KEY POINTS
- Trump says Palestinians have no right of return to Gaza under his plan.
- The US President calls his Gaza plan a “real estate development for the future.”
- Claims up to six sites will be built for displaced Palestinians outside Gaza.
- Palestinians and Arab nations strongly reject the controversial plan.
- UN warns forced displacement violates international law.
- Germany’s Chancellor Scholz calls the plan a “scandal.”
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Palestinians would have no right of return to Gaza after forced displacement under his US takeover plan, describing his proposal as a “real estate development for the future.”
In excerpts of an interview released on Monday, Trump told Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier, “I would own it” and that there could be as many as six different sites for Palestinians to live outside Gaza—under the plan which the Arab world has strongly rejected.
Donald Trump did not explain how or from whom the US would buy Gaza.
“No, they wouldn’t, because they’re going to have much better housing,” Trump said when Baier asked if the Palestinians would have the right to return to the enclave devastated by more than 15 months of Israeli war.
Trump said he is “committed to buying and owning” the Gaza Strip and relocating the two million Palestinians living there, despite global condemnation of the plan he unveiled last week.
“In other words, I’m talking about building a permanent place for them because if they have to return now, it’ll be years before you could ever—it’s not habitable,” Trump said in the interview, as quoted by AFP.
Not for sale
Trump first revealed the shock Gaza plan during a joint news conference with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, drawing outrage from Palestinians and the global community.
Both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas reiterated that Palestinian land was “not for sale.” But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump’s proposal as “revolutionary and creative.”
The US president pressed his case for Palestinians to be moved out of Gaza, devastated by the Israeli war against Hamas.
In the Fox News interview—which will be broadcast on Monday after the first half was screened ahead of the Super Bowl on Sunday—Trump said he would build “beautiful communities” for the more than two million Palestinians who live in Gaza.
“Could be five, six, could be two. But we’ll build safe communities, a little bit away from where they are, where all of this danger is,” added Trump.
“In the meantime, I would own this. Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land. No big money spent.”
Fragile Gaza ceasefire
Trump’s shock Gaza plan comes three weeks into a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, during which Hamas has released 21 Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Since 7 October 2023, the Israeli military has launched a relentless bombardment campaign in response to Hamas’s unprecedented cross-border attack.
More than 48,180 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in the Israeli military campaign in Gaza since 7 October 2023, the territory’s health ministry said.
Israeli bombardments have displaced most of Gaza’s population multiple times, and almost 70% of the territory’s buildings are estimated to be damaged or destroyed.
Meanwhile, the territory’s healthcare, water, sanitation, and hygiene systems have collapsed, and there are shortages of food, fuel, medicine, and shelter.
On Sunday, Trump repeated his pledge to take over post-war Gaza as he flew to New Orleans on Air Force One to watch the Super Bowl.
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The president also again expressed confidence that he could persuade Egypt and Jordan to help, despite their previous public rejections of his requests to take Palestinians from Gaza.
The Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry said: “The rights of our people and our land are not for sale, exchange, or bargaining.”
“The Israeli government and Prime Minister Netanyahu are trying to cover up the crimes of genocide, forced displacement, and annexation which they have committed against our people,” it added.
Unacceptable and against international law
“For this purpose, they continue to promote slogans and positions which are separate from the political reality and far from the requirements of the political solutions to the conflict.”
A political official from Hamas said Trump’s remarks were “absurd” and reflected “deep ignorance of Palestine and the region.”
“Gaza is not a property to be sold and bought. It is an integral part of our occupied Palestinian land,” Izzat al-Rishq said.
The UN Human Rights Office warned that any forcible transfer in, or deportation of, people from occupied territory was strictly prohibited under international law.
Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz also strongly criticised Trump’s plan on Sunday, calling it a “scandal.”
“I say this with the Egyptian government, with the Jordanian government, and with the people who can count on human dignity: the relocation of a population is unacceptable and against international law,” he said during a televised pre-election debate.
