Trump doubles down on ‘spectacular’ Gaza redevelopment
US President Donald Trump has doubled down on his idea to take over Gaza, saying the US would turn the bombed-out strip into “one of the greatest and most spectacular developments” on Earth.
As the White House walked back some of Trump’s comments, the President ramped up his rhetoric on Friday (AEDT) and detailed his ideas in a post to Truth Social.
“The U.S., working with great development teams from all over the World, would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth,” he wrote.
“No soldiers by the U.S. would be needed! Stability for the region would reign!!!”
Trump stated that under his plan, the Gaza Strip would be turned over to the US by Israel at the conclusion of fighting.
Palestinian people would be resettled in the region in “far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes”.
“They would actually have a chance to be happy, safe, and free,” Trump said.
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His comments came as Israel ordered its military to start preparing a plan to relocate Palestinians.
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said the plan would allow “any resident of Gaza who wishes to leave to do so, to any country willing to receive them”.
“The plan will include exit options via land crossings, as well as special arrangements for departure by sea and air,” he said.
“Countries such as Spain, Ireland, Norway, and others, which have falsely accused Israel over its actions in Gaza, are legally obligated to allow Gazans to enter their territory.
“Their hypocrisy will be exposed if they refuse. Meanwhile, countries like Canada, which has a structured immigration program, have previously expressed willingness to take in residents from Gaza.
“The people of Gaza should have the right to freedom of movement and migration, as is customary everywhere in the world.”
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has avoided weighing in on Trump’s proposal but reiterated Australia’s support for a two-state solution.
“Australia’s position is the right of both Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security in their own states and that remains our position,” he told Nine’s Today Show on Thursday.
Palestinians fear expulsion
Trump’s proposal has struck at the core of Palestinians’ national struggle — their 1948 expulsion from what is now Israel.
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Some 700,000 Palestinians — a majority of the prewar population — fled or were driven from their homes before and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that followed Israel’s establishment.
After the war, Israel refused to allow them to return because it would have resulted in a Palestinian majority within its borders.
Instead, they became a seemingly permanent refugee community that now numbers some six million, most living in urban refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
In Gaza, the refugees and their descendants make up around three-quarters of the population.
Israel’s rejection of what Palestinians say is their right of return to their 1948 homes has been a core grievance in the conflict. It was one of the thorniest issues in peace talks that last collapsed 15 years ago.
Many Palestinians fear a repeat of their painful history on an even more cataclysmic scale.
The war in Gaza, which was triggered by Hamas’ October 7 attack into Israel, has killed over 47,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, making it by far the deadliest round of fighting in the history of the conflict.
The initial Hamas attack killed some 1200 Israelis.
The war has forced some 1.7 million Palestinians — about three-quarters of the territory’s population — to flee their homes, often multiple times. That is well over twice the number that fled before and during the 1948 war.
The international community is strongly opposed to any mass expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza — an idea embraced by far-right members of the Israeli government, who refer to it as “voluntary emigration”.
Israel has long called for refugees of 1948 to be absorbed into host countries, saying that calls for their return are unrealistic and would endanger its existence as a Jewish-majority state.
Even if Palestinians are not expelled from Gaza en masse, many fear that they will never be able to return to their homes or that the destruction wreaked on the territory will make it impossible to live there. One UN estimate said it would take until 2040 to rebuild destroyed homes.
-with AAP
