President Donald Trump announced on Feb. 4, alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that the United States will seek to obtain ownership of the Gaza Strip now that a ceasefire has been met, claiming that ownership of Gaza would “bring great stability to the Middle East.”
He spoke on relocating the Palestinians from Gaza to a more habitable location while reconstruction efforts are made, but that they would live there following such efforts, stating, “Palestinians will live there. Many people will live there.”
However, in an interview with Fox News released on Feb. 10, just six days later, Trump stated that Palestinians would not be allowed back into Palestine if his plans were to follow through. “We’ll build beautiful communities for the 1.9 million people. We’ll build beautiful communities, safe communities — could be five, six, could be two, but we’ll build safe communities a little bit away from where they are, where all this danger is,” he stated.
Trump also claimed that he believes he could make a deal with Egypt and Jordan to build communities for the Palestinians there instead of in Gaza, threatening to withhold aid to said countries if they did not take in Gaza’s refugees. The two countries had previously refused Palestinian refugees from entering their countries, claiming they fear the conflict could expand to them.
Palestinians currently living in Gaza have spoken out against such an idea, with one, Narmin Nour El Din, 29, telling NBC News that “all the Palestinians refuse the idea, and we will be insistent on our land.” Hamas has also stated that they will not turn over control to the United States. President Mahmoud Abbas, an opponent of Hamas and holder of authority over the West Bank, also opposed the plan. “Conspiracy of ethnic cleansing will not succeed in Gaza or the West Bank,” he stated.
If this plan were to follow through, it would violate the two-state solution that the U.N. majority supports. Past administrations in the U.S. have also supported such a solution, though it has been rejected by members of the current administration. Saudi Arabia, a country with which Israel is attempting to mend relations, stated that it will not remedy relations with Israel until a two-state solution is enacted.
