Trump doubles down on suggestion Palestinians should leave Gazapublished at 23:01 Greenwich Mean Time
Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent
President Trump has doubled
down on his suggestion that Palestinians should leave Gaza.
It’s clearer than ever that
he believes almost all Gazans should leave the devastated strip, probably
permanently.
No longer does this sound
like an off-the-cuff remark. It starts to look more like policy.
Sitting with a
satisfied-looking Benjamin Netanyahu at his side, Trump suggested that as
many as 1.8 million people should leave, to be housed in 4-6 areas in Jordan,
Egypt and unspecified other countries.
If the resettlement
arrangements were “really nice”, he said, Palestinians would not want to
return.
He brushed aside Jordanian
and Egyptian objections and said that a Palestinian return to Gaza was a recipe
for future violence.
It’s hard to exaggerate just
how shocking his words sound to Palestinian and other Arab ears. The president,
it seems, is entirely oblivious to the desires and fears of the Palestinian
population, and indifferent to the pleas of Washington’s Arab allies.
Trump was not asked what
he thought should happen to the Gaza Strip itself, although he did say “I don’t
see it happening” when asked about the return of Jewish settlers. It wasn’t
entirely clear if he understood the question.
But the president’s
insistence on the mass relocation of Gazans seems destined, at the very least,
to complicate the next round of ceasefire negotiations.
For all of Trump’s forceful
rhetoric, his administration’s approach is still far from clear.
Speaking earlier, his
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz said rebuilding Gaza would realistically
take 10-15 years.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s
Middle East envoy, explained that when the president spoke of “clearing it
out”, he meant making Gaza habitable.
He didn’t say for who, but
added that it was “unfair” to tell Palestinians that they might return in five years.
Trump’s long-term vision for
Gaza remains a mystery.