On Tuesday, President Trump stated that the United States should take control of Gaza and permanently move the entire Palestinian population of the devastated marine enclave, one of the most religious ideas that any US leader has advanced in the years.
The host of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel in the White House, Mr. Trump said that all two million Palestinians from Gaza should be moved to countries like Egypt and Jordan for the destruction of the Israeli campaign against Hamas after the Terrorist attack on October 7th. October 7th. , 2023.
“Now they will take over Gaza’s belt, and we will do the job,” Mr. Trump said at a press conference on Tuesday night. “We will own it and be responsible” for the disposal of unexploded ammunition and the renewal of gauze in Mecca for work and tourism. Sounding like a real estate developer as it used to be, Mr. Trump vowed to turn him into a “Riviera of the Middle East.”
While the president framed this issue as a humanitarian imperative and an opportunity for economic development, he effectively opened the geopolitical box of Pandora with far -reaching implications in the Middle East. The control over Gaza was one of the main flash points of Arabic-Israeli conflict for decades, and the idea of moving its Palestinian residents is reminiscent of the time when large Western forces have outgrown the map of the region and moved around the population in local autonomy.
The notion of the United States taking over the territory in the Middle East would be a dramatic turnaround for Mr. Trump, who first ran into duty in 2016. Promising that he would draw America from the region after the war in Iraq and refuse to build a nation of his predecessors. By discovering the plan, Mr. Trump did not cite any legal authority that gave him the right to take over the territory, nor did he deal with the fact that forcibly removal of the population violates international law and for decades of US consensus on foreign policy in both sides.
He made the proposal even while the United States sought to secure the second phase of the cessation of the fire of Israel-Ham, which was designed to release the remaining hostages in Gaza and bring the permanent end to the fighting. The negotiators described their task as extremely difficult, even before Mr. Trump published his idea of ejecting Palestinians from their homes.
Hamas, who has ruled most of the last two decades in Gaza Re -establishing control There he immediately refused a mass relocation on Tuesday and Egypt and Jordan rejected the idea of catching the great influx of PalestiniansGiven Floying history, load and destabilizing potential.
Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas official, said the proposed relocation of Mr. Trump “a recipe for chaos and tension in the region.”
“Our people in Gaza will not allow these plans to come,” he said in a statement distributed by Hamas. “What is needed is the end of the occupation and aggression against our people, not expulsion from their country.”
Mr. Trump waved aside opposition to Arab countries such as Egypt and Jordan, suggesting that he would convince him of his persuasion.
“They say they will not accept,” Mr. Trump said during an earlier meeting with Mr. Netanyahu in the oval office. “I say he will.”
Mr. Netanyahu, who was sitting on Mr. Trump’s side, smiled with pleasure as the president first presented his ideas. Later, during a joint press conference, Israeli Prime Minister praised Mr. Trump.
“You took off on the chase,” Mr. Netanyahu said to Mr. Trump. “You see the things that others refuse to see. You say the things that others refuse to say, and after the jaws have fallen, people scratch their heads and say,” You know, it’s right. “
“This is a kind of thinking that will transform the Middle East and bring peace,” he added.
In his remark, Mr. Trump insisted that Palestinians would quickly warm up to his idea.
“I don’t think people should go back to Gaza,” Mr. Trump said. “I heard that Gaza was very unhappy for them. They live as hell. They live as if they were living in hell. Gaza is not a place for people to live, and the only reason they want to return, and I strongly believe it is that they have no alternative.”
He suggested that nations in the region can finance the relocation of Gazan to new places – maybe a “good, fresh, beautiful piece of land” – which would provide better living conditions, either as one territory or as many as a dozen. “It would be my hope that we could do something really nice, really good, where we wouldn’t want to come back,” he said without offered details about what it would mean.
Asked how many Palestinians had in mind, he said, “All of them,” adding, “I would think he would be delighted.” He pressed several times about whether he would force them to go even if they did not want to, Mr. Trump said, “I don’t think he will tell me no.”
Gaza has a long and tortured history of conflict and crisis. Many Gazans are descendants of Palestinians who were forced from their homes during the 1948 war after the independence of Israel, an event known in the Arab world as a Nakba or disaster. Now Mr. Trump suggests that they have been displaced, although the Geneva Conventions – International Agreements that the United States and Israel have ratified – forbid the forcible relocation of the population.
