President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed reporters at the White House Tuesday, during which the president laid out his plan for the US to \u201ctake over\u201d Gaza, relocate Palestinians to neighboring countries, and redevelop the war-torn enclave into what he described as the \u201cRiviera of the Middle East.\u201d <\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s shocking comments break with decades of US foreign policy, which has long emphasized a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine, as well as the president\u2019s past wariness over US intervention in the Middle East. <\/p>\n
Here is what we know about Trump\u2019s vision for Gaza \u2013 which is home to some two million Palestinians \u2013 including just how feasible such a proposal even is. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too,\u201d Trump said, unveiling what he called his \u201clong-term ownership\u201d and redevelopment plan for the enclave, much of which has been reduced to rubble after 15 months of war between Israel and Hamas. <\/p>\n
Israeli airstrikes have damaged or destroyed around 60% of buildings, including schools and hospitals, and around 92% of homes, according to the United Nations. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll 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,\u201d Trump said Tuesday. <\/p>\n
Trump did not rule out sending in US troops, saying \u201cas far as Gaza is concerned, we\u2019ll do what is necessary.\u201d <\/p>\n
It\u2019s not clear how exactly Trump\u2019s proposed land grab would work, and analysts have cast doubt on the feasibility of his plan. <\/p>\n
Most of the two million people living in Gaza won\u2019t want to leave, Sanner said, raising the question of whether they could be forcefully removed \u2013 which is prohibited under international law. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat means that somebody, maybe the United States,\u201d would have to step in \u2013 because \u201cno Arab army is going to be carting people against their will out of their homeland,\u201d Sanner said. <\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s plan flies in the face of the aspirations of Palestinians, who have long advocated for statehood and roundly dismissed Trump\u2019s relocation proposal when he first floated it two weeks ago. <\/p>\n
There are already about 5.9 million Palestinian refugees worldwide, most of them descendants of people who fled with the creation of Israel in 1948. Half of Gaza\u2019s population were already refugees from outside the coastal strip. Approximately 90% of Gaza residents were displaced in the latest war, and many have been forced to move repeatedly, some more than 10 times, according to the UN. <\/p>\n
Trump rejected the idea that displaced Palestinians would want to return to Gaza, describing it as a \u201csymbol of death and destruction.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would they want to return? The place has been hell,\u201d Trump said, ignoring a reporter who cried out: \u201cBecause it\u2019s their home.\u201d <\/p>\n
Instead of Gaza, Trump suggested the Palestinians be provided a \u201cgood, fresh, beautiful piece of land\u201d to live. <\/p>\n
Tens of thousands of Palestinians walked for hours to return to their bombed-out homes in Gaza after a ceasefire came into force in late January. <\/p>\n
A Hamas official called Trump\u2019s plan a \u201crecipe for creating chaos.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cOur people in the Gaza Strip will not allow these plans to pass, and what is required is to end the occupation and aggression against our people, not expel them from their land,\u201d spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri said late Tuesday local time. <\/p>\n
When asked whether he supports Israel\u2019s claim to the occupied West Bank, which is home to more than three million Palestinians and coveted by far-right hardliners in Israel, Trump said \u201cwe haven\u2019t taken a position on it yet\u201d but said an announcement would be coming soon. <\/p>\n
A shift would not be unprecedented. During his first term, Trump broke with decades of US foreign policy by recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights. He also recognized Jerusalem as Israel\u2019s capital, moving the US Embassy there. <\/p>\n
The Israeli Palestinian conflict has been one of the Middle East\u2019s most intractable problems. But Trump has portrayed it as a business opportunity. <\/p>\n
The \u201cpotential in the Gaza Strip is unbelievable\u201d and that it could become the \u201cRiviera of the Middle East,\u201d the real-estate investor turned president said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have an opportunity to do something that could be phenomenal. And I don\u2019t want to be cute, I don\u2019t want to be a wise guy, but the Riviera of the Middle East, this could be something that could be so \u2014 this could be so magnificent,\u201d Trump told reporters. <\/p>\n
