Following widespread condemnation and resistance from Middle Eastern countries, top US government officials have withdrawn their support from President Donald Trump’s proposals to retake control of Gaza and permanently relocate Palestinians to neighboring countries.
Trump declared on Tuesday that the US would “take over” and “own” Gaza in response to an extraordinary redevelopment plan that he claimed would allow the country to “take over” and “own” it after settling Palestinians elsewhere.
“We will do a job with the Gaza Strip and the US will take control of it.” We’ll own it”, Trump said at the White House after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, upending decades of US policy towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that the idea was “not meant to be hostile,” describing it as “an offer to rebuild and be in charge of the rebuilding” and “a générous move.”
Rubio responded to Trump’s earlier claim that Palestinians in Gaza needed to be permanently resettled in neighboring nations by claiming that the idea was to allow them to leave the area for an “interim” period of reconstruction and debris-clearing.
Later, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt praised Trump’s proposal for “outside of the box” and praised its historicity, not its “outside of the box” approach. However, she also emphasized that Washington would not provide funding for Gaza’s reconstruction and that its involvement “does not mean boots on the ground.”
“It’s a demolition site right now. It’s not a livable place for any human being”, she said. Leavitt added that Trump had been “very clear” that he expected Egypt, Jordan and others “to accept Palestinian refugees, temporarily, so that we can rebuild their home”.
In an interview with Fox News on Wednesday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump’s proposal, calling it “the first good idea I’ve heard.”
“It’s a remarkable idea, and I think it should be really pursued, examined, pursued and done, because I think it will create a different future for everyone”, he said.
Netanyahu, however, made the suggestion that leaving the area did not imply that Palestinians would remain there forever. “They can leave, they can then come back, they can relocate and come back, but you have to rebuild Gaza”, he said.
Israeli media reported that Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz gave the army instructions to create a plan to allow the evacuation of Gaza’s residents on Thursday.
“Asymetric to ethnic cleansing,”
The United Nations warned that “ethnic cleansing” would be practiced if people were forced to flee.
In a speech to a UN committee that deals with Palestinian rights, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated that “the Palestinians’ right to live as human beings in their own land is fundamental to the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.”
Trump’s push to remove Palestinians from Gaza was announced by China on Thursday. Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for the nation’s foreign ministry, stated that Beijing firmly supports the Palestinian people’s legitimate national rights.
“Gaza is the Gaza of Palestinians, an integral part of the Palestinian territory, not a political bargaining chip, let alone the target of a law of the jungle”, Guo said.
Palestinian officials and Arab leaders vehemently opposed Trump’s suggestion, arguing that any forced displacement of Palestinians would be unacceptable.
King Abdullah II of Jordan and Egypt’s Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the plan “would be a major destabilizing force” for their nations and “would be a serious violation of international law, an obstacle to the two-state solution, and a major destabilizing force.”
According to the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stated that the kingdom “clearly and explicitly” rejected any attempts to expel Palestinians from their land.
“The establishment of the Palestinian state is a firm, unwavering position”, the ministry said in a lengthy statement on X on Wednesday.
Hamas called Trump’s idea a “recipe for generating chaos” and said the people of Gaza would never allow their displacement.
Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, condemned “any projects” intended to displace the people of Gaza, which remained “an integral part of the State of Palestine”.
Residents of Gaza also objected to the idea of being forced to leave their homes. Fathi Abu al-Saeed, a 72-year-old resident of Khan Younis, told Al Jazeera that he would remain right by his demolished home.
“You see that pile of useless rubble”? he said, raising his cane to point at a demolished house. That and everything in it are worth more than the United States, according to the statement.
Source: Aljazeera
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