President Donald Trump said the US would take over war-ravaged Gaza and create a “Riviera of the Middle East” after resettling Palestinians elsewhere, shattering decades of US policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and drawing regional condemnation.
The shock move drew swift condemnation from Saudi Arabia which Trump hopes will establish ties with Israel.
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said on Wednesday that Trump’s remarks about taking over the Gaza Strip are “ridiculous” and “absurd” and could destabilize the Middle East.
“Trump’s remarks about his desire to control Gaza are ridiculous and absurd, and any ideas of this kind are capable of igniting the region,” Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
Trump unveiled his surprise plan without providing specifics, at a joint press conference on Tuesday with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too...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 told reporters, sounding like the real estate developer he once was.
The announcement followed Trump’s shock proposal earlier on Tuesday for the permanent resettlement of the more than two million Palestinians from Gaza to neighboring countries, calling the enclave - where the first phase of a fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage release deal is in effect - a “demolition site.”
Saudi Arabia, a key US ally, rejects any attempts to displace the Palestinians from their land, Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
Saudi Arabia said it would not establish ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state, contradicting US President Donald Trump’s claim that Riyadh was not demanding a Palestinian homeland when he said the US wants to take over the Gaza Strip.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has affirmed the Kingdom’s position in ‘a clear and explicit manner’ that does not allow for any interpretation under any circumstances, the statement said.
Trump said that he plans to visit Gaza, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Trump did not say when he plans to go on such a trip.
Netanyahu, referred to a few times by Trump by his nickname, “Bibi,” would not be drawn into discussing the proposal in depth other than to praise Trump for trying a new approach.
The Israeli leader, whose military had engaged in more than a year of fierce fighting with Hamas militants in Gaza, said Trump was “thinking outside the box with fresh ideas” and was “showing willingness to puncture conventional thinking.”
Palestinians fear another ‘Nakba’
Displacement is a highly sensitive issue among both Palestinians and Arab countries.
As fighting raged in the Gaza war, Palestinians feared they would suffer from another “Nakba,” or catastrophe, the time when hundreds of thousands were dispossessed of their homes in the war at the birth of the state of Israel.
The United States had led months of diplomacy to get Saudi Arabia to normalize ties with Israel and recognize the country. But the Gaza war, which began in October 2023, led Riyadh to shelve the matter.
Trump would like Saudi Arabia to follow in the footsteps of countries like the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain which signed the so-called Abraham Accords in 2020 and normalized ties with Israel.
Trump on Tuesday urged 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 a devastating war between Israel and Hamas militants.
A UN damage assessment released in January showed that clearing over 50 million tonnes of rubble left in Gaza in the
aftermath of Israel’s bombardment could take 21 years and cost up to $1.2 billion.
The United Nations and the United States, until Trump’s announcement, have long endorsed a vision of two states, Israel
and Palestine, living side by side within secure and recognized borders. Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, all territories captured by Israel in the 1967 war with neighboring Arab states.
Reuters
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