Jerusalem:
US President Donald Trump on Saturday floated the idea that Jordan and Egypt should take more Palestinians from Gaza, where Israel’s military actions have killed tens of thousands and created a dire humanitarian situation. The idea was welcomed by Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, but Palestinian groups including Islamic Jihad and Hamas vowed to oppose it.
On Saturday, Trump said he had spoken to Jordan’s King Abdullah II about moving Palestinians out of Gaza. “I’d like Egypt to take people. And I’d like Jordan to take people,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after his call with Jordan’s King Abdullah.
“It (Gaza) is literally a demolition site, almost everything is demolished and people are dying there, so I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing at a different location where they can maybe live in peace for a change,” Trump said, adding that he expected to talk to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday.
Israel Welcomes The Idea
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a strong opponent of stopping the war in Gaza, welcomed Trump’s proposal. “The idea of helping them find other places to start a better life is a great idea. After years of glorifying terrorism, they will be able to establish new and good lives in other places,” Smotrich said in a statement.
“Only out-of-the-box thinking with new solutions will bring a solution of peace and security. I will, with God’s help, work with the prime minister and the cabinet to ensure there is an operational plan to implement this as soon as possible,” he added.
Most Gazans are Palestinian refugees or their descendants. Any attempt to move them from Gaza could evoke dark historical memories of what the Arab world calls the “Nakba” or catastrophe — the mass displacement of Palestinians during Israel’s creation in 1948.
Palestinian Groups Oppose The Proposal
Palestinian group Islamic Jihad on Sunday condemned Trump’s idea to relocate Gazans to Egypt and Jordan, calling it an encouragement of “war crimes”.
Describing Trump’s idea as “deplorable,” the group, which fought a deadly war with Israel in Gaza alongside Hamas until a January 19 ceasefire, stated: “This proposal falls within the framework of encouraging war crimes and crimes against humanity by forcing our people to leave their land.”
A senior Hamas official also said that it would oppose Trump’s idea to relocate Gazans to Egypt and Jordan.
“As they have foiled every plan for displacement and alternative homelands over the decades, our people will also foil such projects,” said Bassem Naim, a member of the Hamas political bureau, told news agency AFP.
Situation In Gaza
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas forces attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages.
Israel’s subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed more than 47,000 people, according to the Gaza health ministry, and led to accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies.
A ceasefire went into effect a week ago and has led to the release of some Israeli hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.