WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday advised that displaced Palestinians in Gaza be “completely” resettled outdoors the war-torn territory and proposed the U.S. take “possession” in redeveloping the war-torn territory.
Trump’s audacious proposal seems sure to roil the subsequent stage of talks meant to increase the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and safe the discharge of the remaining hostages held in Gaza.
The provocative feedback got here as talks are ramping up this week with the promise of surging humanitarian help and reconstruction provides to assist the individuals of Gaza get well after greater than 15 months of devastating battle. Now Trump desires to push roughly 1.8 million individuals to go away the land they’ve referred to as house and declare it for the U.S., maybe with American troops.
Trump outlined his considering as he held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the White Home, the place the 2 leaders additionally mentioned the delicate ceasefire and hostage deal within the Israeli-Hamas battle and shared considerations about Iran.
“I don’t assume individuals ought to be going again,” Trump mentioned. “You possibly can’t dwell in Gaza proper now. I believe we want one other location. I believe it ought to be a location that’s going to make individuals completely satisfied.”
Trump mentioned the U.S. would take possession of the Gaza Strip and redevelop it after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere and switch the territory into “the Riviera of the Center East” wherein the “world’s individuals”— together with Palestinians — would dwell.
“We’ll ensure that it’s completed world class,” Trump mentioned. “It’ll be fantastic for the individuals–Palestinians, Palestinians principally, we’re speaking about.”
Egypt, Jordan and different U.S. allies within the Mideast have cautioned Trump that relocating Palestinians from Gaza would threaten Mideast stability, threat increasing the battle and undermine a decades-long push by the U.S. and allies for a two-state answer.
Nonetheless, Trump insists the Palestinians “don’t have any different” however to go away the “massive pile of rubble” that’s Gaza. He spoke out as his high aides harassed {that a} three-to-five-year timeline for reconstruction of the war-torn territory, as specified by a short lived truce settlement, just isn’t viable.
Final week, each Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Jordanian King Abdullah II dismissed Trump’s calls to resettle Gazans.
However Trump mentioned he believes Egypt and Jordan—in addition to different international locations, which he didn’t identify—will finally agree to soak up Palestinians.
“You look over the many years, it’s all loss of life in Gaza,” Trump mentioned. “This has been taking place for years. It’s all loss of life. If we will get a ravishing space to resettle individuals, completely, in good properties the place they are often completely satisfied and never be shot and never be killed and never be knifed to loss of life like what’s taking place in Gaza.”
Trump additionally mentioned he isn’t ruling out deploying U.S. troops to assist reconstruction of Gaza. He envisions “long-term” U.S. possession of a redevelopment of the territory.
“We’ll do what is critical,” Trump mentioned about the potential of deploying American troops to fill any safety vacuum.
The White Home’s give attention to the way forward for Gaza comes because the nascent truce between Israel and Hamas hangs within the stability.
Netanyahu is dealing with competing stress from his right-wing coalition to finish a short lived truce towards Hamas militants in Gaza and from war-weary Israelis who need the remaining hostages house and for the 15-month battle to finish.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the Palestinian Authority and the Arab League joined Egypt and Jordan in rejecting plans to maneuver Palestinians out of their territories in Gaza and the occupied West Financial institution.
Trump could also be betting he can persuade Egypt and Jordan to return round to simply accept displaced Palestinians due to the numerous help that the U.S. supplies Cairo and Amman. Laborious-line right-wing members of Netanyahu’s authorities have embraced the decision to maneuver displaced Palestinians out of Gaza.
“To me, it’s unfair to elucidate to Palestinians that they is perhaps again in 5 years,” Trump’s Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, informed reporters. “That’s simply preposterous.”
Trump additionally signaled that he could also be reconsidering an unbiased Palestinian state as a part of a broader two-state answer to the decades-long Israel-Palestinian battle. “Properly, a whole lot of plans change with time,” he informed reporters when requested if he was nonetheless dedicated to a plan just like the one he specified by 2020 that referred to as for a Palestinian state. “Lots of loss of life has occurred since I left and now got here again.”
Netanyahu’s arrival in Washington for the primary international chief go to of Trump’s second time period coincides with the prime minister’s well-liked assist sagging.
The prime minister is in the course of weekslong testimony in an ongoing corruption trial that facilities on allegations he exchanged favors with media moguls and rich associates. He has decried the accusations and mentioned he’s the sufferer of a “witch hunt.”
Being seen with Trump, who’s well-liked in Israel, might assist distract the general public from the trial and enhance Netanyahu’s standing.
“We’ve got the best chief of Israel who’s completed an ideal job,” Trump mentioned of Netanyahu.
Netanyahu additionally praised Trump’s management in getting the hostage and ceasefire deal. “I’ll simply let you know, I’m completely satisfied they’re right here,” Netanyahu mentioned of Trump and his administration.
It’s Netanyahu’s first journey outdoors Israel because the Worldwide Felony Court docket issued arrest warrants in November for him, his former protection minister and Hamas’ slain army chief, accusing them of crimes towards humanity throughout the warfare in Gaza. The U.S. doesn’t acknowledge the ICC’s authority over its residents or territory.
Netanyahu met with White Home nationwide safety adviser Mike Waltz and Witkoff on Monday to start the daunting work of brokering the subsequent part of a ceasefire settlement.
The Israeli chief mentioned he would ship a delegation to Qatar to proceed oblique talks with Hamas which might be being mediated by the Gulf Arab nation, the primary affirmation that these negotiations would proceed. Netanyahu additionally mentioned he would convene his safety Cupboard to debate Israel’s calls for for the subsequent part of the ceasefire when he returns to Israel on the finish of the week.
Witkoff, in the meantime, mentioned he plans to fulfill with Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in Florida on Thursday to debate the subsequent part within the ceasefire. Qatar and Egypt have served as key intermediaries with Hamas all through the battle.
Netanyahu is beneath intense stress from hard-right members of his governing coalition to desert the ceasefire and resume combating in Gaza to get rid of Hamas. Bezalel Smotrich, one among Netanyahu’s key companions, vows to topple the federal government if the warfare isn’t relaunched, a step that might result in early elections.
Hamas, which has reasserted management over Gaza because the ceasefire started final month, has mentioned it is not going to launch hostages within the second part with out an finish to the warfare and Israeli forces’ full withdrawal. Netanyahu, in the meantime, maintains that Israel is dedicated to victory over Hamas and the return of all hostages captured within the Oct. 7, 2023 assault that triggered the warfare.
The 2 leaders additionally mentioned Iran’s nuclear program. Forward of his assembly with Netanyahu, Trump signed an govt order that he mentioned would improve financial stress on Iran.
“We’re not going to permit them to have a nuclear weapon,” Trump mentioned.
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