Trump's Idea to Relocate Gaza Residents Deviates Sharply from US Foreign Policy

The proposal by United States President Donald Trump to take over and control the Gaza Strip is considered surprising and sharply deviates from US foreign policy. Trump's statement has drawn international condemnation, particularly from Arab countries, as it eliminates the Palestinian people's right to self-determination. The idea is also seen as supporting Israel's plan to carry out ethnic cleansing.

Trump's statement is provocative and confusing, even for his supporters. According to Trump's allies in the Republican party, peace should be pursued by both Palestine and Israel.

"I thought we voted for America First. We have no business thinking about another occupation that destroys our property and spills the blood of our soldiers," Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul said Wednesday (2/5/2025).

Lindsay Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina, called Trump's idea problematic.

The statement about cleaning Gaza and relocating its residents to other areas is the latest controversial policy of the Trump administration, which is still in its infancy. When revealing his idea to the public, Trump claimed that around 2 million Palestinian residents would be happy to leave the Gaza area. He referred to Gaza as a wreckage site, following destruction by the Israeli military for at least the last 15 months.

Even, Trump was beaming as he shared his idea after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He expressed his desire to rebuild Palestine like the Riviera of the Middle East. This idea is a continuation of the thoughts of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, which were revealed at an event at Harvard in February 2024.

"Gaza's waterfront property could be very valuable if people focused on building livelihoods," Kushner said at the time.

Netanyahu praised Trump's thinking as “out of the box.” Moreover, he is a right-wing prime minister who opposes the formation of a Palestinian state.

The Middle East, including the Palestinian-Israeli issue, has long been a focal point for the US. Following World War II, US foreign policy was aimed at pursuing several interrelated objectives. These objectives included securing energy sources for the US, preventing the influence of the Soviet Union (now Russia) and Iran, ensuring the security of Israel and US allied countries, and resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Quoted from the report of the Council of Foreign Relations, the US and UK were the countries that recommended that victims of the Nazi German Holocaust be moved to the Palestinian territories. To guarantee their existence, the US became the first country to recognize Israel as a sovereign state standing on Palestinian land, in 1948. Since then, the role of the US has been as the main protector of Israel. The US also tried to quell the resistance of Arab countries and the Palestinian people.

The US initiated several ideas to reconcile Israel and Palestine, ranging from the Camp David negotiations to the most recent Abraham Accords. The first Camp David negotiations, which involved Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Palestine, discussed Palestinian self-governance in Gaza and the West Bank. The second negotiations called for a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel, which was signed by both governments in 1979 at the White House.

The US was not directly involved in the negotiations of the 1993 Oslo Peace Agreement. The agreement forced Palestinian leaders to recognize Israel's right to exist, and Israel to recognize Palestinian autonomy in Gaza and the West Bank. However, the White House became a witness as both parties signed the agreement there.

The US has also continued to be part of the conflict resolution after the 1998 Clinton Parameters for a two-state solution were issued. Since then, successive US administrations have proposed their own plans for a two-state solution. There is George W. Bush’s Roadmap to Peace, Secretary of State John Kerry’s Six Principles, and Trump’s Peace to Prosperity.

Bishara Bahbah, founder of Arab Americans for Trump, opposed the idea. "We oppose the displacement of Palestinians, whether voluntary or involuntary, from their homeland," he said.

Osama Siblani, publisher of the Dearborn, Michigan-based Arab American News, called Trump's rhetoric "insane" and said the idea would not lead to peace.

"Instead of helping people recover, he is trying to profit from their suffering," he said. "I can't believe a US president would make such a suggestion."

Graham said Trump should find a better way. "So I suggest we go back to what we've been trying to do, which is destroy Hamas and find a way for the Arab world to take over Gaza and the West Bank, in a way that will lead to a Palestinian state that can live side by side with Israel," Graham said.

The United Nations has warned Trump that his plan would encourage ethnic cleansing in Gaza. "At its core, the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people is about the right of the Palestinian people to live as human beings in their own land," Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a speech to the UN committee on Palestinian rights.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said any forced displacement of Palestinians was unacceptable.

"It would be a serious violation of international law, an obstacle to the two-state solution, and a major destabilizing force for Egypt and Jordan," the two leaders said, according to a statement from the French presidency.

Saudi Arabia, a US ally in the Middle East, has also rejected Trump's plan. In a statement on Wednesday, Riyadh said its position on the establishment of a Palestinian state is unwavering and it rejects any attempt to expel the Palestinian people from their homeland.

“Saudi Arabia will continue its persistent efforts to establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without that,” the Saudi statement said.

“Achieving a lasting and just peace is impossible without the Palestinian people achieving their legitimate rights in accordance with international resolutions, as has been made clear to previous and current US administrations.”

The Arab League also voiced its rejection. In a statement Wednesday, the 22-nation Gulf organization said Trump's idea would backfire and create instability.

Sina Toossi, a researcher at the Center for International Policy, said Trump's idea would not only erase the traces of US foreign policy on the two-state solution, but also encourage a wider regional conflict. According to him, this idea could even be a green light for Netanyahu and his cabinet to start a war.

"In the short term, the main question is whether Trump will push Netanyahu to fully implement the Gaza ceasefire deal, including the critical second phase, or whether he will instead allow Netanyahu and his hawkish cabinet to restart the war," Toossi said. (AP/AFP/Reuters)