On February 5, President Donald Trump announced in a news conference with Benjamin Netanyahu that “the US [would] take over the Gaza Strip” in order to reconstruct and beautify it into what he has called “the Riviera of the Middle East”. More recently, on February 26, Trump released an AI-generated video displaying his proposal for “Trump Gaza”. In the process, current Palestinian residents would also be relocated, and on Fox News Trump stated that they would not be allowed back into Gaza. Instead, Trump is proposing for the US to work with other wealthy countries in order to construct residences in nearby Egypt and Jordan, which would house the over 2 million Palestianians currently living in Gaza.
Trump’s proposed Gaza plan sparked international outrage when it was first publicly announced, only receiving support from Israel. The practice of taking over other territories is generally something that people want to leave in the 1900s, which is why many of Trump’s own allies in Congress have stated that a US takeover of Gaza is unreasonable. The plan is especially intolerable to nearby Arab nations such as Jordan, Egyptian, and Saudi Arabia, who have planned an urgent meeting to develop a counterproposal to Trump’s plan.
In addition, forcibly relocating civilians is a violation of international humanitarian law except for the “security of the civilians involved or imperative military reasons”, despite Trump’s presumably good intentions. Trump has said that the reconstruction of Gaza is not possible with Palestinians still residing there. Some human rights groups have even claimed that Trump’s plan counts as ethnic cleansing and a crime against humanity. Trump has claimed that “the only reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is that they have no alternative.” This ignores the religious grievances that fuel tensions between Israel and Palestine.
The plan was likely never going to happen. Trump only discussed the plan individually with a few of his aides before making a public announcement. Many of his own Republican allies have spoken out against the plan. However, some have offered a rationale for Trump’s seemingly ridiculous plan. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested that Trump made an absurd proposal with the intention to pressure Arab states to figure out a solution. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham stated that “the one thing President Trump has done, he’s started a conversation that was long overdue”.
Apparently Trump has been very welcoming of alternatives to his plan. He was “attentive and sympathetic” in a meeting with the leader of Jordan, King Abdullah II. A proposal by Egypt has been gaining regional attention and support, and it maintains Palestinian control over Gaza but evicts anyone with Hamas affiliation from leadership.