Developments in Gaza and the Middle East as a whole were full of surprises last week, and they were not very encouraging, to say the least, as far as the Gaza ceasefire agreement and future US diplomacy in the Middle East are concerned.
US President Donald Trump received Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on 4 February, the first foreign leader to be invited to the Oval Office during Trump’s second term in office.
The Palestinians, the Arab countries, and the international community as a whole were dismayed by the outcome of this meeting. Instead of hearing news about sustaining the ceasefire agreement, and working for a successful conclusion to the indirect talks between the Israelis and Hamas that were supposed to begin last week through the three mediators of Egypt, Qatar, and the US about a permanent ceasefire and the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the world heard Trump say that the US would “own Gaza” and rebuild it, calling in the meantime for resettling its population elsewhere.
There was consternation and disbelief at his suggestion that Egypt, Jordan, and other countries would accommodate the Palestinians, either temporarily or more permanently without a return trip. In other words, Trump was suggesting dispossessing and uprooting no fewer than one and a half million Palestinians from the lands of their ancestors.
On 5 February, Trump wrote on his Truth Social social media account that “the Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of the fighting.” He said that “the United States 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. No soldiers from the United States would be needed. Stability for the region would reign.”
Commenting on this idea, US National Security Adviser Michael Waltz said that Trump was putting “some very bold, fresh, new ideas out on the table” to compel governments in the Middle East to “come with their own solutions”.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on 5 February that “it’s been made clear to the president that the United States needs to be involved with the rebuilding effort to ensure stability in the region for all people, but that does not mean boots on the ground in Gaza. It does not mean American taxpayers will be funding this effort. It means Donald Trump, who is the best dealmaker on the planet, is going to strike a deal with our partners in the region.”
She did not elaborate on what kind of deal the Trump administration would negotiate with its “partners.” Would it be a deal for a permanent ceasefire and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza so that the third phase of the ceasefire agreement on reconstruction can begin in earnest?” Would it be a peace deal that would ultimately lead to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state?
She was probably not referring to the latter, given the fact that Trump since his first term in office (2017-2021) has never come out in plain English in support of the right of the Palestinian people to their own sovereign state.
More disturbing in this context was the order Israeli Minister of Defence Israel Katz issued on 6 February to the Israeli military to prepare for the “voluntary” migration of the Palestinians from Gaza. According to press reports, an airport in southern Israel has been prepared to arrange this, as well as the Ashdod Port on the Mediterranean.
While Netanyahu was still in Washington making the rounds of the US TV networks (Fox News), holding meetings at the Pentagon, and conferring with some US Senators, the US agreed to provide Israel with Hellfire missiles and other weapons and ammunition worth $7.4 billion. A few days earlier, the Trump administration revoked a ban on exporting 2,000-pound bombs to Israel put in place by the Biden administration. It is expected that the State Department will also allow the sale of 5,000 assault rifles to Israel.
It is worth noting that during Netanyahu’s meeting with a group of Senators on 6 February, Senator Jeanne Shaheen told him that it is important to implement the three phases of the ceasefire agreement. She spoke on the need for maintaining stability in the West Bank and working towards a two-state solution.
It would not be surprising if these wise words fell on deaf ears as far as Netanyahu is concerned.
Mark Waller, a professor of international constitutional studies at Cambridge University in the UK, told the Washington Post newspaper in commenting on the proposals made by Trump relating to Gaza that “the very idea that Gaza can be disposed of in the manner of a real estate deal for redevelopment of derelict wasteland may sit well with a property tycoon like President Trump. Yet, it is not clear who would be able to grant the United States the title to the territory.”
He went on to say that Gaza “is not a lump of naked territory devoid of human habitation”.
However, it seems that President Trump is oblivious, I would say totally to the fact that Gaza has always belonged to the Palestinian people, and the United States has no authority whatsoever to dispose of it as it seems fit. The American president doubled down on his earlier remarks on 9 February telling reporters on Air Force One that, “I am committed to buying and owning Gaza.”
Thus, he is throwing a very serious challenge to Arab countries and the Palestinians. And to the Charter of the United Nations as well as international law.
It is difficult to predict the main elements of US diplomacy in the Middle East over the next four years, except to say that it is likely to be completely aligned with the positions of the extreme right in Israel headed by Netanyahu. It goes without saying that this will not bring peace or security to the Middle East.
* The writer is former assistant foreign minister.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 13 February, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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