US President Donald Trump’s proposal to depopulate Gaza and turn it into an international resort has sent shockwaves across the world, as leaders and observers balked with confusion and alarm at the president’s latest political stunt. The proclamation came against the backdrop of a tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas following 15 months of fighting that left Gaza in a dire situation. Israel’s military campaign killed over 46,000 Palestinians, injured at least a 100,000, and damaged or destroyed about 70 per cent of Gaza’s buildings and much of its healthcare system and basic infrastructure.
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Trump’s outlandish announcement that he would “transfer” Gaza’s population to other countries and transform the territory into a “Riviera of the Middle East” has been widely described as an open call for “ethnic cleansing”. While some observers initially dismissed Trump’s statement as mere talk aimed purely at attention-grabbing, it is now clear that there is more to it than just a show of bravado. Trump administration officials, to the alarm of the international community, have continued to defend the fundamental premise of the plan. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli political leaders hailed Trump’s statement and signaled readiness to pursue it.
Trump’s words did not emerge out of a vacuum. Last year, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner said that Gaza has the potential of becoming a valuable waterfront property. The idea of expelling Palestinians from Gaza has a long history in the Israeli policy establishment and has reportedly been contemplated by its leaders since the onset of the war in 2023. Observers noted that Israel’s war conduct at various points was geared toward depopulating Northern Gaza.
Aside from the blatant war crimes implied in Trump’s proposal, the idea of the US seizing control of Gaza after expelling over two million Palestinians is a dangerous path for Washington and its allies. Thus, their closest Arab partners have embarked on a host of diplomatic contortions, hoping to persuade Trump to backtrack on his proposal. Saudi Arabia rejected Trump’s statement and pledged that it would not establish relations with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state. Amman declared that it would consider the forcing of Palestinians into Jordan an act of war. The Egyptian government has reportedly told US officials that moving Palestinians out of Gaza could risk ending its longstanding peace treaty with Israel.
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The leaders of these countries worry that if such a proposal moves forward, they will be viewed by their own societies as collaborators with a second Palestinian Nakba, which could fuel public anger domestically and bring about fissures within their ruling coalitions.
Indeed, these governments hold highly coveted partnerships with Washington and Israel, but when it comes to Palestinian self-determination and statehood, all bets are off. The question of Palestinian rights in most Arab countries has long been a central element in political movements’ visions for progressive social change. It is a galvanising issue that holds the potential of mobilising otherwise politically subdued segments of society. Even the most powerful autocrat in the region must reckon with this reality. Perhaps aware of this predicament, in 2023, the Joe Biden administration openly rejected the proposal to resettle Palestinians in Gaza in other countries. This was in fact one of the rare instances when the former president drew a red line for the Israeli government, notwithstanding Biden’s otherwise sanguine attitude toward reports of Israeli forces’ conduct.
Fueling the concern of Washington’s Arab allies is Trump’s refusal to back down despite widespread condemnation. While the president has used the term “transfer” to describe his plans for Palestinian residents of Gaza, everyone understands that such a process will likely be involuntary and will entail tremendous levels of violence. Any serious movement in that direction on the ground will inevitably result in the resumption of hostilities between Israeli forces and Hamas.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed that the transfer would only be temporary and that Palestinians would be allowed to return to their homes following the reconstruction of Gaza. Those familiar with the history of this conflict understand that there is no chance that Netanyahu or any Israeli leader would freely honour Palestinian refugees’ right to return to their homes. Ironically, 81 per cent of Gaza’s population descended from families who were displaced from modern-day Israel in the wake of the 1948 Nakba; the Israeli state has not allowed them to return to their homes since. There is little reason to believe that they would be allowed to return to their homes in Gaza if they are forcibly displaced yet again, as per Trump’s transfer plans.
The Trump administration’s assertion that Gaza is “uninhabitable” and that the resettlement plan would protect Palestinians from the dangers of such things as unexploded bombs is questionable. It is disingenuous and lacks credibility given that most of Washington’s political elites, across partisan lines, showed little to no concern for Palestinians’ safety during Israel’s war in Gaza, despite the hefty human cost and the deep humanitarian catastrophe it inflicted.
Trump’s plan for Gaza is not only a reprehensible moral shortcoming; it is an imminent threat to peace and security in the Middle East.
The writer is Senior Research Scholar at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law and author of Classless Politics: Islamist Movements, the Left, and Authoritarian Legacies in Egypt (Columbia University Press)
