President Donald Trump has said the US would take over the war-ravaged Gaza Strip and develop it economically after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere, moves that would shatter decades of US policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Reuters reports.
Trump unveiled his surprise plan, without providing specifics, at a joint press conference yesterday with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump can expect allies and foes alike to strongly oppose any US takeover of Gaza. The US taking a direct stake there would run counter to longtime policy in Washington and for much of the international community, which has held that Gaza would be part of a future Palestinian state that includes the occupied West Bank.
“The US 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.
Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East adviser to Republican and Democratic administrations, said US President Donald Trump had given Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu a “huge pass” with his Gaza announcement.
US President Donald Trump has repeated his call for Jordan, Egypt and other Arab states to take in Gazans, saying Palestinians there had no alternative but to abandon the coastal strip, which must be rebuilt after nearly 16 months of Israel’s devastating war.
However, Reuters notes, this time Trump said he would support resettling Palestinians “permanently”, going beyond his previous suggestions that Arab leaders had already steadfastly rejected.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri condemned Trump’s calls for Gazans to leave as “expulsion from their land”.
“We consider them a recipe for generating chaos and tension in the region because the people of Gaza will not allow such plans to pass,” he said.
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 US president Joe Biden’s commitment against mass displacement of Palestinians.
Reacting to US President Donald Trump’s recent remarks about the US taking over Gaza, Saudi Arabia has stressed its rejection of any attempt to displace Palestinians from their land, Reuters reports.
In a statement, the Saudi government said it would not establish relations with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state.
