Trump's Gaza proposal stirs wider uproar

GAZA/WASHINGTON — A proposal by US President Donald Trump to take control of the Gaza Strip and relocate its residents elsewhere has sparked wider rejection, as experts warn such a move risks undermining the two-state solution and exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in the region.

Earlier this week, Trump suggested that the United States would take over Gaza and redevelop it after Palestinians are relocated elsewhere. He made these remarks in a joint news conference at the White House with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Many countries in the Middle East have voiced their opposition to the idea of displacing the Gazans from their homeland.

The Palestinian presidency on Thursday said Palestine and its land, history, and holy sites are not for sale, emphasizing that the rights of the Palestinian people are neither negotiable nor subject to compromise.

In a statement, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the spokesman of the Palestinian presidency, said: "The Palestinian people, who have made immense sacrifices in defense of their national rights, will not relinquish even an inch of their land, including the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem."

Any proposed solution, he insisted, must align with international legitimacy and the Arab Peace Initiative.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem on Thursday warned that Trump's plan to take over Gaza and displace its people was a "declaration of intent to occupy" the Palestinian territory.

The group also called for "an urgent Arab summit to confront the displacement" of Palestinians from Gaza, Qassem said in a statement.

Trump, meanwhile, doubled down on the shock plan.

"The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting," Trump said on his Truth Social network. "Stability for the region would reign!"

Meanwhile, Trump on Thursday signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court over investigations of Israel, a close US ally.

In the United States, Arab American and Muslim leaders, including some who supported Trump in the 2024 election, criticized the proposal.

"We're opposed to any transfer of Palestinians, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, out of their homeland," Bishara Bahbah, who founded the Arab Americans for Trump and helped rally support for him in Michigan and other battleground states, told Reuters.

Reshaping region

While Trump's proposal may lack immediate feasibility, experts say it reflects ongoing efforts by the US and Israel to reshape the region's dynamics, according to Samir Anbitawi, a Ramallah-based Palestinian expert.

Anbitawi argued that Trump's remarks are not impulsive rhetoric but part of a strategy to frame the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a refugee issue, sidelining Palestinians' political rights.

"Such a proposal threatens to impose solutions that benefit the occupation and dismantle the two-state solution," Anbitawi said.

He noted that the proposal exploits Gaza's dire humanitarian conditions to pressure neighboring Arab countries into accepting Palestinians as refugees.

Such plans could also accelerate efforts to separate Gaza from the West Bank, fragmenting Palestinian territories and undermining prospects for a contiguous, independent state, said Ahmed Rafiq Awad, a Ramallah-based political expert.

Fadi Jomaa, a lecturer at the Arab American University in Jenin, said, "This US policy will spark unrest in host countries as governments struggle to manage the influx of refugees amid ongoing regional instability."

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Israel and the Arab states in mid-February, a State Department official said, making his first trip to the Middle East after the proposal.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, called Trump's plan "remarkable" and the "first good idea" that he had heard.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz took it a step further, asking the military to craft a plan for a potential exodus. Katz has given few details on how such a plan would work.

Even Netanyahu's rivals indicated openness. Benny Gantz, a former defense minister and centrist opposition figure, said Trump's proposal showed "creative, original and intriguing thinking."

Xinhua - Agencies