WASHINGTON/CAIRO: President Donald Trump’s top aides staunchly defended his proposal for the US to take over war-ruined Gaza and create a “Riviera of the Middle East” after relocating Palestinians elsewhere.
A longtime New York property developer, Trump drew rebukes on Wednesday from world powers Russia, China and Germany, which said it would foster “new suffering and new hatred.” Regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia rejected the proposal outright.
Barely two weeks in the job, Trump shattered decades of US policy on Tuesday with a vaguely worded announcement saying he envisioned building a resort where international communities could live in harmony after nearly 16 months of Israeli bombardment devastated the coastal enclave and killed more than 47,000 people, according to Palestinian tallies.
At a White House briefing on Wednesday, his press secretary Karoline Leavitt hailed his Gaza proposal as “historic” and “outside of the box” thinking but stressed that the president had not made a commitment to putting “boots on the ground” in the Palestinian enclave. She declined, however, to rule out potential use of US troops there.
At the same time, Leavitt backed away from Trump’s earlier assertion that Gazans needed to be permanently resettled in neighboring countries, saying instead that they should be “temporarily relocated” for the rebuilding process.
It was unclear whether Trump would go ahead with his proposal or was simply taking an extreme position as a bargaining strategy, as he has done on other issues in the past.
Trump’s son-in-law and former aide, Jared Kushner, last year described Gaza as “valuable” waterfront property, and on Tuesday Trump made similar claims as he called for the permanent resettlement of more than two million Palestinians from there.
Some experts said the proposed actions could violate international law. Others described his ideas as unworkable.
“Everybody loves it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office earlier on Wednesday, referring to his Gaza idea.
On a trip to Guatemala, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, apparently seeking to counter the wave of global criticism, insisted Trump’s proposal was not a “hostile move” but instead expressed “the willingness of the United States to become responsible for the reconstruction of that area.”
Trump offered no specifics as he announced his proposal while welcoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House on Tuesday. He said he and his team had been discussing the possibility with Jordan, Egypt and other regional countries.
Netanyahu, who met on Wednesday with US Vice President JD Vance, would not be drawn into discussing the proposal, other than to praise Trump for trying a new approach.
Jordan’s King Abdullah said on Wednesday he rejected any moves to annex land and displace Palestinians. Egypt said it would back Gaza recovery plans, following a ceasefire that took effect on Jan. 19, without Palestinians leaving the territory.
‘TRUMP CAN GO TO HELL’
In Gaza, Palestinians living among the wreckage of their former homes said they would never accept the idea.
“Trump can go to hell, with his ideas, with his money, and with his beliefs. We are going nowhere. We are not some of his assets,” said Samir Abu Basel, a father of five in Gaza City displaced from his house by the war.
Since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump has talked about a US takeover of Greenland, warned of the possible seizure of the Panama Canal and declared that Canada should become the 51st US state.
Some critics have said his expansionist rhetoric echoes old-style imperialism, suggesting it could encourage Russia in its war in Ukraine and give China justification for invading self-ruled Taiwan.
World leaders said they remained supportive of the two-state solution that has formed the basis of US policy in the region for decades, which has held that Gaza would be part of a future Palestinian state that includes the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
US national security adviser Mike Waltz on Wednesday played down any notion the US was walking away from longstanding Middle East policy. “I certainly didn’t hear the president say it was the end of the two-state solution,” he told CBS News.
‘RIDICULOUS AND ABSURD’
An official from Palestinian militant group Hamas, which ruled the Gaza Strip before the war there that followed Hamas’ deadly October 7, 2023, cross-border attack on Israel, said Trump’s proposal was “ridiculous and absurd.”
“Any ideas of this kind are capable of igniting the region,” Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters, saying Hamas remains committed to the ceasefire accord with Israel and negotiating its next phase.
Trump’s pronouncements appear to run counter to US public opinion, which polls have shown is overwhelmingly opposed to new military entanglements in conflict zones following lengthy interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Trump frequently asserted during the 2024 election campaign and since returning to office that he would end what he called “ridiculous” wars and prevent others from starting.
Trump said that he plans to visit Gaza, Israel and Saudi Arabia, but did not say when he would go.
Trump’s proposal raises questions about whether Saudi Arabia would be willing to join a renewed US-brokered push for a historic normalization of relations with Israel.
Saudi Arabia, a pivotal US ally in the Middle East, said it would not establish ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state, contradicting Trump’s claim that Riyadh was not demanding a Palestinian homeland.
Trump would like Saudi Arabia to follow in the footsteps of the United Arab Emirates, a Middle East trade and business hub, and Bahrain, both of which signed the Abraham Accords in 2020 and normalized ties with Israel.
But on Wednesday, the kingdom’s foreign ministry said Saudi Arabia rejected any attempts to remove Palestinians from their land and said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had affirmed this position in “a clear and explicit manner.”
Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right Israeli lawmaker and former minister for national security, said “encouraging” Gazans to emigrate was the only correct strategy at the end of the Gaza war and urged Netanyahu to adopt the policy “immediately.”
Michael Milshtein, a former intelligence officer and one of Israel’s leading specialists on Hamas, said Trump’s comments put Israel on a collision course with its Arab neighbors.
“Maybe Trump is trying to promote pressure on the Arab states (so) they will not create any obstacles if he tries to promote a normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel.”
Gaza residents said after war and bombs had failed to eject them from Gaza that Trump would not succeed in doing so.
As fighting raged in the Gaza war, Palestinians feared they would suffer 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 in 1948.
Now they fear another round of displacement.
“We will not leave our areas,” said Um Tamer Jamal, a 65-year-old mother of six. “We have brought our kids up teaching them that they can’t leave their home and they can’t allow a second Nakba.”
