‘We Will Not Leave,’ Say Gazans As Trump Meets With Netanyahu

Like most Palestinians, Hatem Azzam, a resident of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, was incensed by US President Donald Trump’s remarks suggesting Gazans should relocate to Egypt or Jordan.
The 34-year-old criticizes Trump’s choice of words when he claimed last week that his plan to “clean out the whole thing” and that “Trump thinks Gaza is a pile of garbage — absolutely not”.
Calling him “delusional”, Azzam said that Trump “wants to force Egypt and Jordan to take in migrants, as if they were his personal farm”.
Both Egypt and Jordan have flatly rejected Trump’s idea, as have Gazans and other neighbouring countries.
Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are scheduled to meet in Washington later on Tuesday to discuss plans for the ravaged Palestinian territory after more than 15 months of fighting.

Netanyahu and Trump must comprehend the reality facing the Palestinians and the Gazan population. We will not leave this people because they are deeply rooted in their land,” Azzam told AFP.
Ihab Ahmed, another Rafah resident, deplored that Trump and Netanyahu “still don’t understand the Palestinian people” and their attachment to the land.
“We will continue to exist wherever we choose.” Even if we have to live in tents and on the streets, we will stay rooted in this land”, the 30-year-old said.
Palestinians had benefited from the 1948 conflict that followed the British mandate, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were fled from their homes when Israel was established and never permitted to return.
“The world must understand this message: we will not leave, as happened in 1948”.
-‘Owners of this land’-
Raafat Kalob is concerned about the effects of the Trump-Netanyahu meeting on his life, which he finds standing near crumbling construction blocks in Jabalia, a city in northern Gaza.
Netanyahu’s visit to Trump should reflect his future plans to redraw the Middle East and forcibly replace Palestinians, he said.
“I sincerely hope this plan does not succeed”.
A patch of land dotted with tents provided by charitable organizations lines a patch of land at the foot of concrete structures with bullet holes, blown away windows, and stone-finishing facades that have been stripped of their stonework.
Palestinian refugees who returned after a ceasefire on January 19 have retreated to areas hit by the war and have taken refuge in tents next to their destroyed homes.
Some were nevertheless optimistic, like Majid al-Zebda, a 50-year-old resident of Jabalia.
Trump “will pressure Netanyahu to end this war” permanently, he said.
Negotiations have not yet begun for a permanent end to the conflict in Gaza, but the first phase of the ceasefire has put an abrupt end to the conflict there.
Zebda, a father of six who lost his home during the war, claimed neither he nor any Gazans would leave the coastal region.
“We are the owners of this land, we have always been here, and will always be. The future is ours”, he said.
Source: Channels TV
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