(Al Jazeera Media Network) United States President Donald Trump has unveiled a shocking plan to take over the Gaza Strip after Palestinians are forcibly moved out of the besieged enclave, spurring fears he would back an ethnic-cleansing campaign.
During a news conference with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, Trump said that Palestinians would “love to leave” Gaza, suggesting that the US would take long-term ownership of the Strip while it is rebuilt and redeveloped as the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt attempted to walk back Trump’s suggestion that Palestinians would be permanently resettled, saying they would only be relocated temporarily to allow for reconstruction.
“In the interim, obviously people are going to have to live somewhere while you’re rebuilding it,” Rubio said at a news conference in Guatemala City.
Trump’s proposal drew sharp responses in the US and abroad. Here are some key reactions from around the world:
Hamas
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said the call for Palestinians in Gaza to be ethnically cleansed was an “expulsion from their land”.
“Trump’s remarks about his desire to control Gaza are ridiculous and absurd, and any ideas of this kind are capable of igniting the region,” Abu Zuhri said. “We consider them [the plan] a recipe for generating chaos and tension in the region because the people of Gaza will not allow such plans to pass.”
Another senior Hamas official, Izzat al-Risheq, said the proposal “will only put oil on fire”.
“These statements reflect confusion and deep ignorance about Palestine and the region. Gaza is certainly not a common land and it is not a property that can be bought and sold. American bias towards Israel and against our Palestinian people and against their just rights continues,” he said.
Palestine Liberation Organization
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.
Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas strongly rejected any plans to displace Palestinians from Gaza, saying, “We will not allow any infringement of the rights of our people, which we have struggled for decades and made great sacrifices to achieve.”
“These calls represent a serious violation of international law,” he said. “Peace and stability will not be achieved in the region without establishing a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital on the borders of 1967, based on the two-state solution.”
Palestinian Islamic Jihad
“Trump’s positions and plans are a dangerous escalation that threaten Arab and regional national security, especially in Egypt and Jordan, which the US administration wants to put in confrontation with the Palestinian people and their rights,” PIJ said.
Palestine’s UN envoy
Riyad Mansour, leader of the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations, said people in Gaza should be allowed to reclaim what were once their homes in Israel.
“For those who want to send the Palestinian people to a ‘nice place’, allow them to go back to their original homes in what is now Israel,” he said, using Trump’s language. “The Palestinian people want to rebuild Gaza because this is where we belong.”
Israel
Former Israeli minister for national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, said that “encouraging” people from Gaza to migrate from the enclave was the only correct strategy at the end of the war in Gaza.
He also urged Prime Minister Netanyahu to adopt that policy “immediately”.
Egypt
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty discussed Trump’s plan with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa. They spoke about the importance of moving forward with recovery projects in Gaza without Palestinians leaving the territory.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia said it would not normalise ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state.
The Foreign Ministry said it rejected any attempts to displace the Palestinians from their land and described its stance as “clear and explicit” as well as not negotiable.
“Saudi Arabia also reiterates its previously announced unequivocal rejection of any infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, whether through Israeli settlement policies, the annexation of Palestinian lands, or attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land,” it said.
Jordan
“His Majesty King Abdullah II stresses the need to put a stop to [Israeli] settlement expansion, expressing rejection of any attempts to annex land and displace the Palestinians,” Jordan’s Royal Court said.
Iran
“Iran does not agree with any displacement of Palestinians and has communicated this through various channels,” a senior Iranian official said.
US Senator Chris Murphy
“He’s totally lost it,” Murphy, a Democrat, said on X. “A US invasion of Gaza would lead to the slaughter of thousands of US troops and decades of war in the Middle East. It’s like a bad, sick joke.”
US Senator Chris Van Hollen
“Trump’s proposal to push two million Palestinians out of Gaza and take ‘ownership’ by force, if necessary, is simply ethnic cleansing by another name,” Van Hollen, a Democrat, said. “This declaration will give ammunition to Iran and other adversaries while undermining our Arab partners in the region.”
Van Hollen said Trump’s proposal “defies decades of bipartisan American support for a two-state solution … Congress must stand up to this dangerous and reckless scheme.”
US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib
Democratic US Representative Rashida Tlaib, who is Palestinian-American, stressed that “Palestinians aren’t going anywhere”.
