Trump’s Gaza Plan Roils the Middle East

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — President Trump’s vision of an eastern Mediterranean resort to rival the Riviera exposed the scope of the dangers in Gaza. He would have been better off letting his concept stay in Vegas, or Palm Beach. The very act of talking about it during a news conference last week, on Tuesday, could trigger greater hazards.

His plan to send two million Palestinians from Gaza to other Arab countries and build a tourist trap on waterfront property was hardly well received by Arabs and Muslims, which should be no surprise. They swiftly confirmed their ongoing refusal to take responsibility for the future of their brethren in Israel’s territories.

Since Trump’s announcement has dominated the headlines, reporters and columnists outlined the various twists and turns in the Arab world which leave us with a narrow path toward a resolution. Many of us were aware of some entanglements, but the accumulation of factors reported in the past week makes the situation even more frightening.

Leaders of the main Arab players – Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia – all share the sense of terror that their own people will turn them out if they neglect the Palestinians. These leaders may deem it wise to normalize relations with Israel, but many of their subjects hated Israel long before Hamas terrorists murdered 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023, and their hostility intensified when Israel attacked Gaza, killing thousands of Hamas members and civilians.

Egypt has already blocked Gazans from moving across the border during the past 16 months and, along with Jordan, has rejected relocating Palestinians to its land. Even though Trump assures that it would be a temporary relocation, Arabs do not believe it. In past wars, Arabs who left Israel to facilitate repeated invasions of the Jewish state were barred from returning. In this contemporary situation, Egypt fears that Israel will not let them back despite reassurances to the contrary.

Egypt has accepted at least 100,000 medical evacuees and others, and Jordan is treating dozens of injured people, according to The New York Times. On Tuesday, Jordanian King Abdullah II told reporters that Jordan will take in some children who are hurt, at least for the time being.

More specifically, Hamas members who move to Egypt could use their new neighborhood as a launching pad for attacks on Israel, and in turn Israelis would retaliate on Egyptian grounds.

Another concern: Extremists from Gaza who move to Egypt will further stir up antagonism toward Egyptian leaders for working with Israel.

Egypt swiftly warned Trump, Israel and Western European allies that America’s takeover of Gaza would jeopardize the Egypt-Israel peace treaty that Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat signed on Oct. 26,1979, unnamed Egyptian officials told the Associated Press. Never mind Israel’s negotiations with the Palestinians in the near future for an independent state.

A Western diplomat in Cairo, who was also not identified, added that Egypt views Trump’s plan as threatening its security, AP reports.

The Egyptian government released a statement last Thursday saying that moving Palestinians from Gaza is a “blatant violation” of international law that could undermine ceasefire talks. “This behavior provokes the return of hostilities, and poses risks on the entire region and the foundations of peace,” the statement reads, according to the Associated Press.

Due to events from times of relative antiquity, such as the 1948 and 1967 wars, Palestinians currently form a majority of Jordan’s population.  This has already produced conflicts between refugees and native Jordanians. A new influx could further inflame these conflicts.

From Saudi Arabia’s vantage point, they will not normalize relations with Israel unless a Palestinian state is established. The Saudis never stressed the need for a Palestinian state before Oct. 7. It became an issue once Israel retaliated against Hamas, and that antagonized the Saudi people. Saudi leaders feared what their restiveness could lead to and injected their demand for a Palestinian state while Israeli leaders resist creation of a state.

I have not been optimistic that the two-state solution is, well, the solution. A Palestinian state need not be ruled out but establishing one could be unworkable for both Israel and the Palestinians. For the Arabs, the land is too small to operate on its own and will be dependent on Israel and neighboring countries to thrive. For Israelis, Palestinians could readily use the state to attack Israel, as Hamas used Gaza to invade southern Israel. Perhaps there are other options that could be helpful to both sides.

There is still Hamas, which insists on being part of a Palestinian state at a time when Israel wants to finish it off. Israel is fortunate after its military weakened Hezbollah in Lebanon and rebels in Syria ousted the government, cutting off Iran’s allies. It is not clear yet what the new Syrian rulers will do.

These conflicting and unstable conditions should compel us to worry that a peaceful resolution is even more remote.

The situation became more worrisome when Trump joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at last week’s news conference and abruptly announced: “The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too.” He went on to pledge to rebuild Gaza, much of it a wasteland, transform the land into the “Riviera of the Middle East” and would not rule out sending troops there.

“We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings,” he added.

Trump’s plan also calls for relocation of the two million people of Gaza. “Why would they want to return?” he asked. “The place has been hell.” He noted that the Palestinians could be placed in a “good, fresh, beautiful piece of land” to reside, according to CNN.

The president’s declaration provoked such responses as: “I refuse to leave,” Mohammed Abu Teir, 47, told a Times reporter. “I will live here, and I will be buried here. They talk about us as if we don’t exist, as if we can just be moved like pieces on a chessboard. But we are people.”

Any reasonable person could have predicted words of that sort. Whether he is serious or using this plan as a cover for something else, Trump’s announcement has already incited worldwide defiance. In Gaza, Hamas accused Israel of violating the current ceasefire and refused to release any more hostages. Are they reacting to Trump’s idea?

Naturally, this would cancel any hopes for the two-state solution or any negotiated resolution.

Back home, eight students were suspended at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, for protesting inside a campus building last week.

Is widespread violence next? Not only in Israel but also Maine, California and Sydney in Australia? Trump’s tough talk must rival the resolve and endurance of Hamas. Too bad none of them have the sense to let it stay in Vegas.

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Bruce S. Ticker is a Philadelphia-based columnist.