President Donald Trump’s proposal for the U.S. to take over Gaza and resettle its residents in neighboring Arab countries was met with sharp rejection by European countries, as well as Arab and Muslim states.
“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” President Trump said at a White House news conference with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday.
The U.S. would undertake the task of transforming the Gaza landscape by dismantling the explosives and terrorists infrastructure scattered across the Hamas-infested enclave. “We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site,” the president proposed.
He spoke of leveling “the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings. Level it out.”
President Trump also advanced the idea of bringing in investments that could improve the lives of people living in the region. “Create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area,” the president added. “Do a real job. Do something different.”
President Trump proposal of “resettling Palestinians elsewhere has shattered U.S. policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and sparked widespread criticism,” Reuters reported.
The “shock move” from the U.S. president “was swiftly condemned by international powers, with regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia … rejecting the plan outright,” the news agency added.
Russia and China, leading U.S. adversaries, joined the European and Muslim states in commending the plan to transform Gaza in the wake of 15-month war resulting from Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
“Countries from Russia, China, Spain, Ireland and the UK said they continued to support the two-state solution that has formed the basis of Washington’s policy in the region for decades,” the news agency added.
The United Nations in its statement claimed that a resettlement plan, as suggested by the U.S. president, was “strictly prohibited.”
The Associated Press covered the global reaction:
President Donald Trump’s proposal that the United States “take over” the Gaza Strip and permanently resettle its Palestinian residents was swiftly rejected and denounced on Wednesday by American allies and adversaries alike. (…)Following Trump’s remarks, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement stressing the need for rebuilding “without moving the Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip.”Saudi Arabia, an important American ally, weighed in quickly on Trump’s expanded idea to take over the Gaza Strip in a sharply worded statement, noting that its long call for an independent Palestinian state was a “firm, steadfast and unwavering position.”“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia also stresses what it had previously announced regarding its absolute rejection of infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, whether through Israeli settlement policies, annexation of Palestinian lands or efforts to displace the Palestinian people from their land,” the statement said.Similarly, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters in Canberra, Australia, that his country has long supported a two-state solution in the Middle East and that nothing had changed.“Australia’s position is the same as it was this morning, as it was last year, as it was 10 years ago,” he said. (…)“I’m not going to, as Australia’s prime minister, give a daily commentary on statements by the U.S. president,” he said. “My job is to support Australia’s position.”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.”Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian also underscored Beijing’s longstanding support for a two-state solution.“We oppose the forced relocation of people in Gaza and hope that the relevant parties will take the ceasefire and post-war governance in Gaza as an opportunity to push the Palestinian issue back on the right track,” he said.Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told state-run Anadolu Agency that Trump’s proposal on “deportations from Gaza is not something that either the region or we would accept.”“Even thinking about it, in my opinion, is wrong and absurd,” Fidan said.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called for the United Nations to “protect the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights,” saying that what Trump wanted to do would be “a serious violation of international law.”
Hamas and PLO-controlled Palestinian Authority (PA) vehemently opposed the plan that promises to improve the lives of Gazans and transform the terrorist infested enclave.
Hamas, which has been repressing the residents of Gaza and staging a terrorist campaign against Israel since taking power in 2007, declared that President Trump’s plan was “a recipe for creating chaos” — an audacious claim coming from the architect of the October 7 massacre.
The German state TV Deutsche Welle reported Hamas’s response:
The Palestinian militant group Hamas unsurprisingly says it rejects Trump’s suggestion that Palestinians should leave the Gaza Strip.”We reject Trump’s statements in which he said that the residents of the Gaza Strip have no choice but to leave,” Hamas said in a statement.It added that the suggestions are “a recipe for creating chaos and tension in the region.”Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri also warned that such actions could “ignite the region.”
The Qatari regime-run Al Jazeera reported reaction of the PLO, which controls the West Bank though PA:
Secretary-General Hussein al-Sheikh said the PLO rejects all calls for the displacement of the Palestinian people from their homeland.“The Palestinian leadership affirms its firm position that the two-state solution, in accordance with international legitimacy and international law, is the guarantee of security, stability and peace,” he said on X.
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