultimately prevented Trump’s idea of moving, his proposal could still have far -reaching consequences, not at least if he was helped abolish attempts to extend the fragile, three -week trial in Gaza.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu, who under the pressure of his extreme right -wing ally to continue the fighting, vowed as he stood with Trump that Israel would return to war to secure a complete victory over Hamas.
“I think it’s not possible to do it. But whether it can be implemented or not, it will lead to a very serious deepening of the conflict,” Dalalsha said. “Not only does it make the situation more complex here, it also has consequences on regional stability. Sadi seeds for the upper conflict.”
