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Donald Trump has been accused of promoting the “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinian people after he said the US would “take over” the Gaza Strip, relocate its inhabitants and turn the enclave into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
The remarks, made alongside Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, which is the first in-person visit by a foreign leader since Mr Trump’s return to office, sparked controversy in the region, being swiftly rejected by Palestinian leaders and leaders of the Arab world
Israel captured the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians seek all three areas for their future state. In 2005, Israel withdrew its troops from Gaza while retaining control over its borders, seashore and airspace. It imposed a blockade in 2007 when Hamas took control of the territory and a number of conflicts have been fought since, with a ceasefire currently holding in the latest war between Israel and Hamas.
Saudi Arabia said it “unequivocally rejected” the forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and that their long call for an independent Palestinian state was a “firm, steadfast and unwavering position”. It said Riyadh would not normalise diplomatic relations with Israel without the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital. Palestinian American congresswoman Rashida Tlaib accused Mr Trump of “ethnic cleansing” with his suggestion.
Ms Tlaib said: “This president is openly calling for ethnic cleansing. He’s perfectly fine cutting off working Americans from federal funds while the funding to the Israeli government continues flowing.”
A senior Hamas official condemned Mr Trump’s comments as “ridiculous and absurd” that can “ignite” the region again. The call for Gazans to leave is “expulsion from their land”, Sami Abu Zuhri said, adding, “We consider them (the plans) a recipe for generating chaos and tension in the region because the people of Gaza will not allow such plans to pass. Instead of holding [Israel] accountable for the crime of genocide and displacement, it is being rewarded, not punished.”
Mr Trump has been laying the groundwork for his proposal since last week after he said that he would “clean out Gaza” and encouraged Jordan and Egypt to host roughly 2.3 million Palestinians currently living in the enclave.
In his latest remarks, Mr Trump said: “We’re going to take over that piece, we’re going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs and it’ll be something the entire Middle East can be very proud of.
“If we could find the right piece of land, pieces of land, and build them some really nice places … I think that would be a lot better than going back to Gaza.”
He later added that he was confident that his allies Egypt, Jordan, and other nations would “open their hearts and give us the kind of land that we need to get this done”. Both Egypt and Jordan have previously said that they would not take any more Palestinian refugees from Gaza.
Both Egypt and Jordan have previously rejected suggestions of such a plan. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called Mr Trump’s remarks “unacceptable,” adding any plans leaving Palestinians “out of the equation” would lead to more conflict.
Speaking to the state-owned Anadolu news agency, he said Turkey would review the steps it had taken against Israel – cutting off trade and recalling its ambassador – if the killing of Palestinians stopped and their conditions changed.
Palestinians have long been haunted by what they call the “Nakba”, or catastrophe, when 700,000 of them were dispossessed from their homes during the war that surrounded the creation of Israel in 1948.
Many were driven out or fled to neighbouring Arab states, including to Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, where many of them and their descendants still live in refugee camps. Some went to Gaza. Israel disputes the account that they were forced out.
A member of Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet also has hit back at Mr Trump’s suggestions on Gaza, arguing Palestinians “need to be able to return to their homes”.
Environment secretary Steve Reed said Israel should exist alongside “a free and viable Palestinian state”.
“Palestinian civilians have been through a living nightmare for the last 14 months, they need to be able to return to their homes and start to rebuild them,” Mr Reed told Sky News. “I think we should give Donald Trump credit for the role he played in securing the ceasefire in the first place, but it is the view of the UK government that Palestinians should be able to return to their homes.”
In a press conference on Wednesday, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said he doesn’t do “running commentary” when asked about the US president’s comments but said they stand firm on their policy of supporting a two-state solution.
“[What] I would say is that Australia’s position is the same as it was this morning, as it was last year, and it was 10 years ago, and it was under the Howard government,” Mr Albanese said.
The Chinese foreign ministry said it opposed the forced transfer of Palestinian citizens and reaffirmed support for the two-state solution.
The spokesperson said it hoped all parties will take the ceasefire and post-conflict governance to bring the Palestinian issue back on the right track.
New Zealand’s foreign ministry said in a statement that its “long-standing support for a two-state solution is on the record” and added that it, too, “won’t be commenting on every proposal that is put forward”.
Reactions from the Democratic politicians in the US were swift and sharply worded, suggesting it could be Mr Trump’s effort to deflect attention away from the US Treasury payments system.
Democratic senator Chris Murphy lashed out at the president, calling his suggestion a “bad, sick joke”.
“He’s totally lost it. A US invasion of Gaza would lead to the slaughter of thousands of US troops and decades of war in the Middle East. It’s like a bad, sick joke,” he said on X.
He said it is to draw attention away from “the real story”.
“I have news for you – we aren’t taking over Gaza,” he said.
“But the media and the chattering class will focus on it for a few days and Trump will have succeeded in distracting everyone from the real story – the billionaires seizing government to steal from regular people.”
Democratic representative Jake Auchincloss called the proposal “reckless and unreasonable” in an interview with NewsNation and warned that it could jeopardise the second phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
“We have to look at Trump’s motives,” he said. “As always, when Trump proposes a policy item, there is a nepotistic, self-serving connection,” he said.
Referring to Mr Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, he added, “They want to turn this into resorts”.
His secretary of state Marco Rubio backed Mr Trump on his Gaza plans, saying the Palestinian enclave must be free from Islamist group Hamas.
“Gaza MUST BE FREE from Hamas. As @POTUS shared today, the United States stands ready to lead and Make Gaza Beautiful Again,” Mr Rubio said on X. “Our pursuit is one of lasting peace in the region for all people.”
While Mr Trump had floated suggestions of Palestinian displacement since 25 January, statements issued since by Mr Rubio’s State Department on its websites after the top US diplomat’s subsequent calls with regional leaders did not explicitly mention Mr Trump’s suggestion.
Mr Trump’s extraordinary comments are expected to cause unease among Arab leaders as it is a remarkable assertion from a sitting American president, the one who rose to power by promising an end to the ongoing crisis in the world and return of US investments for its own people.
It comes as the 15 months of war have caused a colossal humanitarian impact on the Gaza Strip where the displaced Palestinians have begun returning to their damaged homes.
The war was triggered by an attack by Hamas inside Israel on 7 October 2023, during which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 people were taken captive. Israel’s retaliatory offensive inside Gaza has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s health ministry, and laid waste to the territory home to 2.3 million people, who face severe shortages of medicine, fuel and food.
A UN damage assessment released in January showed that clearing over 50 million tonnes of rubble left in Gaza in the aftermath of Israel’s bombardment could take 21 years and cost up to $1.2bn.
Read More: Arab world rejects Trump’s plan for US to ‘take over’ Gaza and relocate Palestinians
