President Donald Trump proposed on Tuesday that the U.S. should “own” the Gaza Strip, “level the site” and develop it, explicitly calling for displacing 2 million Palestinians from their homeland as the region’s leaders struggle to maintain a fragile ceasefire.
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During a wide-ranging press conference with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump laid out a sweeping plan for the U.S. to colonize Gaza, level it and build resorts. “I don’t want to be cute. I don’t want to be a wise guy, but—the Riviera of the Middle East. This could be so magnificent,” Trump said.
The idea would place the U.S. in the middle of a centuries-old conflict over ownership of the land along the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea. Netanyahu didn’t dismiss the concept. “I think it’s worth paying attention to. We are talking about it,” Netanyahu said. “I think it is something that could change history, and it is worthwhile really pursuing this idea.”
Trump’s outlandish real-estate pitch comes at a delicate moment in the ceasefire agreement announced on Jan. 15 between Hamas and Israel, as Israel is still trying to get Hamas to hand over Israeli hostages and the remains of those who died while being held by Hamas. Ownership of the Gaza Strip and Israeli land is a central part of the conflict, with Hamas leaders threatening another invasion of Israel and right-wing Israeli settlers continuing to call for claiming land in Gaza.
More than two million Palestinians live in Gaza, own land, and have lived there for many generations. Trump proposed ignoring all that history and having the U.S. control it, alluding to the monumental rebuilding facing the Palestinian people. “The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too. We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site. Level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings. Level it out,” he said. When asked who would live there, he said: “I envision the world’s people living there.”
Trump’s idea cuts against the longstanding instance by Israel’s neighbors Egypt and Jordan that Palestinians should not be permanently displaced from their homes in Gaza. Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security advisor, said that Trump spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Al Sisi on Tuesday and that Jordanian King Abdullah would visit the White House next week.
Waltz said that the extent of the damage in Gaza created a challenge for the people in southern Gaza waiting to return to their land in the north of the strip. He said rebuilding parts of Gaza that were bombed in the war could take more than a decade, as parts are still riddled with explosives and sit on top of a honeycomb of tunnels built by Hamas. “At some point, we have to look realistically, how do you rebuild Gaza? What does that look like? What is the timeline?” Waltz said. “A lot of people were looking at very unrealistic timelines. We’re talking 10 to 15 years.”
