US President Donald Trump said he would like to “simply clean” Gaza, urging Egypt and Jordan to welcome more Palestinians from the coastal enclave.
Addressing journalists on board Air Force One on Saturday, Trump said that he had an appeal earlier in the day with King Abdallah II of Jordan and that he would teach himself with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El -Sisi later Sunday.
“I would like Egypt to welcome people,” said Trump. “You are probably talking about a million and a half people, and we clean it all up and say: ‘You know, it’s over.'”
Trump said that he had congratulated Jordan for successfully accepting the Palestinian refugees and that he had said to the king: “I would like you to take more, because I watch the whole Gaza band right now, And it’s a disaster. It is a real waste.
The Israeli genocide in Gaza has moved almost all of the 2.3 million inhabitants of Gaza, some on several occasions. Trump said Gaza residents could be moved “temporarily or in the long term”.
“It is literally a demolition project at the moment, almost everything is demolished and people are dying there,” he said.
“I would therefore prefer to get involved with certain Arab countries and build housing in a different place, where they may be able to live in peace, to change. »»
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (JIP) condemned the suggestion of the American president, describing it as an encouragement to “war crimes”.
Qualifying Trump’s idea of ”deplorable”, the group, which waged a war with Israel alongside Hamas to the ceasefire last week, “said that its” proposal is part of the framework encouragement to war crimes and crimes against humanity by forcing our people to leave their land ”. .
He also declared that Trump’s declaration was “in accordance with the worst of the Zionist far right agenda and the pursuit of the policy of negation of the existence of the Palestinian people, their will and their rights” and called Egypt and Jordan to reject its declaration. plan.
Abdullah Al-Arian, Associate Professor of History at the University of Georgetown in Qatar, told Tel Aviv Tribune that the remarks of the American president “should be taken seriously, in part because we have seen this specific request to be made to last year and a half year ”.
He said that Israeli officials said “very early during the war” to “ethnically clean” as many Palestinian territory as possible.
“This plan failed for multiple reasons, one of which is that the Arab leaders contacted at that time have simply refused to welcome an additional Palestinian refugee population, partly because it was not politically Viable in Egypt in particular, which was mentioned as a possible destination for a massive ethnic cleaning of the Palestinians of Gaza, “he said.
Al-Arian said the Palestinians themselves would not be interested in such a Trump proposal. “They only know what it means to leave their home and what the status of Palestinian refugees in the past 70 years,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Minister for Far -Right Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, praised the idea of Trump to relocate the inhabitants of Gazans to Egypt and Jordan.
“The idea of helping them find other places to start a better life is a great idea. After years of glorification of terrorism, they will be able to establish a new and good life elsewhere, “said Smotrich in a press release.
“Only an original reflection with new solutions will bring a solution of peace and security,” he said.
“I will, with the help of God, work with the Prime Minister and the Cabinet to guarantee that there is an operational plan to implement this as soon as possible,” said Smotrich.
For the Palestinians, any attempt to expel them from Gaza would evoke dark memories of what they call the “Nakba” or catastrophe – the massive displacement of Palestinians during the creation of Israel in 1948.
Egypt has already warned against any “forced displacement” of Palestinians from Gaza to the Sinai desert, which, according to Al-Sissi, could jeopardize the peace treaty signed by Egypt with Israel in 1979.
Jordan already houses around 2.3 million Palestinian refugees recorded, according to the United Nations.
Sending 2,000 pound bombs
The war waged by Israel against the Palestinian enclave which lasted 15 months killed more than 47,000 people, even if the inhabitants and the militants claim that the actual assessment could be much higher. The incessant bombings have also left a large part of the territory in ruins, the United Nations believing that reconstruction will take many years.
However, Trump also said that he had ended his predecessor’s grip on sending 2,000 pound (907 kg) bombs to Israel. “We have released them today,” said Trump about bombs. “They have been waiting for them for a long time.”
When asked why he had raised the ban on these bombs, Trump replied: “because they bought them”.
The president of the time, Joe Biden, had suspended the delivery of these bombs due to concerns about the effects they could have on the civilian population.
A bomb of 2,000 pounds has a 35 -meter destruction radius (115 feet), according to the project on defense alternatives (PDA).
The United States has historically provided substantial foreign aid to Israel; A total of 297 billion dollars (adjusted to inflation) between 1946 and 2023, including $ 216 billion in military aid and 81 billion economical aid, according to the US International Aid Agency (USAID ).
Israel has been the largest accumulated beneficiary of American aid since its creation.
A ceasefire in Gaza entered into force a week ago and led to the release of certain Israeli prisoners in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.