[News] Trump’s Gaza ‘Ownership’ Proposal Will Not Work: This is Why

[Anti-Imperialist News]

palestinechronicle.com
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/trumps-gaza-ownership-proposal-will-not-work-this-is-why-analysis/>
Trump’s Gaza ‘Ownership’ Proposal Will Not Work: This is Why - AnalysisFebruary
5, 2025
------------------------------
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
(Design: Palestine Chronicle)

*By Ramzy Baroud & Romana Rubeo
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/writers/ramzy-baroud-romana-rubeo>*

Trump’s proposal to take “ownership” of Gaza is a reckless move that
emboldens Israel and threatens regional stability.

US President Donald Trump has doubled down on earlier comments, once again
proposing that the US take “ownership” of Gaza and redevelop it.

This time, the remarks came on Tuesday during a joint press conference at
the White House with right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I don’t think people should be going back,” Trump said, referring to Gaza.
“You can’t live in Gaza right now. I think we need another location. I
think it should be a location that’s going to make people happy.”

Capitalizing on the provocative statement, Netanyahu quickly responded,
calling Trump “the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House”
and praising him for “thinking outside the box with new ideas.”

Netanyahu’s supporters in Israel celebrated what they saw as a historic
moment. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called Trump’s plan “the
true response to October 7.” Ben-Gvir urged Netanyahu to adopt the policy
“immediately,” saying, “It is time to implement and promote it.”

Arab countries strongly rejected any attempt to ethnically cleanse
Palestinians. The Saudi foreign ministry swiftly issued a statement
reaffirming its “firm and unwavering” position on the establishment of a
Palestinian state and rejecting “any infringement on the legitimate rights
of the Palestinian people, whether through Israeli settlement policies,
land annexation, or attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their
land.”

Trump’s comments generated widespread media interest and political
reactions for two reasons.

First, they were made in the presence of Netanyahu, signaling a possible
shift in US foreign policy toward an even more destructive path in
Palestine and the broader region. Second, Trump was not speaking off the
cuff but reading from pre-prepared remarks, indicating that this proposal
was being considered as an actual foreign policy doctrine.

In an attempt to understand the timing and nature of Trump’s remarks, many
analysts linked them to the growing influence of pro-Israel evangelicals
and extremists within his administration. Others suggested that Trump was
preparing the US for a regional war, while some dismissed the proposal as
just another element of his ‘maximum pressure’ tactics.

At the Palestine Chronicle, we believe Trump’s proposal is neither
realistic nor serious. However, the consequences of such reckless foreign
policy will be dangerous in both the short and long term.

Here are some of the reasons Trump made this proposal, followed by other
reasons why the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza will not happen.

*Why Trump Made This Proposal  *

One, Trump is eager to sustain the ceasefire in Gaza. To do so, he needed
to offer Netanyahu a political gift that could pacify Israelis across the
political spectrum and prevent what many believe is the imminent collapse
of his government—even civil war.

Two, the Israeli military defeat in Gaza has left both Tel Aviv and
Washington without any real leverage to reshape the outcome of the war or
the region’s politics. By shifting the conversation to his outlandish
proposal, Trump believes he can reclaim the initiative for the US and
Israel.

Three, Trump understands that Saudi Arabia is reluctant to normalize ties
with Israel. Over the past year and a half, the Saudis have come to see
Israel as an unreliable potential partner, and US support for Israel has
pushed the region closer to all-out war.

Israel’s defeat in Gaza has also shattered its image as a regional hegemon,
strengthening the position of the Resistance camp and Iran. The idea of
Israel as a protector against Iran has all but disappeared, making
normalization less urgent—if necessary at all. Trump’s proposal is a
desperate attempt to empower Israel and warn the region that, with US
backing, it can still cause devastation at a moment’s notice.

Four, by escalating his rhetoric on Gaza, Trump is giving Israel more time
and space to carry out incremental ethnic cleansing in the West Bank.
According to the Jenin governorate, nearly 4,000 families have already been
displaced from the Jenin refugee camp, amounting to the majority of its
population. Similar campaigns are underway throughout the northern West
Bank.

‘Proof of US-Israel Alliance’ – Israeli Officials Hail Trump’s Proposal for
Gaza
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/proof-of-usisrael-alliance-israeli-officials-hail-trumps-proposal-for-gaza/>

While international media and politicians focus on Trump’s Gaza proposal,
Israel is executing its largest ethnic cleansing operation in the occupied
West Bank since the 1967 war.

Five, Trump is also hoping to use the political chaos generated by his
statements to extract concessions from Palestinians and Arab governments.
His main focus remains the West Bank, as he reiterated on Monday that
“Israel is a small country in terms of land.”

The trade-off he likely envisions is either abandoning his campaign to
ethnically cleanse Gaza in exchange for Palestinian and Arab territorial
concessions in the West Bank, securing Saudi normalization without an
Israeli commitment to a Palestinian state, or both.

*Why Displacing Palestinians from Gaza Will Not Happen  *

One, Trump is relying on the same tactics his administration used during
his first term. However, Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the Palestinian
resistance over the course of 471 days have put Palestine back at the
center of Middle Eastern politics. The era of marginalizing the Palestinian
cause is over.

Two, the resilience of Gazans, who have sustained 471 days of resistance
against Israel, is stronger than ever. When Trump suggested displacing
Palestinians, one million people were not amassing at the Gaza-Egypt border
but moving north, back to their towns and refugee camps, in an
unprecedented display of people’s power. It is difficult to imagine these
same Gazans voluntarily leaving their land to give “ownership” to Trump and
his real estate allies.

Three, perhaps the most crucial point is that Israel has already
tried—using endless US weapons—to displace Gazans into Sinai for 471 days.
To achieve this, it destroyed most of Gaza and all of its infrastructure,
created famine, and killed or wounded over 173,000 people—a number expected
to rise dramatically in the coming months.

None of this would have been possible without US support, yet all of it has
failed. There is nothing more the US can do that it has not already done,
including outright genocide and extermination.

‘Firm and Unwavering’ – Saudi Arabia Rejects Trump’s Gaza Displacement Plan
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/firm-and-unwavering-saudi-arabia-rejects-trumps-gaza-displacement-plan/>

Four, Arab governments have collectively rejected Trump’s proposal, which
has also been condemned, directly or indirectly, by governments worldwide.

The real danger does not lie in the US military invading Gaza to uproot
Palestinians but in the fact that the extremist Israeli government may
interpret Trump’s words as a blank check to accelerate ethnic cleansing in
the West Bank and possibly return to war in Gaza, claiming to act in line
with the wishes of the American president.

While Joe Biden’s administration has already shown it lacks any moral fiber
by supporting and sustaining Israel’s genocide in Gaza, a future Trump
administration would bring an even more reckless and ignorant approach.

Armed with an arrogant misunderstanding of the Middle East, complete
detachment from historical realities, and the religious zeal of biblical
prophecy, Trump’s foreign policy is nothing short of a catastrophe.

If one were to describe his new doctrine in the region, it would be like a
bull in a china shop. Though senseless, the only possible outcome is utter
destruction.

*(The Palestine Chronicle)*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20250205/70c46ca7/attachment.htm>