Asked who he envisions living in Gaza, Trump said, \u201cI envision the world people living there. The world\u2019s people. I think you\u2019ll make that into an international, unbelievable place,\u201d positing that some Palestinians might live there one day. <\/p>\n
The president also said he plans to visit Gaza soon. <\/p>\n
Last month, Trump praised Gaza as having a \u201cphenomenal location, on the sea\u201d and \u201cthe best weather,\u201d echoing remarks made in 2024 by his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who called the waterfront property in Gaza \u201cvery valuable.\u201d <\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, is also a real estate developer. Witkoff traveled to Gaza last week, becoming the first high-ranking US official known to visit the strip in years. <\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s far-right has long endorsed the idea of expelling Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank, and lawmakers welcomed Trump\u2019s comments about taking over the strip. <\/p>\n
Jewish Power party leader Itamar Ben Gvir, who resigned as national security minister last month in protest over the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal, urged Netanyahu to adopt Trump\u2019s plan in a statement to X Wednesday. <\/p>\n
\u201cNow it is clear: this is the only solution to the Gaza problem \u2014 this is the strategy for the \u2018day after,\u2019\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
While Israel\u2019s government has previously rejected claims that it plans to force Palestinians out of Gaza, Netanyahu expressed support for Trump\u2019s vision. <\/p>\n
Pointing to Israel\u2019s war objective of making sure Gaza does not pose a threat to it, Netanyahu said, \u201cPresident Trump is taking it to a much higher level. He sees a different future for that piece of land that has been the focus of so much terrorism.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Israeli leader said Trump\u2019s idea could \u201cchange history\u201d and that it is \u201cworthwhile really pursuing this avenue.\u201d <\/p>\n
Trump told reporters that \u201ceverybody (he\u2019s) spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land\u201d and that he hoped Jordan and Egypt would take in forced out Palestinians. <\/p>\n
But Arab nations have long rejected any forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, which critics have argued would amount to ethnic cleansing. <\/p>\n
In a statement Wednesday following Trump and Netanyahu\u2019s news conference, Saudi Arabia affirmed its \u201cunwavering\u201d support for a Palestinian state and demanded an end to Israeli occupation. <\/p>\n
\u201cAchieving lasting and just peace is impossible without the Palestinian people obtaining their legitimate rights in accordance with international resolutions, as has been previously clarified to both the former and current US administrations,\u201d the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement to social media. <\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and other Arab allies issued a statement last week reaffirming their long-held desire for a two-state solution and pledging their \u201ccontinued full support for the steadfastness of the Palestinian people on their land.\u201d <\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s remarks drew criticism and skepticism from lawmakers, including some Republicans. <\/p>\n
South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham called it an \u201cinteresting proposal\u201d but also \u201cproblematic.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll see what our Arab friends say about that. I think most South Carolinians would probably not be excited about sending Americans to take over Gaza. I think that might be problematic. But I\u2019ll keep an open mind,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said that \u201cthere are probably a couple of kinks in that Slinky, but I\u2019ll have to take a look at the statement.\u201d <\/p>\n
New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democratic on the Foreign Relations Committee, said the idea \u201cfails to recognize the need to have a Palestinian state, and the fact that until we address the concerns of the Palestinians, there will continue to be conflict in the region.\u201d <\/p>\n
Sen. Chris Coons, another key Democratic member of the committee, said Trump\u2019s plan is \u201cbetween offensive and insane and dangerous and foolish.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed reporters at the White House Tuesday, during which the president laid out his plan for the US to \u201ctake over\u201d Gaza, relocate Palestinians to neighboring countries, and redevelop the war-torn enclave into what he described as the \u201cRiviera of the Middle East.\u201d Trump\u2019s shocking comments <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12780,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12779","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}