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“The US will take over the Gaza strip, and we will do a job with it too.”
Donald Trump’s latest remarks on Gaza suggesting that the U-S should take over Gaza and relocate Palestinians there elsewhere, has triggered a storm of international criticism.
“You can't live in Gaza right now. I think we need another location. I think it should be a location that's going to make people happy. You look over the over the decades, it's all death in Gaza. This has been happening for years. It's all death. If we can get a beautiful area to resettle people permanently in nice homes and where they can be happy and not be shot, not be killed, not be knifed to death like what's happening in Gaza.”
Mr Trump, a real estate mogul and property developer, suggested that Gaza can become the Cote d'Azur of the Middle-East.
“We have an opportunity to do something that could be phenomenal. And 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 something that could be so bad, could be so magnificent.”
Mr Trump suggested exiling 1.8 million Gazans to Egypt and Jordan, something both countries categorically rejected, as did leaders of other countries, now seriously concerned about US foreign policy.
White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, has since claimed the relocation would only be temporary while Gaza is rebuilt.
REPORTER: "The president yesterday used the word permanent, for permanently resettle Palestinians. I hear you saying temporarily today. Is that a shift or a specific change that you want to highlight and clarify that?
LEAVITT: "The president has made it clear that they need to be temporarily relocated out of Gaza for the rebuilding of this effort. Again, it's a demolition site right now. It's not a livable place for any human being. And I think it's actually quite evil to suggest that people should live in such dire conditions.”
But that hasn’t eased the backlash.
Germany, Turkiye, Brazil, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt have all condemned the idea.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier is Germany's president.
“Proposals to remove or relocate the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, or in other words to drive them out of the region, I have experienced this in all three places I have visited and felt it generate deep concern in some people, even horror. Such proposals are not only unacceptable under international law, I also do not believe that they will be a serious basis for the upcoming talks between the regional actors and the US administration. Germany is committed, and we agree, as does Turkey, to continue to work for a two-state solution.”
Hakan Fidan is Turkiye's Foreign Minister.
“This method has been tried in history. There has been a war going on for 60-70 years. If they push on this method again, if they take it further, a situation will arise that will endanger both regional and global peace.”
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reiterated on Wednesday Canberra’s support of a two-state solution in the Middle East, following Trump's shock announcement.
“What I would say is that Australia's position is the same as it was this morning, as it was last year and as it was 10 years ago and it was under the Howard government. The Australian government support on a bipartisan basis a two-state solution in the Middle East.”
The United Nations and human rights groups say removing Palestinians from Gaza would amount to ethnic cleansing.
UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, believes Mr Trump's plan for Gaza is preposterous.
“ It's nonsense and it's unlawful. What he proposes. It's. I mean, people talk of ethnic cleansing. No, it's worse. It's worse. It's forced displacement it is inciting to commit forced displacement, which is an international crime. Forced displacement and further dispossession. And in the context of a genocide. I mean, it will strengthen the complicity in the crimes that Israel has been committing over in the past 15 months and before. You know, it's unlawful, immoral, and completely irresponsible because it will make the regional crisis even worse.”
Ms Albanese is concerned that Mr Trump's suggestion could incite violence, and is calling for calm.
“I truly hope that people will stay calm, will not panic, and will remember that the international community is made of 193 states, and this is the time to give the US what it has been looking for - isolation.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the only solution is a two-state solution.
“In the search for solutions, we must not make the problem worse. It is vital to stay true to the bedrock of international law. It is essential to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing. ... We must reaffirm the two-state solution. Any durable peace will require tangible, irreversible and permanent progress toward the two state solution, an end to the occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Gaza as an integral part.”
Even in Washington, many members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike, have pushed back against the proposal.
Chris Murphy is the Democratic Senator for the State of Connecticut.
“Trump's talking about this ridiculous Gaza plan because he's trying to change the conversation. We're not going to invade and occupy Gaza. He saw that the people in this country were starting to really rise up at the theft that is happening, destruction of our democracy. ... People are furious that our democracy is under attack and Trump and is billionaire crowd is seizing power. So what is Trump do? He just tries to change the conversation. So, he went to the podium last night and thought to himself what's the craziest thing I could say? What's the most insane thing I could say? Because I don't want people to talk about Elon Musk and my billionaire friends stealing folks’ money. So, he said this thing about Gaza.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, has embraced Mr Trump’s vision for Gaza.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called Gaza in its current framework "a failed experiment" and said that Mr Trump's plan for the Hamas-ruled coastal territory is a bid to find a solution.
“Today, it's very important to consider and examine ideas that are outside the box, too. Gaza is a failed experiment. It failed under Egyptian sovereignty, it failed when it later was handed over the the Palestinian Authority as part of the Oslo accords. It definitely failed under Hamas' rule. And anyone with eyes can understand that Gaza in its current framework has no future.”
Thom Tillis, Republican Senator for the State of North Carolina, supports Mr Trump's plan.
“I believe that what the president is really trying to say is we've got to do things differently in Gaza. And one thing we can't have for a long-term safe Gaza is Hamas. So, I think he's right in suggesting that we need to have a clean slate. The reason I said a kink in the slinky, it may not work out the way he envisioned it or the way he discussed it at a press conference, but I think directionally, he's on the right track and we've got to eradicate Hamas. Hamas cannot be trusted.”
Brian Katulis, senior fellow for US Foreign Policy at the Middle East Institute says Mr Trump's plan is unrealistic.
“I think he is just making things up off the cuff. Most certainly there is no plan behind this. And if there is it is not a plan that has any connection to reality in today's Middle East, and certainly not in any consultations with the Palestinians or neighbouring countries like Egypt and Jordan, which reject the first step in his plan which is to remove all the Palestinians of Gaza and put them in their countries.”
Arab nations are warning that any forced displacement would deepen instability in the region and further undermine hopes for a two-state solution.
Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday it would not establish ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state.
Palestinian militant group Hamas has condemned Mr Trump's remarks stating it will fight any attempts to displace Palestinians from Gaza.
