The President of the United States, Donald Trump, sounded in his inauguration day on January 20 about the Gaza Strip being a “phenomenal location”, where “beautiful things could be done”. Then came an almost offbeat suggestion on January 26 where he told journalists on Air Force One that the Palestinians should be moved to Egypt and Jordan to “clean” the enclave.
The question of knowing if it was a serious suggestion and of knowing if a trip of the Palestinians would be temporary or permanent was not clear, because Trump continued to make occasional comments on the subject.
But then, Tuesday, appearing with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House – during the first official visit of a foreign leader since the inauguration of the new president – Trump abandoned a bomb, declaring that the United States ” would take over “and” have “Gaza, hoping that the Palestinians” would go to other countries “in what would mainly be equivalent to ethnic cleaning.
Wednesday, his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said that Trump had not engaged in American troops on the ground in Gaza, and that the people who live there would be “temporarily relocated”, while providing little details On a level which was largely rejected by the Palestinians, the Arab states – including Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia – and many countries internationally.
Here is everything you need to know about Trump’s proposal and if he is serious or if his plan is even possible.
Why did Trump make his Gaza ad? And what does he really want?
The determination of Trump’s true intentions is often difficult. The man who has published a book entitled The Art of the Deal is proud of his sense of negotiation, and it can be difficult to differentiate the starting position and the final goal – or even if an end objective currently exists.
“Trying to psychoanalyze Donald Trump is a futility exercise,” Jasmine El-Gamal, analyst of Middle East policy said in Tel Aviv Tribune. “No one knows what’s in Trump’s head.”
She continued: “It is difficult to imagine him to believe (the United States) can enter, push people and, as Trump said, invite the” people of the world “to live there. It is absolutely fantastic … It is important while waiting to continue not to normalize this kind of ideas, but to make the real reality point on the ground of Arab positions. »»
The announcement could be an attempt to make the extreme right of Israel – which called for the illegal Israeli colony of Gaza – Happy after their anger for a cease -fire to end the war of ‘Israel against the enclave.
He could also be interpreted as an attempt at Arab armament states to finance the reconstruction of Gaza – Trump’s national security advisor Mike Waltz stated the plan as potentially one of the many. “(Trump’s announcement) will bring the whole region to offer their own solutions,” said Waltz.
What is the reaction of the idea that the United States takes control of Gaza?
Trump’s comments even shocked his most ardent supporters – El -Gamal quoted the republican senator from South Caroline Lindsey Graham as an example. Graham doubted support, even of the Make America Great base again, for American troops on the ground in Gaza, a point raised by several other Republicans.
And then there is the reality of 2 million Palestinians who would be expelled from their land – the vast majority having no desire to go, as shown in the immediate return to the north of Gaza by hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who had been moved to the south of the territory during the war.
There would undoubtedly be armed with any effort to ethnically clean the Gaza Palestinians, and despite Israel who struck Gaza more than 15 months of fighting – killing more than 61,000 Palestinians – his army was not able to crush the forces of Palestinian resistance.
In fact, despite the losses inflicted in Hamas, the group would have recruited as many fighters as they lost and repaired a large part of its infrastructure.
Tariq Kenney-Shawa, US scholarship in the Palestinian AL-SHABAKA Palestinian reflection, said there were many reasons why the mass expulsion of Gaza Palestinians would not play as Trump said, and would know the chances of the chances of President to achieve objectives, such as standardization between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
“The United States” taking control “of Gaza not only would more hinder the chances of American interests in the region that are realized, but it would also fly against the first principles of the heart of America,” said Kenney-Shawa.
The republican senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, a strident American isolationist which is popular among the base of Trump, made this point in an article on social networks on Wednesday, saying: “I thought we had elected for America first. We have no deal of considering another occupation to condemn our treasure and reverse the blood of our soldiers ”.
Sami Hamdi, journalist, advisor and political consultant, said it was difficult to imagine that Trump supporters support the presence of American troops in Gaza. “It may rather be that Trump pushes a compromise by which the regional powers which are warm for Israel form a regional force of” peacekeeping “to contain Gaza,” he told Tel Aviv Tribune.
