Trump’s ‘disgusting and dangerous’ Gaza takeover plan sparks fury
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Trump’s proposal to take over Gaza, displace its residents, and frame it as an economic opportunity has sparked widespread outrage.
US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during which the newly inaugurated second-term president suggested a US takeover of Gaza, was met with widespread criticism by many observers.
“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” Trump told reporters in a joint press conference with Netanyahu. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site.”
He claimed that the jobs it would create would provide an economic boost, and he insisted that it would be warmly welcomed throughout the region. He had repeated this claim over the past several months, including during his presidential campaign.
“We’re going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it’ll be something that the entire Middle East can be very proud of,” Trump said, seeming to tap into his real estate background.
“I do see a long-term ownership position and I see it bringing great stability to that part of the Middle East.”
Trump’s proposal would result in the mass displacement of more than two million Gazans, who would be relocated to Egypt and Jordan, whose leaders are set to visit Washington later this month.
In fielding questions to reporters, he did not rule out the US military force to implement his plan.
The forcible relocation of Palestinians to neighbouring countries, reminiscent of colonial-era expulsions, would be both illegal and widely opposed by the public and world leaders.
“It’s both disgusting and dangerous,” James Zogby, a veteran pollster and president of the Arab American Institute, told The New Arab.
“It’s disgusting because it’s totally in violation of the rights of the people. It ignores their humanity and treats them as pawns, which is what has happened to them over the past hundred years anyway,” he added.
“For Trump to put us [the Americans] in this role is completely dangerous. The Palestinians won’t leave. They could be forced out, but it would be a nightmare scenario,” he said.
Others across the political spectrum, including several prominent Republicans, have expressed concern about Trump’s proposal for Gaza. US Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a Trump ally, described the plan as problematic.
