WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump instructed that displaced Palestinians in Gaza be completely resettled outdoors the war-torn territory and proposed the U.S. take “ownership” in redeveloping the world into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
Trump’s brazen proposal Tuesday seems sure to roil the following stage of talks meant to increase the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and safe the discharge of the remaining hostages held in Gaza.
The provocative feedback got here as talks are ramping up this week with the promise of surging humanitarian support and reconstruction provides to assist the folks of Gaza recuperate after greater than 15 months of devastating battle. Now Trump desires to push roughly 1.8 million folks to depart the land they’ve known as dwelling and declare it for the U.S., maybe with American troops.
“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” Trump mentioned at a night information convention with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by his facet. The president who made his title as a New York actual property developer added: “We’ll make sure that it’s done world-class. It’ll be wonderful for the people — Palestinians, Palestinians mostly, we’re talking about.”
Trump outlined his considering as he held talks with Netanyahu on the White Home, the place the 2 leaders additionally mentioned the delicate ceasefire and hostage deal within the Israeli-Hamas battle and shared issues about Iran.
Trump mentioned the U.S. would redevelop the territory after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere and switch the territory into a spot the place the “world’s people”— together with Palestinians — would reside. He provided no element about what authority the U.S. would use to take the land and develop it.
Allies reject the concept
Egypt, Jordan and different U.S. allies within the Mideast have cautioned Trump that relocating Palestinians from Gaza would threaten Mideast stability, danger increasing the battle and undermine a decades-long push by the U.S. and allies for a two-state resolution.
Saudi Arabia’s overseas ministry issued a sharply worded response to Trump, noting their lengthy name for an unbiased Palestinian state was a “firm, steadfast and unwavering position.” Saudi Arabia has been in negotiations with the U.S. over a deal to diplomatically acknowledge Israel in alternate for a safety pact and different phrases.
“The duty of the international community today is to work to alleviate the severe human suffering endured by the Palestinian people, who will remain committed to their land and will not budge from it,” the Saudi assertion mentioned.
Nonetheless, Trump insists the Palestinians “have no alternative” however to depart the “big pile of rubble” that’s Gaza. He spoke out as his high aides confused {that a} three-to-five-year timeline for reconstruction of the war-torn territory, as specified by a short lived truce settlement, just isn’t viable.
Final week, each Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Jordanian King Abdullah II dismissed Trump’s calls to resettle Palestinians in Gaza.
However Trump mentioned he believes Egypt and Jordan — in addition to different nations, which he didn’t title — will in the end agree to absorb Palestinians.
“You look over the decades, it’s all death in Gaza,” Trump mentioned. “This has been happening for years. It’s all death. If we can get a beautiful area to resettle people, permanently, in nice homes where they can be happy and not be shot and not be killed and not be knifed to death like what’s happening in Gaza.”
Trump additionally mentioned he isn’t ruling out deploying U.S. troops to assist reconstruction of Gaza. He envisions “long-term” U.S. possession of a redevelopment of the territory.
The president’s proposal was greeted with alarm by Democrats and a measure of skepticism by his Republican allies.
“He’s completely lost it,” mentioned Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. “He wants a U.S. invasion of Gaza, which would cost thousands of American lives and set the Middle East on fire for 20 years? It’s sick.”
“We’ll see what our Arab friends say about that,” mentioned Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican and a Trump ally. “And I think most South Carolinians are probably not excited about sending Americans to take over Gaza. I think that might be problematic, but I’ll keep an open mind.”
ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS by way of Getty Photographs
A fragile ceasefire
The White Home’s deal with the way forward for Gaza comes because the nascent truce between Israel and Hamas hangs within the steadiness.
Netanyahu is dealing with competing strain from his right-wing coalition to finish a short lived truce towards Hamas militants in Gaza and from war-weary Israelis who need the remaining hostages dwelling and for the 15-month battle to finish.
Trump could also be betting he can persuade Egypt and Jordan to come back round to just accept displaced Palestinians due to the numerous support that the U.S. offers Cairo and Amman. Exhausting-line right-wing members of Netanyahu’s authorities have embraced the decision to maneuver displaced Palestinians out of Gaza.
“To me, it is unfair to explain to Palestinians that they might be back in five years,” Trump’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, mentioned. “That’s just preposterous.”
Trump additionally signaled that he could also be reconsidering an unbiased Palestinian state as a part of a broader two-state resolution to the decades-long Israel-Palestinian battle.
“Well, a lot of plans change with time,” he instructed reporters when requested if he was nonetheless dedicated to a plan just like the one he specified by 2020 that known as for a Palestinian state. “A lot of death has occurred since I left and now came back.”
Netanyahu’s arrival in Washington for the primary overseas chief go to of Trump’s second time period coincides with the prime minister’s well-liked assist sagging.
The prime minister is in the midst of weekslong testimony in an ongoing corruption trial that facilities on allegations he exchanged favors with media moguls and rich associates. He has decried the accusations and mentioned he’s the sufferer of a “witch hunt.”
Being seen with Trump, who’s well-liked in Israel, may assist distract the general public from the trial and increase Netanyahu’s standing.
“We have the right leader of Israel who’s done a great job,” Trump mentioned of Netanyahu.
Netanyahu praised Trump’s management in getting the hostage and ceasefire deal. The prime minister additionally spoke glowingly of Trump considering outdoors the field.
“You say things others refuse to say. And after the jaws drop, people scratch their heads and they say, ‘You know he’s right.’”
Hamas in a press release decried Trump’s feedback.
“We reject Trump’s statements in which he said that the residents of the Gaza Strip have no choice but to leave, and we consider them a recipe for creating chaos and tension in the region,” the group mentioned.
Netanyahu met with White Home nationwide safety adviser Mike Waltz and Witkoff on Monday to start the daunting work of brokering the following section of a ceasefire settlement.
The Israeli chief mentioned he would ship a delegation to Qatar to proceed oblique talks with Hamas which are being mediated by the Gulf Arab nation, the primary affirmation that these negotiations would proceed. Netanyahu additionally mentioned he would convene his safety Cupboard to debate Israel’s calls for for the following section of the ceasefire when he returns to Israel on the finish of the week.
Witkoff, in the meantime, mentioned he plans to fulfill with Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in Florida on Thursday to debate the following section within the ceasefire. Qatar and Egypt have served as key intermediaries with Hamas all through the battle.
Netanyahu is beneath intense strain from hard-right members of his governing coalition to desert the ceasefire and resume combating in Gaza to remove Hamas. Bezalel Smotrich, one among Netanyahu’s key companions, vows to topple the federal government if the conflict isn’t relaunched, a step that might result in early elections.
Hamas, which has reasserted management over Gaza for the reason that ceasefire started final month, has mentioned it won’t launch hostages within the second section with out an finish to the conflict and Israeli forces’ full withdrawal. Netanyahu, in the meantime, maintains that Israel is dedicated to victory over Hamas and the return of all hostages captured within the Oct. 7, 2023, assault that triggered the conflict.
Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Related Press writers Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem, Jon Gambrell in Dubai, and Michelle L. Value, Stephen Groves and Lisa Mascaro contributed reporting.
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