What is the position of the Arab allies of the United States?
El-Gamal pointed out that the American partners in the region quickly rejected Trump’s proposal.
“Saudi Arabia was so determined to broadcast the same message that it published a statement at 4:30 am on their time. They did not wait for the hours of office to say that it is a non-starter, “said El-Gamal. “This cannot happen without the approval and participation of the Arab states, so the question becomes what is the alternative to this plan?”
King Abdullah of Jordan should visit the White House next week. The press secretary Leavitt said that the monarch could change his mind and accept the Palestinian refugees from Gaza, just like other world leaders fell in confrontations with Trump since he reassured the presidency.
Is Gaza’s foreign control of a new idea?
Israeli politicians have long had the fantasy of taking Gaza.
Israel previously built illegal colonies in Gaza before former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon moved him in 2005. Israel has since quickly expanded the illegal colonies in the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.
Sharon justified the disengagement of Gaza by arguing that Jewish Israelis would never constitute a majority in Gaza. Israel, however, continued to control access to Gaza and airspace on him, imposing a seat from 2007 which led the enclave compared to an “outdoor prison”.
At the start of the war against Gaza, a document disclosed from the Israeli Ministry of Intelligence proposed the Palestinian movement of the territory in the Sinai desert of Egypt.
Netanyahu played the idea in public – ethnic cleansing is contrary to international law – but his supporters, including ministers in government, continued to push the idea. And after Trump’s announcement, the Israelis of the whole political spectrum praised the idea.
“This idea is so absurd, but that is what the Israelis has been growing for some time,” said Diana Buttu, former adviser to the Palestinian Liberation Organization and expert in Israel-Palestine.
“It’s not unique to Trump,” she told Tel Aviv Tribune.
How does Trump benefit from it?
In March 2024, Trump’s son -in -law, Jared Kushner, suggested that Israel removed the Palestinian population of Gaza and clean the strip, saying that “the Riverain of Gaza’s property could be very precious”.
He added that the population could be taken to Egypt or in the Naqab (Negev) desert in southern Israel – Israel supports the first and refuses to consider the second.
Kushner is a real estate magnate that was responsible during the first presidential term of Trump in the management of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, which has actually disappeared for about two decades, according to analysts.
During his recent speech, Trump echoes some of Kushner’s feelings.
“(We will) make it an international and incredible place. I think the potential of the Gaza Strip is incredible, “he said.
“And I think the whole world, representatives from around the world, will be there and they will live there,” he added.
Buttu believes that Trump ignores the well-being of the Palestinians, their history or their culture.
“Who are you to decide that we want a riviera from the Middle East that completely reduces our history?” She supported.
“(The majority) of the population of Gaza is not even the Gaza Strip and they just want to return home (in what is Israel today). Why is it not a more practical option? »»
Is Trump’s plan part of Netanyahu’s goal of eradicating Hamas?
Admittedly, the “eradication” of Hamas is often cited as an objective and a reason for destruction to be imposed in Gaza, but observers say that the real motivations of Israel are different.
“It is a pretext on the part of the Israelis to be sure. They have always insisted strongly on this kind of “divine affirmation” in Gaza. This dates back well to October 2023, “said political consultant Hamdi.
“In this regard, the Israelis welcome Trump’s announcement (about the expulsion of all people in Gaza). However, Trump also imposed a ceasefire, which is not what many Israelis wanted at all. My instinct is that Trump is not inclined to support the continuation of a war and wants to find a way to empty Gaza without one. »»
Hamdi also doubted that Hamas could be completely eradicated.
“Many people still support Hamas. We saw it after the ceasefire. The idea of ”resistance” is older than Hamas, and Hamas is simply a more recent demonstration when the Palestinians try to stop the relentless push of Israel to oust them from their houses, ” -It declared.
“This is what many people from Washington are wondering now. If they go there (as Trump said), the resistance could shoot them. The United States – and the American public – are they ready for another Vietnam? »»
