On Friday, President Trump seemed to give up his request to move around two million Palestinians permanently from Gaza’s belt to a nearby country in the Middle East so that the United States could take over the territory and develop it in the Middle East Riviera. ”
Earlier this month, the president said he favored control of Gaza and displaced the Palestinian population of devastated sea enclave. Over a few days, he repeatedly waved his complaints on the idea, including rejection by the leader of Egypt and Jordan.
At that time, Mr. Trump said he would be able to convince the leaders of the two countries – and potentially others in the region – to accept Palestine by the force of his will.
“They say they won’t accept,” Mr. Trump said. “I say he will.”
But in a telephone conversation with the host Fox News Friday, Mr. Trump seemed to admit that his efforts were failed in the assurance, and the rejection of Egypt and Jordan to accept the displaced Gazana would make that idea unavoidable.
“Well, we, billions of dollars of Jordan and Egypt a year. And I was a little surprised to say it, but they did,” Mr. Trump told Fox News manager to Brian Kilmeade before adding, “I’ll tell you, a way to do that I do my plan.
The comments were a striking turnaround for one of the most deadly foreign policy proposals ever given by the seated president. And they came after a few weeks back, which included several senior Trump administration officials trying to diminish the proposal, followed by the President, insisting that he was serious.
Mr. Trump first publicly raised the idea In early Februarywhen he stated that “now he would take over the gaza belt.” With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel beside him during a white house visit, Mr. Trump said that the United States “will own and be responsible for” for the disposal of an unexploded ammunition and the renewal of Gaza for work and tourism, promising that it would become “Riviera close to East. “
State Secretary Marco Rubio and Karoline Leavitt, a white house secretary, said shortly after any relocation would be temporarily. But Mr. Trump followed the post on social networks, suggesting that Palestinians would move to communities where they would be “happy, safe and free.”
In an interview on Friday, the President said that the attempt to remodel Gaza without moving Palestinians would be impractical, partly due to the presence of Hamas terrorists, who have ruled in Gaza for decades. He said the American download and displacement of Gaza Palestinians would be the best approach.
“Now they would own a page,” Mr. Trump said. “That would be a hamas, and that would be developed, and you start again with a clean board.”
But he spoke of the idea in the past time, suggesting that he had given up on her.
“I liked my plan. I thought my plan was good, “Mr. Trump told Mr. Kilmeade.” Take them out, move them, build a beautiful community and a permanent community. “
Leaders from all over the Arab world met on Friday In the capital of Saudi, Riyadh, to discuss the possible alternatives to Mr. Trump’s plans on the eve of the wider Arab league summit in Egypt on March 4. The meeting ended without any official statement about what was discussed or decided.
In Washington, a spokesman for the national security council did not respond to E -Mailing, seeking a comment on whether the presidential remarks indicated that he was giving up the idea of renovating Gaza of the United States.
The interview seemed that Mr. Trump resigned to reality that Gaza would have to renew without American ownership and without moving his people, although he seemed to have interpreted the long occupation of Israel as ownership.
“We’ll see what’s going on,” he said. “I thought it was great, because the location, you know, is a great location. I don’t know why Israel has ever given up on it. Why did they give up?”
Ismael Naar Contribute to reporting from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
