Trump proposal US 'take over' Gaza Strip rejected by allies and adversaries alike

Ahram Online , Wednesday 5 Feb 2025

President Donald Trump's proposal that the United States “take over” the Gaza Strip and permanently transfer the Palestinian population was swiftly rejected and denounced on Wednesday by American allies and adversaries alike.

Palestinians
File Photo: Palestinians carry defaced pictures of US President Donald Trump while protesting against his latest statements regarding the transfer of Palestinians from Gaza, in the West Bank city of Ramallah. AP

 

Trump's wild proposal came at a White House news conference with war-mongering Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who smiled several times as the president detailed a plan to build new settlements for Palestinians outside the Gaza Strip, and for the US to take “ownership” in redeveloping the war-torn territory into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too,” Trump said.

“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, level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs.”

The comments came amid a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to end the 15-month Israeli genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

Egypt, Jordan and other American allies in the Middle East have already rejected the idea of displacing more than 2 million Palestinians from Gaza elsewhere in the region.

Saudi Arabia
 

Saudi Arabia, which is an important American ally, weighed in quickly on Trump's expanded idea to take over the Gaza Strip in a sharply worded statement, noting that its long call for an independent Palestinian state was a “firm, steadfast and unwavering position.”

“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia also stresses what it had previously announced regarding its absolute rejection of infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, whether through Israeli settlement policies, annexation of Palestinian lands or efforts to displace the Palestinian people from their land,” the statement said.

Australia
 

Similarly, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters in Canberra, Australia, that his country has long supported a two-state solution in the Middle East and that nothing had changed.

“Australia's position is the same as it was this morning, as it was last year, as it was 10 years ago,” he said.

Trump has already made waves, and upset longtime allies, suggesting the purchase of Greenland, the annexation of Canada and the possible takeover of the Panama Canal. It was not immediately clear whether the idea of taking over the Gaza Strip was a well thought out plan, or an opening gambit in negotiations.

Albanese, whose country is one of the strongest American allies in the Asia-Pacific region, seemed frustrated to even be asked about the Gaza plan, underscoring that his policies "will be consistent."

“I'm not going to, as Australia's prime minister, give a daily commentary on statements by the US president,” he said. “My job is to support Australia's position.”

New Zealand
 

New Zealand's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that its “long-standing support for a two-state solution is on the record” and added that it, too, “won't be commenting on every proposal that is put forward.”

The Palestinian militant group Hamas said, Trump's proposal was a “recipe for creating chaos and tension in the region."

“Instead of holding the Zionist occupation accountable for the crime of genocide and displacement, it is being rewarded, not punished,” the group said in a statement.

The Israeli brutal air and ground war on the Gaza Strip has killed over 47,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, with more than 111,000 others injured, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

The war has left large parts of several cities in ruins and displaced around 90 percent of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people.

US
 

In the US, opposition politicians quickly rejected Trump's idea, with Democratic Sen. Chris Coons calling his comments "offensive and insane and dangerous and foolish.”

The idea “risks the rest of the world thinking that we are an unbalanced and unreliable partner because our president makes insane proposals,” Coons said, noting the irony of the proposal coming shortly after Trump had moved to dismantle the US Agency for International Development.

“Why on earth would we abandon decades of well-established humanitarian programs around the world, and now launch into one of the world’s greatest humanitarian challenges?” Coons said.

Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian American member of Congress from Michigan, accused Trump in a social media post of “openly calling for ethnic cleansing” with the idea of resettling Gaza's entire population.

Turkey
 

Turkey's top diplomat on Wednesday lashed out at President Donald Trump's proposal for the United States to take over the Gaza Strip and resettle Palestinians in other countries.

"This is an unacceptable issue," Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told the official news agency Anadolu in broadcast comments.

He said relocating Palestinians from Gaza was something "neither we nor the region can accept".

"It is wrong to even bring it up for discussion," he added.

France
 

France said that Gaza should not be controlled by a third party after President Donald Trump said the United States should take over the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

"France will continue to campaign for the implementation of the two-state solution, the only one that can guarantee long-term peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike," the foreign ministry said, adding the future of Gaza must not involve "control by a third state".

United Kingdom
 

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said that Palestinians should be able to "live and prosper" in Gaza and the West Bank, hitting back at US President Donald Trump's proposal to take over the Gaza Strip

"We must see Palestinians able to live and prosper in their homelands in Gaza, in the West Bank. That is what we want to get to," Lammy said at a press conference in Ukraine's capital Kyiv.

Brazil
 

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Trump’s proposal “makes no sense”.

“Where would Palestinians live? This is something incomprehensible to any human being,” Lula said.

“Palestinians are the ones who need to take care of Gaza.”

Spain
 

José Manuel Albares, the Spanish foreign minister rejected the proposal by President Trump to resettle Palestinians elsewhere and take over Gaza to create a “Riviera of the Middle East”.

“I want to be very clear on this: Gaza is the land of Gazan Palestinians and they must stay in Gaza,” Albares told reporters. 

“Gaza is part of the future Palestinian state Spain supports and has to coexist guaranteeing the Israeli state’s prosperity and safety,” he added.

Scotland
 

John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, has said there must be “no ethnic cleansing” in Gaza.

In a post on X, Swinney said: “After months of collective punishment and the death of over 40,000 in Gaza, any suggestion Palestinians should be removed from their home is unacceptable and dangerous. Only a proper two-state solution will bring lasting peace.”

 

 

Swinney’s remarks were echoed by his predecessor, Humza Yousaf, who said: “What Trump calls ‘permanent resettlement’ is what the rest of the world should call ethnic cleansing. Gaza belongs to the people of Gaza. Period.”

UN special rapporteur
 

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, said Trump’s plan was “unlawful, immoral and completely irresponsible”.

“What he proposes is… nonsense,” Albanese said at a news conference in Denmark’s capital Copenhagen. “It will make the regional crisis even worse. It’s incitement to commit forced displacement, which is an international crime. The international community is made up of 193 states and this is the time to give the US what it has been looking for: Isolation.”

Germany
 

The Gaza Strip "belongs to the Palestinians", German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Wednesday.

"The civilian population of Gaza must not be expelled and Gaza must not be permanently occupied or repopulated," Baerbock said in a statement.

The forced displacement of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip would be "unacceptable and contrary to international law", Baerbock said.

"It would also lead to new suffering and new hatred," she said.

"It is clear that Gaza -- like the West Bank and east Jerusalem -- belongs to the Palestinians, and they form the basis for a future Palestinian state" and a two-state solution remained the "only" option for peace, Baerbock said.

Baerbock said the extent of the destruction in Gaza was "shocking" and we all agree that Gaza must be rebuilt as quickly as possible." 

To this end, Europe was willing "to do our part together with the USA and our partners in the region", she added.

Gazans needed "political prospects" and "help for a future on their land", she said.

UN refugee agency 
 

The head of the UN refugee agency voiced consternation at President Donald Trump's shock proposal for the United States to take over the Gaza Strip and resettle its people.

"It's something very surprising, but we have to see what it means in concrete terms," the United Nations' high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, told AFP in an interview in Brussels, adding that it was difficult to comment on such a "sensitive issue".

UN Human Rights
 

UN rights chief Volker Turk insisted that deporting people from occupied territory was strictly prohibited, after US President Donald Trump's shock proposal for the United States to take over Gaza and resettle its people.

"The right to self-determination is a fundamental principle of international law and must be protected by all states, as the International Court of Justice recently underlined afresh. Any forcible transfer in or deportation of people from occupied territory is strictly prohibited," Turk said in a statement.

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