US President Donald Trump has proposed that the United States should “take over” Gaza, suggesting all Palestinians should be relocated from the conflict-afflicted territory into “a beautiful area”, rebuild it, and transform it into an economic hub. His plan includes resettling Palestinians in neighboring Arab countries and possibly deploying US troops.
Trump’s declaration has been celebrated by many on the Israeli right, who have long supported the removal of Palestinian residents from Gaza. But it has also been met with anger across the Arab world and beyond.
Trump first uttered his desire to “clean out” Gaza a week before this announcement. This prompted foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, and Egypt to sign a statement affirming their rejection of efforts to “compromise Palestinians’ unalienable rights, whether through settlement activities, or evictions or annex of land or through vacating the land from its owners”.
Egypt and Jordan’s response
Trump’s call for Arab states to take in Palestinians from Gaza – who he says have no alternative but to abandon the coastal strip – ignores the strength of feeling across the world about the Palestinian issue.
Egypt, for example, has long rejected the idea of housing Gaza’s population, amid growing socio-economic pressures and longstanding fears of Islamist violence. Jordan has been steadfast in its desire not to host more Palestinians, having already provided refuge for people fleeing Palestine in 1948 and 1967. It has, more recently, also become the main destination for refugees from Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq.
On February 5, Egypt’s foreign minister, Badr Abdelatty, met with the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, Mohammed Mustafa, in Cairo. According to an Egyptian foreign ministry statement, the pair jointly rejected Trump’s proposal for a US takeover of Gaza.
Egypt and Jordan have both signed peace deals with Israel. But relations have not always been cordial, and the destruction of Gaza has exacerbated these tensions. Trump’s latest comments, as well as those from the Israeli right, will only worsen the situation.
Relations with Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, has remained the jewel in the diplomatic crown seemingly out of reach both for the Trump administration and that of his successor, Joe Biden. The kingdom occupies a prominent place within the Arab and Muslim world by virtue of its custodianship of the two holy mosques of Mecca and Medina.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, has taken an increasingly hard line on normalisation with Israel in recent months, suggesting that such a deal would not be possible without the establishment of a Palestinian state.
In a statement released on February 5, the Saudi foreign ministry said it rejected “any attempts to displace the Palestinians from their land”. And bin Salman has affirmed the kingdom’s position that it would not establish ties with Israel without a Palestinian state.
During his press conference, Trump suggested that Saudi Arabia was not demanding a Palestinian homeland. But statements from Saudi officials since then contradict this narrative and point to increasingly divergent views on Gaza – and indeed, the future of Palestine – between Riyadh and Washington.
Trump’s Vision: A US-Backed Economic Transformation
Trump described Gaza as a “demolition site” and argued that the US could turn it into a flourishing economic hub. “This could be something that could be so valuable, this could be so magnificent,” he stated, likening it to prime real estate ready for development.
His real estate-driven perspective of geopolitics is not new. Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and former senior advisor, previously highlighted Gaza’s coastline as a potential development site. Some critics believe Trump’s remarks stem from this line of thinking prioritizing economic opportunities over the region’s political and humanitarian complexities.
Could there be implications for the Israel-Hamas ceasefire?
Negotiations on phase two of the two-week-old ceasefire between Israel and Hamas have barely begun but it is hard to see how Trump’s bombshell remarks will help to advance them.
If Hamas feels the end product of this whole process is a depopulated Gaza – devoid not just of Hamas, but of all Palestinians – it may conclude there is nothing to talk about and hold on to the remaining hostages it took on 7 October 2023.
Netanyahu’s critics have accused him of looking for excuses to blow up the negotiations and resume the war. They are bound to conclude that, with these comments, Trump is a willing accomplice.
On the other hand, the Israeli prime minister’s right-wing backers have expressed satisfaction with the US takeover plan, potentially reducing the risk of cabinet resignations and making Netanyahu’s immediate political future appear more assured.
Could Trump take over Gaza if he wants to?
It goes without saying that the US has no legal claim to the territory and it is not at all clear how Trump intends to impose American rule.
As with his bullish claims about US control over Greenland or the Panama Canal, it is not yet clear whether Trump really means it or if the comments represent an opening, outlandish bargaining position ahead of a bruising set of negotiations on Gaza’s future.
In December, the two main Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, agreed to form a joint committee to oversee its administration – an agreement which has so far come to nothing.
At other times, discussions have focused on the creation of an international peacekeeping force, possibly made up of troops from Arab countries.
Last month, Reuters reported that the UAE, US and Israel had discussed the formation of a temporary administration in Gaza until a reformed Palestinian Authority (PA), which already has control in parts of the West Bank, was ready to take over.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously publicly insisted that the PA will have no role to play in running post-war Gaza.
In a limited sense, American boots are already on the ground. A US security firm has employed around 100 former US special forces to man a vital checkpoint south of Gaza City and screen the vehicles of Palestinians returning to the north for weapons. Egyptian security personnel have also been seen at the same checkpoint.
These could be the first, tentative signs of an expanded international – and possibly US-led – presence in Gaza. But that is hardly a US takeover, something that would require a large-scale military intervention in the Middle East – the sort of thing Trump has long told voters he wants to avoid.