Egypt captured Gaza during the 1948 war and controlled him until Israel seized him, along with another Palestinian territory, in the 1967 war against the coalition of the Arab peoples who want to destroy the Jewish state. The Palestinians in Gaza for years later led violent resistance, and Israel eventually withdrew from Gaza in 2005.
But within two years, Hamas, the fled enemy of Israel, that the United States and other states appointed a terrorist group, took control of the enklav and used it as a base for war against Israel.
For years, Israel has blocked Gaza as Hamas fired rockets and performed terrorist attacks, culminating in October 2023 in October 2023. In which 1,200 people were killed and leading another 250. Israel took revenge on the relentless military operation in which more than 47,000 people were killed , according to health officers of Gazan, whose number does not distinguish civilians and fighters.
In the weeks since she was negotiating an interruption of the tribute negotiated by President Joseph R. Biden Jr.-ai who Mr Trump pushed into force, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were repeatedly displaced during the war returned to their homes in Gaza to find them and their communities demolished. Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s envoy, visited Gaza last week and said he would take 10 to 15 years to reconstruct.
“If you had a damage that was a hundred what I saw in Gaza, no one would be allowed to return to my homes,” Mr Witkoff told reporters on Tuesday. “It’s dangerous. There are 30,000 non -exploded ammunitions. These are buildings that could roll over at any time. No utility services.”
Picking the topic later during the day, Mr. Trump said it was not realistic that the Palestinians would return to Gaza. “They do not have an alternative right now,” but leaving, Mr. Trump told reporters before Mr. Netanyahu’s arrival.
“I mean, they’re there because they don’t have an alternative,” he said. “What do they have? There is currently a big crowd of ruins. “He added,” I don’t know how they could want to stay. It is a place of demolition. It is a place of pure demolition. “
Mr. Trump suggested that the relocation of Palestinians would be related to New York’s real estate projects on which he built his career. “If we could find the right piece of land or numerous pieces of land and build some really nice places with a lot of money in the area, that’s for sure,” he said. “I think it would be much better than returning to Gaza.”
“I see the long -term ownership” for the United States, said Mr. Trump, adding that “everyone I spoke to like the idea of having the United States have that piece of land, developing and making thousands of jobs with something that will be magnificent.”
Mr. Trump’s summit with Mr. Netanyahu was his first personal meeting with the second world leader since returning to power two weeks ago. It was part of a multi -day visit to Washington by Mr. Netanyahu who was supposed to show close links between two leaders.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu have made a close partnership during the first president’s term, but they have fallen to the end because of the numerous questions, including the readiness of the Israeli leader to congratulate Mr. Bidne on his victory in the 2020 elections, which is Mr. Trump Mr. Trump insists on this that he won. Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu have since tried to smooth their cleft.
But Mr. Netanyahu entered his meeting in contrast to Mr. Trump about several important questions, according to analysts, probably, including how to face Iran’s nuclear ambitions and how to quickly end the war in Gaza.
Trump’s administration made it clear that she wanted to see all the hostages Hamas held and then switched to a large offer that includes Saudi Arabia that formalized relations with Israel.
Saudi Arabia repeated support For an independent Palestinian state on Tuesday, he said that the forgery of relations with Israel would depend on the creation of such a state.
Mr. Trump’s advisers told reporters on Tuesday morning that President and Mr. Netanyahu were united behind the idea that Hamas should not allow him to stay in power.
With Mr. Netanyahu the right -wing government in danger If the war ended with a hamas that still controls in Gaza, and without any other plan for the area, analysts expect the Israeli prime minister to try to delay the movement according to the permanent interruption of the fire.
“Netanyahu has concluded this Salama Agreement,” said Shira Efron, a senior director of a policy research at the Israeli politics forum, a research group based in New York, referring to a three -phase agreement with Hamas. “It always plays on time and hits the can down the road.”
Adding anxiety in the region were reports on Monday That US intelligence officials believe that Iran wants to build a rough atomic weapon that could quickly develop if the leadership in Tehran decided to do so.
It remains unclear whether that decision was made, and the new Iranian president indicated that he would like to start negotiating with Mr. Trump’s administration, even while nuclear scientists in the country are formed by their efforts.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump signed a command that directed the return to the “maximum pressure” policy on Iran through sanctions, but avoided the enemy language and refused to say whether to support the Israeli strike on the Iranian nuclear institutions, which is an indicator of his interest in reaching the agreement. “This is torn to me,” he said as he signed the command. “I hope we won’t have to use it much.”
Edward Wong contributing to Washington reporting and Adam Rasgon from Jerusalem. Ephrat Livni contribute to the research.
