Trump told reporters that he wants to expel “all” Palestinians from Gaza — not just during a period of reconstruction, but permanently.
By Jonah Valdez, The Intercept
President Donald Trump welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House on Tuesday, the first foreign leader to visit in his second term, by floating the idea that the United States should take ownership of the Gaza Strip and permanently displace all Palestinians living there.
After describing the Gaza Strip as a hellish environment, Trump told reporters that he wants to expel “all” Palestinians from Gaza — not just during a period of reconstruction following the Israel–Hamas war, but permanently. Trump suggested that current residents of Gaza can instead “occupy all of a beautiful area with homes and safety, and they can live out their lives in peace and harmony, instead of having to go back and do it again.”
In recent days, Trump had proposed plans to temporarily relocate Palestinians living in Gaza to neighboring countries of Egypt and Jordan, which were rejected by those nation’s leaders.
Along with the cleansing of Gaza’s Palestinian population, Trump proposed a U.S. takeover of the Strip.
“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” Trump said during a press conference alongside Netanyahu. “We’ll own it … get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area … do something different, just can’t go back, if you go back, it’s gonna end up the same way it has for 100 years.”
As soon as Trump took office, Palestinian experts and advocates warned that he would accelerate and maintain even stronger support for Israel’s annexation of Palestinian land and continued ethnic cleansing, especially as Trump began to cast his eye on the rebuilding of Gaza. Members of Netanyahu’s far-right cabinet have long expressed desire for Israelis to reoccupy Gaza and to build new settlements there. Trump has previously described Gaza as a potential development site, touting its weather and seaside location.
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